Potty Training

So Shiloh is now 17 months old.. for months now {since she turned 1} she has started to give signs of being ready to potty train. She is embarrassed to pooh in front of other people.. well except for me ..she sits on her toy that is similar to a toilet & poohs in her diaper while sitting on it & she very interested in the toilet. So the other night before her bath I asked her if she wanted to sit on the toilet & in her cute little Shi Shi voice said "Yeah" so I plopped her up there. She smiled away looking down like she knew something was suppose to happen but unsure of what. After a few minutes I took her down & praised her & she clapped & said "YAY". Well then today I noticed her hiding while pushing so I said want to go on the potty & she said "yeah" & she ran to the bathroom.. I took the diaper off to find she had already done her deed but still plopped her up there & told her to push & made the face & noise as though I was pushing & she copied me.. nothing came out of course because she was done but she smiled at me as she continued to push.. after a few minutes of this I then took her down showed her how to flush the toilet {of course after whipping her} & praised her again saying "YAY Big Girl" & she loved it.

So my question is.. at what age should potty training start for girls? I have been told so many different things that I am not sure if I am starting her too soon or if its OK to introduce her now. I am not pushing it on her by any means just getting her familiar with the potty so they can be friends. Also what are some helpful hints to get them to actually go in the potty??