SHOULD I USE PUPPY PADS FOR TOILET TRAINING?

A lot of people use puppy pads for toilet training (or pee pads / potty pads / newspapers) but are they the fastest way to toilet train your puppy? If you’ve got a new puppy, here’s why I think puppy pads mean toilet training takes longer.

They don’t know where to go

Puppies don’t automatically know where to wee and poo! But they will try their hardest not to soil in their ‘den’ (crate/bed) where they sleep. But other than that, they don’t know that our garden or balcony is ‘right’ and the lounge carpet is wrong! They don’t understand the difference between inside and outside.

We have to help them learn this. Follow the steps in my blog -‘Puppy Toilet Training in 9 Easy Steps’.

Absorbent feels right!

Absorbent and soft textures under paw naturally encourage them to go. Puppy pads are soft under paw – brilliant! Oh hang on, so is the rug/carpet/doormat/your duvet etc.

To start with it’s really hard for them to work out what’s right and what’s wrong. They all feel nice and soft, so it’s confusing for them.

Yes, it probably seems easier (in the short-term) to let them pee or poop on puppy pads in the kitchen rather than trying to take them out at really regular intervals.

But, in my experience, using puppy pads (or newspapers) creates confusion and it takes longer to get a puppy fully house trained. Once they’ve learned to go to the toilet on the puppy pads, you then have to teach them NOT to go on soft things like puppy pads and newspapers.

It can be very confusing for a puppy to know which soft rug or folded up newspaper on the floor is OK to pee on and which isn’t!

Follow the steps

Follow the simple toilet training tips in my blog 9 simple steps to toilet train your puppy (click to read)

The key is to take them out after every significant event or change – eating, drinking, waking from sleeping or a nap, playing etc.

And at least as often as the table below (these are approximate ages and durations they can go without going to the toilet):

Age                        Daytime               Overnight

8 weeks               1-1.5 hrs              3-4 hrs

10 weeks             2-3 hrs                  4-5 hrs

12 weeks             3-3.5 hrs              5-6 hrs

16 weeks             4 hrs                      6-7 hrs

Never, EVER tell them off

It’s up to us to teach them with love, patience and kindness! Never, EVER punish after an ‘accident’ anywhere. Would you rub a baby’s nose in something nasty? They don’t learn anything from being told off. Other than to be scared of you and that they should try and do it where you can’t see them.

Think they look ‘guilty’ after having an accident because ‘they know they did something bad’? Nope! That look says they’re scared of you because they’re worried you’ll tell them off.

The mistake was ours in not taking them out at the right time, or not spotting the subtle signals they were giving us. Or just expecting too much, too soon.

Lots of praise – they did it right!

Whatever toilet training method you are using make sure there is lots of praise and treats when they go where you want them to go. Let them know they did a great thing!

A couple more things…

If you need to leave your puppy in a safe area, for longer than you know they will be able to ‘hold it’, puppy pads are a good choice to help the clean-up. Having them in a small space with just enough room for their bed and the puppy pad to the side.

They can also be useful to grab if you need to pick-up your puppy if they start to go in the wrong place. But they will need to be close at hand for this to help!

All of these basics of toilet training can also be applied to an older dog if they haven’t learned toilet training at an early age.

Need more help?

See my blog Puppy Toilet Training in 9 Easy Steps (CLICK TO READ) for more puppy toilet training tips.

If you need help with any aspect of your puppy training, book a FREE 15 minute discovery call with Niki

Check out the City Doggo Oui Oui Patches https://www.citydoggo.com/?ref=PUPTALK