Puppy Pee Pad Training

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Puppy Pee Pad Training

Posted : 8/21/2006 4:58:34 PM

Hi Guys!

I just brought home my mini schnauzer this past weekend. He's 8 weeks old and doggy door trained. I am trying to train him indoors using doggy pee pads. I live in a loft and I don't want to take him outside yet to do his business until he gets all his shots or at least his second set of shots. There are other dogs on the property that take care of their business outside in the same grassy area so I don't want the little guy to catch anything. So in the meantime, I want to train him to use the pee pads for his potty needs. The trouble I am having is that I am afraid he might think the pee pads are blankets! He tends to sit there or lay down on the pee pads when I put him there after he wakes up from his naps. Then, he'll run off all and start looking around for a spot to go. And he goes everywhere but the pee pads. I'll clap my hands and say NO when I see him in the act and he'll get startled and stop. Then, I put him on the pad and he goes. Of course, I praise him afterwards. But I am wondering if these pee pads are a good idea or if I should just use newpapers. He's just been with us a couple of days so I'm sure it'll take time. Anyone use these pee pads to train their pups? Any advice or suggestion is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Pickleweed [

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Nicole B

Posted : 8/21/2006 11:53:06 PM

It has been my experience with the potty pads that the dog would rather chew them up than use them for their business. I don't know if it's the slight crinkle or the smell or what, but our 1 year-old adopted Beagle loves to tear the things up. We've had her about a month and a half now, and we've had the best luck with newspaper. What we've been doing is putting a couple sheets of newspaper on top of the potty pads because they protect the floor better than the paper and are more absorbent, and she's been pretty consistent since we started doing that about two weeks ago. For some reason she also won't tear them up if they are covered by the newspaper.
As a side-note - you can get potty pads at Target as well as the pet supply stores. I recently discovered that a 50 pk. of pads at Target was a little more than $7.00, while a 14 pk. at Petco was $10.00. They're the same size, but the ones at Target are made by Arm & Hammer. She doesn't seem to have a preference, and I'd much rather buy them cheaper at Target. We go through a lot of them since she's home alone while we're at work. We tried crating her, but she has separation anxiety still and it gets worse when she's confined to small spaces.
Someone gave me some advice I feel is worth passing on - it might help keep you from going insane: things will get worse before they get better, and you need to learn to be content with SMALL improvements.
Good luck & keep up the efforts!

shi yip

Posted : 8/22/2006 12:52:39 PM

Thanks nicole for your reply! Yea, we discovered those pee pads at Target too, and that's what we've been using...the Arm & Hammer ones! They are so much cheaper than Petco! I am going to try the newspaper on top of the pee pads because I was doing some more reading and some of the other people have said that the puppy can't tell the difference of the pee pad from a blanket. They feel the same to him.

Pickleweed