Potty pads and going outside, can they be taught to go on pads as a second learning???

It is possible, Idid it, but in a rather strange way. 
 
First Misty was trained to go outside.  But, she had accidents when she was on the second floor of our house, her training seemed to cover only the first floor.  Her accidents were always in the same place in the spare bedroom.  So, I cleaned that carpet, put piddle pads in the spot, and when she'd go in there to go, I'd follow her and praise her for going on the pads.  Then, I started moving the pads around upstairs, and she would go to them, not the old spot.  If you do not have a scenario like this, I'm not sure how you could dual train.  Maybe have pads outside and when you know the dog absolutely has to pee immediately (like first thing in the morning), take the dog out and place it on it and give the "go pee" command.  After a few weeks of that, slowly move them towards the house.  It's tough tho, to keep it clear in their minds that peeing inside is unacceptable.... except for the pad.  I do not use pads on the first floor of our house, only upstairs.  The one time I tried to use them on the first floor it caused confusion. 
 
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Thanks, that is kind of how I started using them also. I found a spot where one of my girls went and cleaned it and put the pads there and also in a couple of other spots. I have not noticed any accidents in the house except on the pads now. Seems someone is using all of them so which ever it is they know to use the pads. I just hope/wish, they all knew this just incase of bad weather, which we get alot of here in Oregon, all of them could be trusted to use the pads. I will keep them down and working on it. Thanks again for your reply.

I wondered about this as well. In training my puppy for our first month we could take him out around the clock, but for the last week and a half we did not have that option for 4 hours during the day. (since I have a dog in the toy group they need to go out more often).

 We set him up in a puppy safe room with the training pads, but he only used it once,and want on the floor another time. I didn't praise him though for going on them ever... I was affraid he would go around looking for the pads instead of barking at me to go outside.

I can understand bad weather (I live in Canada), but rain, shine, thunderstorm, whatever, he goes outside when I'm home and so far I have not had issues. I think its a personal choice, sort of like having a dog go in a litter box.

(edited for spelling)

Gosh, sometimes it rains so hard here they look out and look at me like "uh, no way am I going out in that!" LOL. Since I have 5 dogs now its hard to follow them all around with the umbrella. Just seemed they would wait to go inside instead of get wet. I keep inching the pads over and soon hope to have them in just one spot. But for now it seems to be working. Thanks!