Housetraining on Pee Pee Pads

[Christine + Ellie]

My mini doodle Ellie is finally getting the hang of going on pee pee pads. From the beginning I laid out two pads in my apartment - one in the foyer close to the door and another one in the living room. She's learned to go on both pads but I want her to get use to going to the one in the foyer until she can go outside.

How do I get her going only on one pad? (specifically the one in the foyer)

If I forget to replace any of the pads, she just goes in the area where the pad would normally be. How do I break this habit??

[Tricia, Shiloh, Fenway & Tessie]

That is exactly why I was afraid to train with pee pads. I have a friend who uses them and she can't stop because the dogs never stopped going pee where the pad should be. I'll be interested in hearing if anyone has a good idea to break that habit, I'll pass it on to my friend, too.

[Christine + Ellie]

Yeah - that was my concern as well training on pads. Because I live in NYC, the vet didn't recommend Ellie to go outside because she wasn't fully vaccinnated. (She's 10 weeks now) I'm counting down the days she can go outside.

[Michele Barton]

I would try moving the pad in the living room a little closer (maybe by 2 feet or so) to the foyer each day until it's in the same spot as the pad in the foyer. That way, when she wants to use the living room pad, she'll see it and go on it instead of its former spot. Years ago, before there were puppy pads, this worked for me with newspaper. Good luck! Ellie is really adorable!

[Adina P]

What is your goal ultimately? Do you plan on using pee pee pads for good?

[Christine + Ellie]

Nope, I want to ultimately have Ellie go outside

[Adina P]

I think the transition can get very tricky then. I've never lived in a big city with a pup and I've never used pee pads (except an unsuccessful attempt when I would keep Rosco in an exercise pen surrounding his open crate during his first week with us) so I don't speak from experience.

But what it seems most people say is that it is better to start training puppy exactly how you want him trained NOW rather than wait and add confusion later. On the other hand Jane (with Noah and Sherlock) lived in NY city until recently and seemed to find them useful. Yet I know others who have no yard and just walk their dogs out for potty. I would just be afraid of forming a difficult to break habit and a preference for pee pads vs. outside.

[Christine + Ellie]

I had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy. I'm wondering now that Ellie is 10 weeks and had her 2nd shot (vet said she was 85% vaccinated) that maybe I could take her outside and test her and have her get use to it. Or, does anyone think that's not such a good idea?

[Adina P]

Well, I suppose if you wait till she's done with vaccines you could just start fresh...that might be okay. And in the meantime really control access to your home so she doesn't get too much free running around to practice peeing in the wrong place.

I would ask your vet about Parvo outbreaks near you and if he's seen much this year.
With vaccines it isn't so much about % vaccinated. From what I understand (and do check with your vet) after each Parvo vaccine either the dog becomes immune or nothing. Between the time puppy is weaned to the time vaccines are done...there is a window where mother's immunity is too weak to protect puppy but strong enough to make the vaccine useless. We don't know the exact time that is, that's why vaccines are given several times. In reality if you'd gotten an unvaccinated pup at 16 weeks...I don't think you'd have to repeat the vaccines several times...but I'm not 100% sure. Anyone else know for sure?

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I know NYC is different, but my vet said I can take her outside to the same spot everyday until 16 weeks. We don't go to the big communal area, just the area right outside of my door. Hardly any dogs are there except 1 or 2 in my condo compIex and I know they are well taken care of. I agree with Adina - follow your vet's advice. It wouldn't be worth the risk. I know this is frustrating to you. It is frustrating to me that I can't walk her around yet! Same area every day gets boring for her and my other dog.

[Tante & Jordan & now Annie!]

DO NOT PAD TRAIN!! LOL, I have an almost 4 yo 70p LD who is pad trained.She came to us a 9w pad trained. We thought it was great but..... she still uses the pad, all four I have to put down because she cant just use one.(When Jordan goes I swear she moves around to get her pee on each pad) Jordan only uses the pad at night.I would say at least 3x a week I wake up to a used pad.Yes, I take Jordan out before bed, and DH when he comes home (or so he says). Sometimes her pad will still be warm. Erks the me to no end!
I did the whole bringing the pad closer to the door but what I found worked is if I gave her treats the for using the potty. I think you could get it down to one spot.I did with Jordan. Give treats when she goes on that pad, and I would Nature's Miracle the heck out of the spot where the "old" pad was and put something there to block her. It is where she was taught to go,you cant really fault them for going where they were taught.
I hope this helps you out.
Any questions ask.
Tante

[Sonja]

We used the pee pads and have been very glad we did...for several reasons. It was winter, way below zero, when we brought our puppy home at ten weeks. We also had a week of staying with a relative and in a motel before we made it home. We put the pads in the bathrooms and she picked up on it really fast. We kept the pee pads on the floor by the front door and all the bathrooms in our house. I started picking up a pad at a location one at a time. Maizy used the floor a couple of times in the old pad location, but pretty soon she stopped. If I caught her heading to the old location, I'd grab her and run with her and plop her down on the pee pad. She is now six months old and always goes outside..but she wasn't totally free of the pads until four and a half months old. She would choose to go outside, but if we didn't get her out for some reason she used the pad in the bathroom. But, we have an interesting side to her training on pee pads....if she needs to go while we are traveling and there is nothing but concrete parking lots around, we have put down a pee pad and she instant uses it...I really don't see any down side to using the pads for training like some others have said. I used to train our other dogs with newspapers and I think the pads are way better. Maizy only had one or two accidents on our carpet during her whole training time, so in my opinion they work great.

[Tante & Jordan & now Annie!]

My DH would agree with you 100%,he loves that Jordan is pad trained.