# How do you train a dog to use a pee pad?



## Eyssa (Jul 28, 2008)

Basically, the subject tells it all. I've asked a similar question a while ago, about building a dog kennel right outside the back door so that the dogs could go out whenever they want via a doggie door versus pee pads. But building a kennel is out of the question now... We can't afford it but we can't leave the dogs outside for an extended period of time either. How are you to train dogs to use pee pads, especially when they have no chosen place to urinate around the house? Bambi, the youngest, isn't fully housetrained and still has accidents once in a while... Tori, our middle-aged girl, has broken her good habits for some reason and is peeing wherever she wants to, especially over night... and Callie, our elderly girl, was never housebroken to begin with and has to use a doggie diaper to make sure she doesn't soil the rug. I'm just not sure what to do in this situation. Pee pads appear to be the clearest choice, but I don't know where to begin.


----------



## Zoe (Oct 3, 2008)

It never worked for us, she tears it in pieces.... She was very quickly housebroken though, only had very few accidents the first week. We taped the training pads to the floor to avoid she would drag them around, and even then, as soon as we had put a fresh one down, not even a minute later, it was in pieces.

Are you crate training your dogs? It seems very strange to me that they all still think they can pee in the house. Our puppy has not chosen place in the backyard either, she goes in a few places, but will alert when wanting to be let out. Are you watching them sniffing, and catch them in the act? My mum used a crate with newspapers in it overnight for her dog, to give it an area to sleep, and an area to pee.

Not sure if it helps, but good luck either way!


----------



## Eyssa (Jul 28, 2008)

Our 10-month-old, Bambi, has a tendency to tear things to pieces... but surprisingly she hasn't done that to the pee pads. Now the problem lies with where to put them so she uses them, lol.

Bambi is fully crate-trained... she stays in there at night and when we can't supervise her closely. It's just a matter of letting her out often enough that she can go (we can't really let her loose alone in the house or she'll tear it to shreds). Tori was supposedly housebroken when we adopted her five years ago, but my dad has had her outside more often than not since then (despite my pleas). It was only recently that he decided she needs to stay in, since she got sick. She used to be the good one of the three, never peeing in the house and holding it til she got outside... and that was only a month or so ago! Now, since she got sick (she's getting better and moving around more), it seems like she either can't hold it long enough because she just pees where she wants to, and we don't have another crate to use for her. Callie, on the other hand, was never house broken. She's crate trained, because that's where she sleeps at night, but now to prevent her using the rugs she has to where a diaper. She used to bark at the door if she had to go... now she goes and then barks as if to say "look what I did, mom!" -sigh- It's getting rather irritating.

But yeah, they're all crate trained... Tori's the one I'm really concerned about now. She's been urinating a lot, and her pee is really yellow since she got sick on the stomach last Thursday. I don't know if she has a health concern, or if this is just an after affect her getting sick before.


----------



## sammies4787 (Oct 7, 2008)

Also, I just wouldn't recommend using a pee pad at all unless you absolutely and positively have to. Dogs descended from wolves, meaning their natural instinct is to go to the bathroom outside. It ends up taking longer to train the dog to go outside when you use a potty pad.


----------



## Eyssa (Jul 28, 2008)

That's the thing, though... there's no way we'll be able to wake up in the middle of the night to let her out, we'd never get any sleep if we had to do that. The only thing I can think of during the night is a crate, and the problem with that is that crates cost a lot of money and Bambi has to use the crate because she'll have the house a wreck in the morning if she doesn't... with not just urinating on the floor, but everything else in between as well as the entire house ripped to shreds (she's still in the puppy chewing phase). Other than the pee pads, I have no other option.


----------



## Zoe (Oct 3, 2008)

The crate has been THE BEST EVER thing we have bought for our puppy, and yes, getting up in the middle of the night, sometimes several times, is part of the learning process. You would do that for your child as well I would hope? Can you not take turns? It takes about a good month minimum, and then they have outgrown the housebraking process, they will last longer in the crate and warn you if they have urgent business to do. Put the crates where they can hear you, so you can relax them when needed. They will control your life. If you ask me, it's a price worth to pay if you consider the return you will get.


----------



## Eyssa (Jul 28, 2008)

We would get up in the middle of the night to let them up... _if_ they barked or let us know somehow. Tori just goes... She's never been one to let anyone know that she has to, not even to come in our rooms or nudge us. In fact, she usually just holds herself... and would until we let her out. Now, however, it's like she's forgotten and thinks she can go where she wants to. Of course, part of that may be because she is still getting over her sickness. Callie is the only one that will let us know if she has to go out... She's quite an avid barker. Bambi is alright... and has been. It's just Tori, the only one who _can't_ be crated (because we don't have any more crates to put her in), who is the problem.

I believe we've found the solution with the pee pads... Tori urinated on the floor at one point and I used the soiled paper towl that I had cleaned it up with to lay on the pad as a "point of reference". She used it that night and I haven't seen any soiling in the house since.


----------

