We are often asked, should we use potty pads? And if not, what to use instead of potty pads? We typically encourage anyone with a puppy to get their puppy going to the bathroom outside. However, there are some exceptions. Let’s get started by discussing when you should potty train your puppy inside.
When should you potty train your puppy inside?
If you live high up in a high rise building, have mobility issues and have a toy breed puppy, it’s probably more practical to potty train your puppy inside the house. But in these situations, we still wouldn’t recommend using potty pads. Instead, you can use fake turf, which you can find at Home Depot or Amazon.
What is the problem with potty pads?
When potty training your puppy, you are teaching them that it is not okay to go potty inside the house. Potty pads teach your puppy that it is appropriate to go potty inside the house.
Potty pads are also absorbent. This is confusing because it can be similar to house hold items. Your puppy may see little difference between an absorbent potty pad and a shower mat or an area rug. It can be difficult for puppies to tell the difference between items with similar textures, including when a puppy chews on a pillow or your children’s toys because it feels similar to a plushie toy.
Some puppy’s do learn to go potty on potty pads with no issues. But we have also seen many instances where clients or friends who have puppy’s who were trained on puppy pads, and it becomes an issue when they get older.
Our advice is to teach your puppy to go potty outside. It can be challenging to potty train your puppy, so you should remember three steps to potty training.
Three steps for potty training
Positive reinforcement
It’s important to teach your puppy that going potty outside is good, so you can reinforce this behavior. You can do this by giving them a treat and praise when they go potty outside. Just remember to give your puppy plenty of time to be outside when on a potty break, as they can go potty more than once.
Always monitor your puppy inside the home
You should always watch your puppy when they are inside or have them confined in a safe place such as a dog crate. It will be much harder to potty train your puppy if they have free reign, as they can wander into other rooms to go potty and you may not notice in time to correct them.
Have a consistent water and food schedule
It’s very important to be consistent with training, if you notice your puppy going potty inside you should verbally them no and take them outside. If they go potty outside, you should provide positive reinforcement to associate good things happen when they go potty outside.
We are here to help
Do you need help potty training your puppy, or would like high level obedience training, teach good manners or address problem behaviors such as resource guarding or touch sensitivity?
You can contact our Pet Behavior Team for a free consultation, where we can chat with you and provide a personalized recommendation that meets your needs. We recommend you check out our puppy training blog or our TikTok channel.
Beyond the Dog offers board-and-train programs and virtual training programs to clients in Houston and to clients nationwide. While our Houston location offers personalized one-on-one training sessions, including training at your home and local Houston neighborhood
We use scientifically proven training methods, backed by over 20 years of hands-on experience. Beyond the Dog Houston is led by our co-founders, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Sean Savage, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA).
