I think some of it depends on your situation: do you live in a house, or an apartment (particularly one that isn't on the first floor)? Do you live in a place with really cold winters? Will your dog have to be alone a lot during the day? If so, pad training might be the most convenient.
We have pad trained our Yorkie and Maltese, but we also take them outside. When we move from our apartment to a house, I would love to train them to go outside more, but we need the pads for when we are at work. I didn't find that it confused either of them to use pads and outdoors--they use the pad in the apartment, but will go on the grass if we're outside. The downside is they haven't learned to "tell" us they have to go to the bathroom, they just go to their pad.
No matter what you do, just remember to be patient--your puppy will get it, but it will take consistency and effort on your part. |