Quote:
Originally Posted by lemonlauren  I posted this to another thread awhile back, but hopefully it might be helpful to you too.
Hello :-) I wondered about this whole pee pad thing at first too. They sound so convenient! But I ended up choosing to housebreak outside only, and I would have chosen that even if I lived in a really cold climate too. I totally understand why many people use pee pads, and I'm not knocking it, and there are definitely situations where it's necessary (like for people who have to leave their pups alone for more than a few hours every day, or people who live in an apartment where it's a big ordeal to get to the outdoors). But for a regular situation where you CAN train to go outside only, that would be my choice.
First, dogs that are pee pad trained can temporarily (or in rare cases permanently) confuse pee pads with rugs. I'd rather just have indoors be completely off-limits, no exceptions. Pee-pad trained dogs, from what I've read, also seem to more commonly have trouble in other people's houses, just like they will tend to have trouble if you move the pee pad in your house from one spot to another. Add to that the extra expense and waste of disposable pee pads, or the extra time and grossness of constantly having a load of pee and poop cloth pads to run through your washer. Plus, you'll have pee and poop in your house all the time - either you'll be constantly picking up the pads to dispose of them or wash them, or you'll have the smell of doggie pee and poo in the air in your home.
And so, although pee pads sounded convenient, I thought that the cons of pee pads outweighed the pros, for my situation anyways. |
I just want to offer a counterpoint:
A dog who is taught to potty outside may have issues such as not knowing what grass is acceptable and what grass isn't. (Same type of issue as having problems with moving an indoor pad or someone else's house.)
As for the grossness factor: whether indoors or out you should be picking up the poop and disposing of it properly (in toilet or bagged up and trashed). If you do this, there isn't an issue of a poop smell in the house or poop in your washer.
If (general) you aren't picking up the poop in your yard, then essentially you've given over your yard to become the dog's toilet. I find that kind of gross.
Our back yard is more than a dog's toilet. We and our DD 3yrs old play outside in the yard almost daily, often with bare feet. I am very proud of my garden and my DH is very proud of his lawn. We entertain out there often.
If my pup starts peeing all over the place the lawn will start to yellow, and that grass we love to walk, play and lay in will essentially be no different from walking over used pee pads. Ick!
Cost factors: Yes, pee pads can be costly. But unless you recycle other baggies for picking up the poop in your yard or on walks, you are buying bags for that as well. If you use reusable pads, they go through your washer and come out clean. They do not contaminate your washing machine.
Just some other things to think about!
