Just Curious About Pee Pads
 

I'm training my new pup to do his business outside, and I really doubt that will change, but all this talk about pee pads has me really curious. The only reason I can think of to use pee pads is that you don't have to take your dog out often, or when you don't feel like it, or when you're unable to (because of work maybe). Are there other pros to pee pads versus outside?

Also, and I'm just curious here... How much do you guys spend on pee pads, say like in a month? I know there are some washable ones out there, which sounds like a cool idea (my mum used washable cloth diapers on me when I was a baby, lol), but I'm talking about the disposable ones. What is the extra cost?

And, if you're reading this thread and you're an outside potty only kind of person, why? Why not pee pads? Why not a combo?

I look forward to hearing more about the decisions Yorkie owners have made about their furkids potty habits, and the costs and benefits of each. Like I said, just a curiosity thing.

Thanks :-)

Lauren & Nikko

I always trained my puppies to go outside, until I got Cali, 3 years ago. Right now I have Maya my pom who is almost 12 years old and only trained to fo outside, Cali who will only use pee pads, as she was trained on them from a puppy since she was so little and with winter in Chicago it seemed the best way to go. She trained really well to them. Then I got Pixie who was 13 months and not housebroken at all. I got her in January and she had never been outside so she was trained to use pee pads, she never really took to it and after I had her about 9 months she decided to go outside like Maya. She has never been completely housebroken, if she doesn't go outside she will go on the bathroom rug so I change it all the time. Roxie is pad trained and will only use them and not go outside.
Ideally I would like to have them all use both but with 4 dogs none of them will use both.
I find that my dog that was trained to only go outside, she can hold it longer and never had accidents until recently due to her age and illnesses. My others who I started out on pads, have accidents and will not go potty outside. The pads are convenient when you are not home or at night. Now that my Pom is sick I have to let her out sveral times a night so it would have been nice if she would use them at night. I use the Out brand from Walmart that cost 7.00 for 32 pads. I go through 2 packs a month since I have 2 pads down.

I'm still training my dog and my intentions were to train her to go outside only. However, as soon as we brought her home at 12 weeks and she had accidents on the floor I laid down newspaper. I didn't even have to show her what to do, she just ran to it and did her business. So I figured she must have been taught to do that early. Anyway, I narrowed down the number of newpapers to just one and put it by the back patio door. I figured this way when we see her go there we could just take her out. Well, I have to be honest, there have been so many times that I am grateful she will use newpaper! She seems to go all the time and there is just no way I could take her out as often as she seems to go. I'm hoping this changes as she gets older. I do take her outside still if the weather isn't too bad, but living in Indiana it gets COLD! Pita hates to go out in the cold. So now I still am not sure about "outside only" I think there are advantages doing a combination of the two. I guess I'll have to see how it works out!

I'm still wanting to housebreak Mahina but it's been getting a bit cold out, I HATE when it's cold, so I've been putting it off. If I do take her out, she'll go, it's just me being lazy "/

I have to change the pad sometimes everyday, sometimes every other day. I also have a washable pee pad underneath because she seems to always pee right on the edge. I think she's starting to realize she can also pee on the washable one which makes her go on my carpet. ARGH... I gotta get her trained.

I buy a 56 pack for 15 bucks at Pet Club (I don't know if you have one around you). They were the best price I've seen in surrounding places and they're super absorbent. Each pack lasts almost two months.

I think that even if she is housebroken I'll keep a potty pad down for her whenever I'm gone.

My dog is pad trained but also goes outside if I take him.

I got him last winter when he was 12 weeks, and so that is why I started pad training him.

He learned pretty quickly with the pad training. When I started to take him for walks, (morning/evening) he would use the bathroom as well. But I always kept the pad available because I noticed that he will pee on it every so often inside.

Sometimes he will not go #2 outside during our walks, and he will come back inside and use the pad. He tends to be very picky about where he goes for some reason haha.

So at this point he uses both methods, which I'm pretty happy about. He doesn't really get confused either, if he is inside, he will use the pad, if he is outside and needs to go, for the most part, he will go outside.

For pads, I buy the huge box of it (150 pads) and they last me MONTHS. I still have a lot left. I bought it on sale at Petsmart for like $30-40. Not the best pads (they leak through sometimes)...but I use the pad holder with it so its no problem for me.

I'm in the middle of phasing out the pee pads and just taking Ollie outside to use the bathroom. I think the pee pads are confusing him into thinking he can use the bathroom anywhere in the house...

I trained Crystal to pee pads for these horrible cold Ohio winters especially in the morning. We both loved to walk so she would pee on her walks as well. We loved spring and fall since we could stay out as long as we wanted and visit with everyone. I always got mine at Walgreens in the dept where they sell Depends. The packs with 20 are lg. and you can cut in half but I usually was able to get the 40 in a pack for $7.99 sometimes $8.99. If you're in a warm climate I can see how it might not be as necessary but if you want to leave for a few hrs, their tiny bladders fill very fast and they feel more at ease that they have a correct place to relieve themselves. Good Luck if you go ahead with it. Joan

Mine go out even in the winter and the snow. Obviously this only works if you don't leave them for more than like 4-5 hours without a break - I would never expect a Yorkie to hold it 8 hours, but Loki is 4 now and we've always worked it out. Loki pees a gallon a day so we could never do pads even if we wanted to. Yes it's a pain to let them out (we don't/can't have a fence so I stand in the door or on the porch with leashes) but it's better than having them go in the house. I know lots of people on here like to use them but I don't think I could do it.

P.S. My dogs are 100% house trained. Meaning they wait by the door for someone to let them out (they ring a bell). They also do this at OTHER houses. A lot of times pads teach them it's OK to go in the house - anywhere in the house - and they don't ever get completely trained. Now Loki is super smart and can learn anything in 2 minutes, but Sammy isn't the brightest (she makes up for it in cuteness and personality!) and we still got her trained. It just took a while.

we tried the pee pads but my 2 year old decided he would let us know that there was poop on it every time by picking it up and giving it to us. also it seemed that the dogs would just take any chance they could to take off with it. so that was it they now have to go outside. outside is best it doesnt stink my house up and we have a very large yard that they can use. its just easier for me and my family to do the outside thing. both of my pups hold it all night and i let them out in the morning when i get up to go to work and then when i am home for lunch and when i get home at the end of the day then again while we are eating dinner and again right before kennels and bed. which it works out to be about every 2-4 hours during the day and about 8-10 hours at night. we feed them at 7 when i leave for work and again about noon and then again at about 5. so by the time they are ready for their bed time they go one last time and are usually ok because they havent had anything for 3-4 hours. hope this helps ya

I hear ya on the Ohio winters! We've already had tons of snow!

I trained mine for both because of the winters, and they don't like going out in the rain. I put a jacket on them and take them for walks when it's cold, but if we're getting a snowstorm or the snow is really deep, they go on the pads. Also, I am ill alot so this helps if I'm unable to take them out. Once hubby comes home, he makes a path with the snowblower so they can still go out, but not if the temps are really cold.

I get the large packs with 100 pads which are about $22 and they last 3-4 months because they don't always use the pads, only in bad weather, in the middle of the night if they have to go, and when we aren't at home.

I think everyone has their own preference to fit their lifestyle. For us, I trained Abby on pee pads. We both work full time and that way she can go on the pad whenever she needs to go. She still goes outside when we walk her. After Max was killed by a coyote last year when I took him out to potty, I was so protective over Abby when I got her, I just trained her to go indoors. I can get a package of 50 for $10 at Walgreens.

I have not yet had a puppy that didn't tear up those pee pads. So, I felt like they were a waste of money. I always train for them to go outside. I have used baby diapers and cut a hole for the tail. It helped train my young lady to go and sit at the door because that was where I took the diaper off for her to go outside. In my house, there are always people coming and going so my dogs never have to go more than 2-3 hours for a potty break. If they had to wait longer than that I would likely consider something else though.

I am struggling with this whole issue as well. Reggie is 16 weeks old and and weighs 4 lbs. I have always crate trained my dogs before but Reggie is the first small dog I have owned and he is totally different. First of all, he came down with intestinal parasites the day after I got him at 8 weeks old and had diarrhea off and on for a while until the meds started kicking in. So the crate training was out the window because he would get so stressed over it that the diarrhea was getting worse. I bought him a puppy playpen and put a wee wee pad in it, his crate without the door on it and some food and water. This worked well for his first few weeks. Around 12 weeks we started letting him stay in the kitchen with a nursery gate over the door way so he could have more room to roam as I was starting to work again as a substitute teacher. He really likes it in the kitchen, has a soft bed in there and l left him plenty of toys, food and water. About 2 weeks ago he decided to start shredding his wee wee pads. Now I am totally frustrated because he tears them up on every turn and tends to want to eat pieces of them. I tried newspapers and he tore them up as soon as I put them down. I don't know what to do now. I have tried taking him outside a few times but he is clueless as to what to do out there and it is cold here now as well. Where does one get the reusable wee wee pads? That might be an option for me when I have to leave him since he couldn't eat them. I am sure he would still play with them though as he likes to steal towels from the clean laundry basket and play with those.

A few years back, I had a shih tzu, she got run over on my lot line, by some neighbors. A few years later, i got another shih tzu, I started out by training her on newspaper, then switched to the pee pads, I now have 4 little ones trained to pee pads. As far as I'm concerned, they're great. I don't have to be on a schedule, they don't have to learn to hold their pee, if they have diarrhea, they can most of the time get to their pads, they don't have to go out in the rain/snow, which always makes them smell, they don't have to be bathed as often, which is better for their hair, and I can go away for the night, leave down pads, fresh water/food, and they're good to go. the only downfall is having poop on the pads to clean up, but, we have 2 outside dogs, and we clean up after them, so it really doesn't bother me cleaning up after them..:)

LOL :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Thanks for your posts everybody... When I was getting ready to own a dog, the thought of using pee pads had never even crossed my mind. But when I started frequenting this site, it seems like so many people use them! I was really surprised. ... my little Nikko, who is still getting over coccidia and who also has started sneezing snot out his nose several times a day, just shivers and looks so pitiful whenever I have to take him out at night when it's cold. Sometimes I wish I could lay out a pee pad and tell him, "if it's too cold to go outside, you can go on this if you want!" But he wouldn't understand, and I'm sure it would just confuse the potty training issue horribly in his head - probably like what you're going through, anjsmiles. Good luck with Reggie (cute name btw), and thanks again to everybody for all the posts about the pros and cons of pee pads. I like hearing specific stories about why you all made the decisions you did. :-)

Lauren & Nikko

I'm cheap and outside is free! lol
Even though I pick up Hiro's poop in teeny zip lock bags it's still (but not much @_@) better for the environment than to use pads.

^^;

Skipped the wee wee pads
 

:) My Junior who is 14 weeks old totally skipped the whole wee wee pads.. I tried to train him on them because its cold here in NYC and he wasnt fully vaccinated..but he would go every where but on them... so i started to train him to go outside and he is perfect! as long as i keep him on a regular schedule he wont have any mistakes... but it is 31 degrees right now and taking him out is painful for me because its soo cold but he loves it and never wants to come inside... so for some dogs it works and wee wee pads are the best and for other dogs like mine. I did buy an 80 count of wee wee pads for 25.00.. i have 60 left .. just sitting there...

Used piddle pads for years
 

I presently have 5 toy dogs (2 Yorkies). I've been using piddle pads for my dogs for many years. I take them all outside first thing in the morning, then they use the pads for the rest of the day.
I use the washable ones called "piddle pads." I have 12 of them so I have plenty on hand. I just throw the dirty ones in the washer every night (no softener).
I used to use the paper pads but found that they were a lot messier and the dogs prefer the piddle pads.

I use biodegradeable pee pads

I have to say I do it more out of convience for me, and it fits my life style. I have family and friends that think it is just awful. I think it is no different than a cat going in a litter box. I live in KY and it gets really cold here in the winter, I didn't like going out in snow anymore than she did and in the summer I would take her out and she would come back in covered in ticks. I think most would agree that it is hard to potty train a yorkie. Atleast with the pee pads I don't have to clean up accidents as often. My little girl just turned two, while in her ex-pen she goes on the pee pad no problem, but now when she has the run of the house and has to go, for the most part, she will go back to her ex-pen and use the pee pad. Of course there is an occasional accident.

Sounds like my little girl, she is so funny, when she has to go potty, although I have 2 pads down, besides the one in her pen, she goes in her pen to go.

Outside is still free! :D

Yes, and to me, there are more cons than pros of them going outside.