Inside or Outside?
 

For the past few weeks, I've been debating on whether to potty train my new pup inside or outside. My house is 2 stories, and I have a backyard with a pool and a grass area. Yet I've heard some puppies like to pee on the disposable pads.

I can't seem to decide on what to try since there's so many pros and cons on the both.

What method do you guys use?

well being it is two story I would probley do inside...it is hard either way lol. I know some do both, potty inside and take them out to potty too.

How about using a grass mat and then they can go in and out?

I have a doggie door that goes to a small enclosed dog yard which they use most of the time. But if the weather is bad they refuse to go out, so I also use washable potty pads.

If you have a backyard in a house, then I would totally say outside!
I don't like pee/poop in the house, PERIOD, lol. :)
I had never heard of a dog (besides a puppy) using the pee pads until this website. lol. That's no offense to people who use them, I understand they can be really convenient especially for apartment living, etc... but I don't want my dog to think peeing/pooping in the house is acceptable at all, even on a pad.

I think when they are first being trained it is best to do it inside. Most pups don't have all their shots yet and shouldn't go outside. But either way, I don't think it is about inside or outside, but rather teaching them the "potty" command in itself. Once they know what "potty" means they will go wherever you tell them to. Just like ourselves, we can go if we make ourselves go, even though we can wait a bit more.

Uni goes inside, in the sun room, so it's not directly in our living space. But when we go on walks, she will go outside too if i tell her to, or if she wants to mark something.

Before at our old house, when we would come home from work, she would go pee in the downstairs bathroom, then run upstairs and go poop in the upstairs bathroom! Also during that time when we were visiting MIL on the weekends, early in the morning she would get out of bed and go in the (empty) closet where her pads were and go in there, then come back to bed. i wouldn't even have to take her to go potty, she would take herself. LOL

Just got an account today as we are new Yorkie owners. We had a Maltese for 7 years (died last August) So we purchased another Maltese last year. We have done the wee pads for 8 years and love it. Its nice to know that if you end up staying out longer then you thought your dog can still go potty.
We decided to get another pup so last week we got a 10 week old female yorkie (2.2lbs) now 11 weeks and 2.4lbs. so here we are again working on potty training again! I love having puppies, but sooo much work.
We used the crate / kennel training method and it worked pretty well. For some reason our Maltese started having accidents now that we have a new pup. We have 4 boys under 7 and are leaving town for a week monday so we are sending the Maltese to doggy boot camp for 6 weeks to be re potty trained along with all the basic commands (would do ourselves but pretty busy with all the kids).

Now off topic a bit. I have looked at growth charts and read a lot, just wondering how accurate they have been for most Yorkies. I think it shows ours should be about 6 pounds, same as our Maltese. Pretty accurate or a little bit of everywhere? Of course I would love her no matter what, but would be nice to have her in the 4-6 pound range.

Ty

:thumbup: I agree.

I'm debating this myself.

Brody is 12 weeks now, and he seems to take naturally to going outside in the yard, and going as soon as he's let out of "his area." So while we have him in his crate in an xpen with pee pads, if we leave his crate door open it seems he thinks the whole xpen is "his area" and will wait until we take him out to play and *then* he goes. :sigh

I'd rather have him trained to go only on pads, but I am so confused as to what to do. Right now he seems to just go anywhere he pleases.

I mean, if he seems to know and feel comfortable going outside in the yard, I would take advantage! ;)

If you do a Search on the forums for Potty Training, you will find a gazillion good tips on potty training! :) There's some good advice on here.

Mine go outside only. Yes in the snow. Yes in the rain. Yes at 7am. I let them out, feed them and go back to sleep. Sam is 6lbs and Loki is 13lbs. We did not get Sammy until she was 10 months old and we still got her trained in 6 months. They ring a bell. We also have a 2 story house, although no fenced yard (that would be nice!) we have a townhouse and they go outside on Flexi leashes to the tiny front lawn and then on regular leashes for walks (once a day, if I feel up to it and the weather is nice) True, they can't be left alone for more than 5 hours but we are rarely gone that long and if we are, they either come with us, go to grandmas, or someone comes to let them out.

IDEAL would be a doggie door & dog run. Loki goes outside 20 times a day and he would happily let himself out!!!

Anyway, it's possible. And I don't know that dogs actually "prefer" a pad, but can problem be trained to use one. The nice thing about grass is it smells/feels different than carpets, which seem quite similar to a pad to a dog :rolleyes:

Whatever works for you!
 

My dogs from the past were outside trained only....I lost my
Bichon of 13 years last Memorial weekend from congestive heart failure. Bella (part Yorkie/Maltese) and 4.8 lbs. came to me September and was pad trained within 1 week. She is almost 1 year now with very few accidents. I am an apartment dweller and having her pad trained lessens my concerns about other dogs in the area and what they may or may not carry. I don't worry about whether the property was sprayed without my knowledge. I am not concerned when my work prevents me from arriving home on time to let her out. And when it snows several feet I am not out shoveling her an area to use at 11:30 p.m.

When traveling with her at pet friendly hotels, B&B's, or the homes of friends or family I bring a pad or two with us. She uses them without a problem. Bella will go outside if we are traveling by car and need to make a rest stop but prefers her pad.

My advise would be to choose the method that you will be comfortable with. You will figure it out and if one doesn't work try the other. Enjoy the process together and best to you and your newest addition.

Honey Bear is trained both pee pee pads and outside. She never sat at the door and "acted" like she had to go out. I had a German Shepherd, Nova, that would sit by the door or come get you to let her out. But Honey Bear never gave an indication she had to go. So hubby and I decided to leave her pee pee pad out. She will use the pad when she needs to go. We take her outside on a regular schedule. She knows to go outside and when we are out and about she knows to go when we walk her on the leash with harness. I love that she can do both. It gets pretty cold in Alaska during winter. I don't like the idea of taking her out in below zero temps this winter although I'm pretty sure she will love the snow! She does have a winter jacket and booties....hubby thought that was ridiculous when I bought them!

Mine go inside and outside .

At home Remy goes inside and outside. The inside situation is more convenience for me, I live in a condo in the city. He only uses the pad in the early AM or very late night when he does not go outside.

At my office, he only goes outside and when he "sleeps over" my parents or girlfriends when I travel he only goes outside

I have been trying to train my yorkie for a week now to go outside I took the pad outside and he still just sniffs around won't go until I bring him in the house then he goes:confused:

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.

Thanks for the info I am working on training him outside although he is stubborn he does go if I leave him alone but it takes so long.

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! :)

Have you tried crate training?

Put him in the crate for a while before he usually has to go - then take him out to where you want him to potty and repeat the phrase you want to use (go potty, or whatever), don't play and don't leave him, just repeat the phrase, and if he goes then give him a treat and lots of praise. If he doesn't go in a few minutes, put him back in the crate for ten minutes. Then take him back outside and repeat the process. Again, if he doesn't go in a few minutes, he goes back in the crate. But once he does go be sure to give him a treat, lots of praise and then let him play for a while.

The first day or so of this you may feel like he's spending so much time in the crate (in and out and in and out) and it is a bit time consuming. But, it doesn't take too long for them to figure out that the key to getting the treat and praise and some freedom is to potty.

(This worked for my twelve week old pup, he learned in two days that he needs to go potty right when he comes out of his crate in order to get playtime.)

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how that is the same at all. My dogs ask to be let out no matter who's house they are at. No one I know is going to prefer I put a pad down and let the dog potty in the house, rather than let them out in the yard??? When they had an accident as a puppy, you could SMELL it , it stunk up the whole house!

The grass thing totally depends on your setup at home - If I had a house (we have a townhouse, no fence) I would totally have a separate "dog run" area with a doggie door so they could let themselves out. They could run around in the yard but then the majority of the cleanup could be contained. They only go in a small portion of the yard now and I pick it up every day or two. They don't use the large part of the lawn where our patio is. Besides, I try to walk them every day and they poop on their walk so really we are talking about once a day when they go first thing in the morning, that is not difficult to keep clean. A friend of mine trained her dog to only go to the waaaaay back of her yard where they don't walk.

(Also, people always say they use pads because they are NOT home, which means they are NOT cleaning it up right away anyway...)

My dogs have gone outside for 4 years in the same 10x10ish area and we've never had a yellow stained lawn.

I'm not saying you are wrong - it obviously works for you - I just don't want people who are new to house training to think that Yorkies must use pee pads. People who have never heard of it before come to this site and see that all of the dogs use pee pads and think they did something wrong. It's so strange. It's by far harder to teach because it's not as natural for dogs, they don't pick it up as quickly because there is little differentiation. (Dogs get stimulated by sniffing where they went last, or where another dog went, a fresh pad every time messes with this!) Besides, if they were any bigger we wouldn't even be discussing this. Plus, it totally depends on your setup at home - some people have big screened porches or laundry rooms where they can have pads and they are separate from the house. We would have to put one in the kitchen (eww) or the bathroom (eww) and I'd rather they just go outside. They don't *need* pads. They are a convenience for people (which is fine, as long as people know it's more difficult to train with them and why.) Plus, Loki for example pees a RIVER when he goes. He also walks and pees. He would soak through a pad 20 times a day. And he has bladder issues so he is the pee expert, and trust me he would rather go outside. He would really prefer to be able to let himself out! :D

My point is that even if some dogs take to pads and they work well for some people, MOST dogs are going to benefit from sniffing the grass, walking around and selecting a spot (and walking around while they do their thing, mine walk and pee, walk and poop... so do all the neighbor dogs so I know they aren't so strange) The routine of going outside gives them a clear indication of where they need to potty. You lose some of that with pads, especially when people just put them down and expect the dog to figure it out like a cat would with a litter box.

P.S. You don't have to train your dog to use grass - you can train them to use something like mulch - as long as it smells and feel different and you teach them to associate it with pottying. I know it works because I had to teach Loki that it was also OK to go on the mulch (not just the grass). You can reverse this and teach them mulch is OK and grass is not, for example, and still have the benefit of them going outside.

Amen! Totally agree.

I had never ever heard of people allowing their dogs to use pads in their house until I came to this website.

That's no offense to the people who use them, but I just personally am semi old fashioned when it comes to dogs (I can be over protective and a spoiler but otherwise... lol) and think a dog is a dog, they've ALWAYS gone outside. It's just what dogs do. If you had a Lab Retriever, you wouldn't even think of allowing it to potty in your house. Their poops are massive.

Besides, all the other wild animals are gonna come and poop and pee in our grasses and lawns too in the middle of the night, most likely. It's the outdoors, that's where wild animals live... it's what they're gonna do.

I like the idea of my dog being outside and inside trained on pee pads. I find it convenient when visiting if in a motel or in someones apt. I just take the pad to their washroom and put it down and he go's. He will also go on the grass as well.

I dont use the pee pads you buy though. I have what is called soakers and you can buy them in health supply stores. They are used in nursing homes on the beds for people that wet the bed. They are waterproof and I just wash them. They can be pricey but at least I dont have to go out and keep buying more.:)

Mine both go outside. I did try the pads with myah when she was little, but she wouldn't go on them. I got both dogs in February, and though it was COLD out, they both were going outside. In all types of weather they go out. We have a bell by the back door and they let me know when they want out. We also fenced in a area for them to go out...I just open the door and out they go. I watch from inside as Myah, comes right back in...Chloe' has to walk around forever before she goes.

We travel a lot with the dogs and even in the motels/hotels we don't have a problem with taking them outside.

I think you need to at least try and see what works out best for you.

Thanks guys for all the info! :D

It was a biggg help.

Tinky just came home last Thursday and she was partly trained to go on the wee wee pads. Sooo it was easier to adjust inside.
She's partly afraid to go outside so she's going to have to get used to it :rolleyes:

Thanks again!!

My 5 month old yorkie female, Harley, only goes outside. She's had about 3 accidents in the 3 months I've had her, which I think is pretty darn good, but thats mainly because she's never left alone. She's either with me & my husband, or she's in her pen so it's easier for me to keep up with. In addition, she's on a schedule for feeding and napping so I've just about got it down to a science as far as when she needs to go. Fortunately, for the last 2 weeks, she's been running to our front door and waiting patiently...LOL...In fact, just 2 days ago I was getting ready for work and she ran out of the bedroom. I told my husband that she was headed his way and she did just that...ran to the door and he asked her "you gotta go potty"? and she did a little turnaround and that was that...he let her out, and she went and came back to the door to be let in. I'm so proud of her....but it wasn't easy...and I still work with her everyday on other things. It takes a lot of patience and consistency....