I am another exclusive pee pad user. When Sissy first came to us, she was an outside pottier, but would have at least one "accident" a day as she would not give my any signals she needed to go out. She never knew what to do with pee pads.

When Angel came to use a year later, she was pee pad trained as a puppy, but would also go outside. That winter was brutally cold and snowy and both girls began getting up in the middle of the night to potty and I had had enough of being outside in my jammies freezing to death!!!!!!

We transitioned to washable pee pads primarily because of the winter and middle of the night pottying, but have continued as we have very few accidents with the pee pads. It is also so much easier for traveling, cause going out of a hotel to potty isn't fun and it can be difficult to find a good place to let them out. We also had two incidents with giardia and I know it came from our yard. Sissy is under 5 lbs and Angel is just 5 lbs and although I have a fenced yard, they can still squeeze under the smallest space and hawks are regularly seen in the neighborhoods, so they were NEVER out without me anyway.

For those who wonder about washable pee pads, poop gets picked up and flushed immediately, but we use the pads for 2-3 days before washing and there is NO SMELL with quality pads - plus they look much nicer than disposables.

you could do what we do, we put up a very small chicken wire fence area attached to our house for potty breaks, we don't have a fenced in yard either, but i didn't want to always use a leash on her so this was the perfect solution, it's like a tiny fence just big enough for a yorkie. maybe you could try it too???

I didn't know that uncle A's hours got changed! that would be hard to hold it for too long. Sadie's max capacity so far has been tested at approx. 8 hours. i've never had to leave her for longer. we used to have the pads in the x pen just in case, but she can hold it all night long, so we knew she could hold it for the occasional one day every other week that she might have to be home 8 hours alone. we currently do not use any pee pads and she's got free reign of the kitchen all day gated off from the rest of the house. never had any accidents in there at all since letting go of the x pen. she's a good doggie. so for those that worry about being gone all day long, i think most dogs even small bladder dogs can hold it up to about 6-8 hours, i would never recommend going any longer without a back up plan. pee pads make great back up plans, i have nothing against using them when absolutely needed (for the dog's health especially), but i personally wouldn't use them because i didn't feel like taking her outside, but that's a personal choice, i don't like the pee/poop in the house one bit and never will accept it, i'll always make a way to get her outside so there's no animal waste in my home, but that's just me.

someone mentioned those grass pads for the inside back porch...i'm going to have a built in porch now around my walk out basement and i'm really thinking about those green grass pads for that space so it's still outside and on "grass" but i don't have to worry with the snow and mud. do those work well???? how do they work and can anyone explain them to me better??? where would i get one if i want to try it?

thanks so much

Cossettes Closet has it. Cosettes Closet main

Interesting thread to read everyone's points of view.
I never heard of them when I got Buddy. Have had dogs in
the past, all trained to potty outdoors so this was the only way
I knew. I am happy really I did'nt know about them. I may
have become alittle lazy and used them at times. Heavens
knows it would have been easier in the rain, sleet, snow
and ice. Especially getting up at six and staggering outdoors in
the rain dragging Buddy along because he also hates getting wet
and wearing his raincoat :( Going up and down 15 steps 4x
daily is good for my heart anyhow I'm told;)

We use the pee pads because we live on the top floor of an apartment, in a city, where it takes a good 10 minutes to walk to any type of grass--we don't even have a balcony UGHHH (I hate it and can't wait for a house!)

Lillie is 4 months and it took her maybe 1 whole week to learn to use the pee pad (we've had her for about a month and a half). At first, my fiance was against them and kind of got upset that I wanted to use the pee pads until he realized Lillies' schedule of waking up at 5am to go pee! HAHA. It's a lot easier to let her go to her pee pad than to have her hold it for another 15 mins. Basically, we only use these in the morning and before bed. During the day we do take her out frequently, however, she's crate trained when we are at work (I come home everyday on lunch to take her out and for a walk).

So, in all fairness, the pee pads are a great way to not really 'housetrain' your puppy/dog, but to keep them from going on the floor and to a dedicated spot if you live a gazillion miles away from any grass. HAHA!

Even when they have full bladders early in the morning it's only a wee bit of urine.

This will be my first winter with Caoimhe and I am dreading the Ohio snow + we just moved to Cleveland and we are kind of close to the lake on the west side. I hope that she will go out in the snow she has never used pee pads but I might have to get some.

HaHa I don't know about your furbutt , but Colt , my little 5lb chorkie can pee like a horse in the mornings. He keeps going and going and going. It amazes me LoL It reminds me of the part in Austin Powers where he comes out from being frozen and takes the forever long p*ss LoL Little guy must sleep pretty good to sleep through having to go that bad !

Mine use a pee pad when they are inside. They will not always let me know when they have to potty outside. I've tried all sorts of things, but they just havent worked. Only one of my dogs have the "go potty outside" down pat. I live in a large house and my dogs get sneaky too and will disappear to pee too sometimes. Since I have a designated "potty pad" there arent that many accidents.

I wont leave my dogs outside when I'm away from home--ever. I'd much rather have to clean up a pee pad than hunt down a missing dog.

Sydney is the same way. She's like an open faucet in the morning. And yes, she uses wee wee pads because of the Michigan weather.

Mine is getting better at being cross-trained." :D

She will pee on the pad or outside on command. So, if I take her out before she has a chance to use the pad she will go when I say, "Go potty." She will usually poop outside, but never because I tell her, and sometimes she holds it until she gets inside - and never on a pad. oh yeah, and she does whine at night when she needs to go out.

We are cross-training her because we live in perfect weather SoCal. We visit our family in very cold, snowy weather on both winter holidays and do not expect her to understand what this very high, cold wet stuff is after usually being in nice weather - and never snow!

So we are hoping this works when we take her to Grandma's house this Thanksgiving for the first time.

So is Bonnie. She will go all night without peeing, but from 5:30 to 7:30 she will use up a fresh pee pad.

Whatever works!
 

Does it really make a difference which method is used by an owner for whatever reason? If peepads work great...if using the outdoors works great...if a combination of both is best...great. Just seems that too many have an opinion on what works for others. I use pee pads for Bella because it works for me...I do not need to worry should I not get home on time because of traffic, meetings, etc. I once was caught in a snowstorm when I had my Bichon, Emma and was stranded for 48 hours...my poor dog had been crated that entire time and was covered in her own mess as a result and an emotional wreck for weeks from the experience. With Bella she can get up in the middle of the night if she needs too and I don't need to get dressed and walk out with her. I find that it fits my lifestyle and it works for both of us. When I have traveled with her both in hotels and resorts this method has been very adaptable to both with excellent results. So again my feelings are that owners should use whichever method works for them....:)