Pee Pads
 

We bought Jinx two months ago and she was 14 weeks old. The breeder trained her on pee pads and we have been using them ever since.

Jinx has never gone to the bathroom outside. She knows where the pads are and I change them once per day (about 35 cents per pad if you buy them online).

At night she will go about 7 to 8 hours without needing to use the pad, but at 14 weeks she needed to get up once during the night.

I would never ask a dog to hold it that long during the day when water is easily available.

In the evenings we pull up the water dish about 2 hours before bedtime and put her on a pad (in the bathroom) for about a minute or so. She does her business and is fine all night.

During the daytime I take her to work and have a pee pad on the floor in a corner of my office. Again, she knows where it is and there have been rare accidents.

Jinx is now 22 weeks old and probably won't grow much more. She's 4 lbs and completely trained to use the pads. Even my cat sometimes uses the pad. They are easy to fold up and toss away and you won't have to worry much about your dog going in other places of the house.

I would suggest an enclosed space to start. We have a 6' diameter play area where there is plenty of room for a pad + water + sleeping area.

Dogs will not go to the bathroom where they sleep (unless they have to), and once they do it becomes more difficult to train, so its important that you get a large enough play area where the pee pad covers at most about 25% of the area.

Here's another hint on pee pads: Your dog, once brought home, will find its own place to go. Its simply going to happen. Once they soil a certain area, make THAT the place you keep a pee pad down.

I've potty/kennel trained all kinds of dogs (from shelters, to abused animals, puppies, and older dogs) with good results.

It takes time, patience, and consistency.

It's a tray with a rubber mat that is a grid on top, and you put newspapers on the bottom. I find it a lot easier and cheaper to maintain for an indoor dog. Harley still goes outside when we walk, but he knows where his potty is.

In the US, UGODog and WizDog are two such products, personally I wouldn't pay that much for it, I made mine from scratch, out of a shoe tray and rubber mats, you can buy the grid mats at hardware stores. I keep promising to post pictures of Harley's I'll get a picture up as soon as possible.

I have a 7 month who has been holding it 8-9 hours, since he was 5 mths. He is around 6 lbs. He stays in a small area while I am at work, no pads--outside trained only. He has a water bottle available while I'm gone.

My yorkie is 1.5 years old, 8.2 lbs - She can hold it all night for 9 hours, but once in awhile every 6 months she might make a mistake in the house - either because we go too long without letting her outside OR if she gets too excited by playing with other dogs then she goes within 4 hours. She's usually good on average 6-8 hours. Good luck!

Blazer only potties outside. He is now 3 1/2 years old and weighs about 8#s. He goes out at 7am and then again around 3:20pm. He has free roam of the house and has no accidents. It didn't happen overnight, it took patience and practice. He's been holding it through the night since I brought him home at 8 weeks, though.

How much do you weigh and I assume then you and your wife both have no need to use a washroom for the nine hours you are away from home?
Forcing a dog to wait like that is not good for the dog. When ya gotta go ya gotta go and much healthier to rid of the waste when the urge is there. You can create infections, damage to kidney, bladder stones by not having reasonably regular opportunities for them to potty. I use puppy pads mine are the washable one or their are very good disposable ones on the market. I refuse to sell a dog or puppy where no one is home for that period of time without a neighbour relative or friend that can come in at least once a day to let the dog out, interact with it etc.

My 13 pound yorkie Boomer uses the pee pad all the time. He can hold it but prefers to relieve himself. My other Yorkie Thumper will hold his pee until I take him outside about 95% of the time. Rarely does he use the pee pad unless absolutely necessarily. Both prefer to poop outside.