How to use Puppy Training Pads

Top tips for toilet training your puppy - fast!

Puppy training pads, toilet training mats, or whatever you call them, are brilliant. Use them to line the bottom of your bin to catch the bin juice, mop up big spills that kitchen paper just can't handle, and any other household liquid issues you can think of.. but what are they no help for at all? Toilet training a puppy.

Let me explain. The reason puppies can be trained to toilet outside is because all animals born in a nest have the instinct to leave the nest for their elimination activities, to avoid a nest full of unpleasantness.

We lean on this in-built behaviour and use our training skills to help them see the whole house as 'the nest' so eventually they will feel the need to take themselves outside to do their business.

As with all training this only works when we are 100% clear. Indoors - nope, outdoors - good job. After all their Mum would never let them wee in their nest because it's dark or raining outside! This where the fundamental problem with pads arises, they make things unclear, they convey the message that indoors is ok sometimes, in some places, which is not our training goal, and confusing for your puppy.

So ditch the pads and get really really good at taking your puppy outside at regular intervals, learn their body language signals for needing to go, remember that after any form of stimulation a toilet trip is necessary (eg: waking, eating, playing, excitement, a fright even) and both praise and reward them each time they get it right. A toilet training app can be super useful to help you remember.

TIP: Puppies get excited and distracted in the garden, take them for short, supervised toilet trips, if they don't go bring them back in but don't let them out of your sight! As they relax back indoors the need to go is likely to resurface, so be ready to run back out with them again, maybe more that once, but it's worth the hassle to get the success.