# Outside to Potty Pads



## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

Ok, so I use to hate the idea of potty pads, I thought they were gross and people were just being lazy. Then I owned my first two itty bitty dogs and I see how hard they hold it... to the point that Tucker one day was trying to play with a toy when the weather was nasty, his rear kept tucking under and he kept trying to fight it, DH finnaly realized he had to poop and made him go outside in the nasty weather.

I get it, I hate going out in the rain storms and the 3 feet of snow too. They are so tiny that the cold just cuts through them, even when they have little coats on. Anyways....

I would kinda like to teach the boys to use them with the snow coming up, winters in Iowa are no fun. But, I don't know how to do it. I am also afraid they will get confused and start going potty on the carpets. 

Last night I pulled out a potty pad and tried explaining to them that they can potty on it. (Yes, I was half being silly) They know what potty means and kept looking at me with their heads tilted, finnaly Tucker got excited and started jumping around and of course smacking me in the face with his paws. (Great stuff). They had no clue, I think they thought, I was losing it.

So, I can't reason them into knowing the potty pads are ok.... so how do you train an outside potty dog, to use the potty pads when the weather is nasty?


----------



## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

I'd be interested in advice on this too. For the first year and I half that I had Bailey, he was mostly trained to go potty outside but while I was at work, he would be in a puppy pen with a pad and would use it sometimes. So when we moved out of state and in to our own apartment, I tried to get Bailey to use pads and even a Potty Patch (fake grass) on our porch...instead of having to go downstairs all the time...but have had zero luck. He also knows what "go potty" means but looks at me like I'm nuts.


----------



## wkomorow (Aug 26, 2011)

Bring it outside with you when they go to potty. Place it on their favorite stop and have them potty on the pad. Then put one near the door outside and then see if they will potty on it. Put one then inside near the door. Then move it to where you want them to go,


----------



## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

wkomorow said:


> Bring it outside with you when they go to potty. Place it on their favorite stop and have them potty on the pad. Then put one near the door outside and then see if they will potty on it. Put one then inside near the door. Then move it to where you want them to go,


I think that's good advice, because you do just the opposite when you're training them to potty outside.


----------



## SamiPix (Oct 16, 2012)

Shell, I found something I think is absolutely brilliant on Amazon the other day and got for my small balcony. It's called a Fresh Patch and it's actual grass. I would so highly recommend you look into it, it's completely self-contained and AzureBelle loves hers. Doing additional research I found another on on Amazon which is the same fresh grass concept but a slightly bigger size that I'm going to try next. The point is that it's not as unseemly as the potty pads, I think it's cleaner because it runs through to the bottom rather than having them walking in it, and it gets delivered every week. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about it, but I would definitely recommend it. 

Suz


----------



## CorkieYorkie (Apr 10, 2012)

I have the same problem, living in Illinois!! :angry: We usually keep pads around the apt just in case, which Ozzie would mostly use, but not always... 

One thing I do like about the pads is that there is something in them that attracts dogs to go potty on it... then once they pee on them once, they will be drawn back again. I just wonder how to train them to consistently use it and NOT my carpet :angry:


----------



## sdubose (Feb 21, 2012)

I have the reverse problem. I can't get Abbigail to go outside. I don't mind using the potty pad, but when we travel I have to take pads with me because she will not go on the grass. When we go outside, I will constantly go potty Abby. She will run to the door and look at me like , Well Are you gonna let me in? I give up. I just take pads with me everywhere.:HistericalSmiley:


----------



## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

LOL, I was picturing little Abbigaile running to the door when you tried to get her to potty  too cute. So much like my boys.

I do think those potty systems for your porch are nice too.

I did take the boys out at lunch with the potty pad and put it down on the ground and they just kinda looked at it then waddled away to potty. I will keep trying and see if it does anything besides make me look like a crazy dog lady to my neighbors


----------



## SamiPix (Oct 16, 2012)

Well, those grass sustems are for indoor use too... check them out, like I said they are entirely selfcontained.  

Suz


----------



## Curious_Ein (Dec 4, 2012)

This is slightly older post but since I am trying out the new potty system, I thought I'd add my 2 cents..

Yep, I use Fresh Patch(real grass) for Einstein~~!! I initially started him out on the pee pads, and he was GREAT with them but it had its own caveat. the problem was that he could not distinguish between pee pads and the carpet.:smpullhair: 
after reading a lot of post and threads, I have switched over to fresh patch real grass- I figured smell of grass+earthy smell of soil=potty, and hopefully it will deter him from going on carpet. I have two boxes set out for him( one he likes to go #1, and the other that he likes to for #2) and has worked out great so far......
but he is still limited to carpet/area rug areas until he is a bit older. we want to place him in a situation where he is likely to succeed=> he is in a room with no carpet, just two fresh patch boxes, and his sleeping crate. No accidents for a week now!:aktion033:

I will update on this in several month, after he has had a full access to the rooms with rugs and see if he can still keep coming back to the grass box to potty. If he can, it will be a miracle indeed! and Fresh patch will have their lifetime customer:w00t:



* please ignore the twig in the middle*
its actually a mini 'tree' I made for Ein, so that in case he wants to *aim*- but he squats, and does still. I thought it will aid in making him think that this is the place to go potty........ don't know if this helped but he has stopped playing with grass(and pulling out grasses), and started to use it for both #1 and #2. I didn't remove pee pads until I confirmed that he started using the grass though.:mellow:


----------



## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

I totally missed this fresh patch thing, that is brilliant!


----------



## Lynzodolly (Sep 15, 2012)

This fresh patch looks brilliant pity they don't do this in the uk  xx


----------



## DeniseA. (Dec 5, 2012)

Please let me know how this works for you and Ein! I really would be interested, as this would seem to hit the balance between going outside and pee pads...


----------

