# Teaching Pup to Potty outside and on the pad



## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

After three weeks, Parker understands he needs to go outside to potty. I take him out after nap time, play time, and whenever it appears he needs to go. However, I was wondering if I could also teach him to potty on the pad. This will especially come in handy on rainy or cold days. Should I try reintroducing the pads now or will it confuse him?


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## lillady (Jan 25, 2007)

Maybe it depends on the dog. Kosmo started on pads because it was the middle of frigid winter here when we got him and he was just so widdle! Then in the spring-I swithced him to outside, but he still has a pad in his exercise area while I'm at work. He does both just fine!! :aktion033: Good luck!! :biggrin:


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## carrie (Aug 24, 2004)

massimo does both... he's a gem.  
mini on the other hand has decided it's either outside or on the carpet! once in a while she'll make a # 2 on the pad and on extremely rare occasions she'll make a piddle on the pad... other than that, she needs to G-O O-U-T! 
but it gets a little tricky _when she doesn't let me know_!! lol

good luck.


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## Max & Rocky (May 20, 2004)

Because of our location, we do the outside potty 99% of the time, but...

Dogs determine where to potty based on their habits and scent... We do have some specially scented potty pads (if you know what I mean ) and I will tell you for a fact, they work pretty well. :smilie_daumenpos:


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

> Because of our location, we do the outside potty 99% of the time, but...
> 
> Dogs determine where to potty based on their habits and scent... We do have some specially scented potty pads (if you know what I mean ) and I will tell you for a fact, they work pretty well. :smilie_daumenpos:[/B]


I've used scented potty training pads and the kind used for humans, and he'll go on them if need be. They're placed in my kitchen and when he can't hold his bladder for much longer he'll pee on them. But once outside of the kitchen (which is also his confined area), he never goes back to the pads. He'll just pee on the carpet. 

Potty training him to go outside was easy breezy. So, maybe that's just his preference. I do know he prefers grass to go potty. Maybe I can use grass scented pee pads. I think Nature's Miracle makes that type.


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## Missy&Maggie (Jun 17, 2007)

Maggie does both, pad and outside. I use the Nature's Miracle grass scented pads. They seem to work. I like the idea that they are grass scented because we wanted to train Maggie to go on the pad and outside. Maggie is really good about using them. Potty training can take time. How old is Parker? I don't know if you are already, but it would be good to give him lots of praise and a treat that he really likes when he uses the pads. You could also make sure that there pads in places other than the kitchen. Good luck!!! :biggrin:


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## wooflife (Aug 8, 2007)

My boys were strictly outside boys (or on the floor) although I tried to start them both on the pads. 

Izzy is piddle pad girl but thinks it's really neat to get to go out with her brothers so she will do both. 

And oddly enough out of the blue for some reason.... the boys starting using her pads when it was yucky outside and they didn't want to have to go out in the rain or if for some reason mom didn't get the hint that they needed O-U-T.

So they all go both ways - wait that doesn't sound right- well you know what I mean. 

Leslie and Izzy


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

> Maggie does both, pad and outside. I use the Nature's Miracle grass scented pads. They seem to work. I like the idea that they are grass scented because we wanted to train Maggie to go on the pad and outside. Maggie is really good about using them. Potty training can take time. How old is Parker? I don't know if you are already, but it would be good to give him lots of praise and a treat that he really likes when he uses the pads. You could also make sure that there pads in places other than the kitchen. Good luck!!! :biggrin:[/B]


I got Parker at 12 weeks and he was already somewhat trained to go on the pad. He trained himself to go outside a few days before I got him. When I got him, I tried to continue to pad train him. I placed pads in every area of the house. Sometimes he'll go to one to pee, other times he'll just pee on the carpet. Then it got worse. He would just go on the carpet. Praising him and giving him treats whenever he went on the pad didn't work, either. Placing him on the pad and saying potty didn't work either. He was heck bent on going somewhere else. I think I honestly may have screwed up the pad training process. I also think my carpet really confused him cause he wasn't use to it. His breeder doesn't have carpeting in her house at all. So she recommended that I potty train him to go outside completely, and it worked like a charm. She said that once he learns he's not supposed to pee on the carpet, to reintroduce the pads and start again, but I'm wondering if it's too soon. I wanted to know how others dual trained their dogs to go outside and inside without confusing them.


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## Missy&Maggie (Jun 17, 2007)

> I got Parker at 12 weeks and he was already somewhat trained to go on the pad. He trained himself to go outside a few days before I got him. When I got him, I tried to continue to pad train him. I placed pads in every area of the house. Sometimes he'll go to one to pee, other times he'll just pee on the carpet. Then it got worse. He would just go on the carpet. Praising him and giving him treats whenever he went on the pad didn't work, either. Placing him on the pad and saying potty didn't work either. He was heck bent on going somewhere else. I think I honestly may have screwed up the pad training process. I also think my carpet really confused him cause he wasn't use to it. His breeder doesn't have carpeting in her house at all. So she recommended that I potty train him to go outside completely, and it worked like a charm. She said that once he learns he's not supposed to pee on the carpet, to reintroduce the pads and start again, but I'm wondering if it's too soon. I wanted to know how others dual trained their dogs to go outside and inside without confusing them.[/B]


Parker is still very young. I have heard that the earliest that a dog can possibly be considered potty trained is 6 months. You have to give him and be very patient. I would recommend praising him a lot and giving treats every time he goes in the appropriate area until he becomes consistent. Lil puppies need to be confined to limited areas. If you can't give Parker supervision to make sure that he does not have an accident then, you should confine him to an ex-pen with a pad. You should have a phrase that you always say when Parker pottys too. We also tell Maggie "to go potty" whether outside or on the pad. I would make him earn his freedom, aka access to more of your house.


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

Parker is still very young. I have heard that the earliest that a dog can possibly be considered potty trained is 6 months. You have to give him and be very patient. I would recommend praising him a lot and giving treats every time he goes in the appropriate area until he becomes consistent. Lil puppies need to be confined to limited areas. If you can't give Parker supervision to make sure that he does not have an accident then, you should confine him to an ex-pen with a pad. You should have a phrase that you always say when Parker pottys too. We also tell Maggie "to go potty" whether outside or on the pad. I would make him earn his freedom, aka access to more of your house.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I started slacking with the treats and the "potty" phrase when he goes potty outside. I'll have to continue to reinforce that. Last night, he decided to take a wee on my carpet. I think he may have done it out of spite, though. I put a shirt on him and I could tell he wanted it off, but I kept it on him. Next thing I know, he's squatting and left me a puddle. Lil stinker! 

As for confining him to limited areas...He's confined to the kitchen with a pad, but I let him out into the living room only (after he has potty). The living room isn't very big. I guess my next question is, how long should a young pup be let out of confinement (such as the kitchen) into a limited area to play?


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## Max & Rocky (May 20, 2004)

> Yeah, I started slacking with the treats and the "potty" phrase when he goes potty outside. I'll have to continue to reinforce that. Last night, he decided to take a wee on my carpet. I think he may have done it out of spite, though. I put a shirt on him and I could tell he wanted it off, but I kept it on him. Next thing I know, he's squatting and left me a puddle. Lil stinker![/B]


Carpets are a real problem... Can I ask what you are doing to clean the carpet after one of these accidents?

If you watch most dogs closely when they are getting ready to go... (even when they are outside) their nose is usually down and they are looking for the scent which tells them "this place is where I go to the bathroom". Their noses are far more sensitive than ours.

Anyway... just using normal household cleaners to clean up accident spots is not truly going to clean the area of the scent they look for. In fact, if it is bad and has soaked into the pad, I'm not certain that you can ever rid the area of the scent such that your dog can not tell.

There are special enzyeme products out there... "No Go" and "No Mark" are the two we are familar with. We had some problems initially when we got Chance and we had the same issues with Snowy & Gordo. Whenever we had a marking or potty accident, we cleaned with normal cleaning products and then treated those areas with these special products. Also, we obviously continued the potty training. Even with our 2 new rescues from less than 2 weeks ago, we have had no potty accidents of any kind this week. I think it is important to always cover all the bases in issues like this...


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

> QUOTE





> Yeah, I started slacking with the treats and the "potty" phrase when he goes potty outside. I'll have to continue to reinforce that. Last night, he decided to take a wee on my carpet. I think he may have done it out of spite, though. I put a shirt on him and I could tell he wanted it off, but I kept it on him. Next thing I know, he's squatting and left me a puddle. Lil stinker![/B]


Carpets are a real problem... Can I ask what you are doing to clean the carpet after one of these accidents?

If you watch most dogs closely when they are getting ready to go... (even when they are outside) their nose is usually down and they are looking for the scent which tells them "this place is where I go to the bathroom". Their noses are far more sensitive than ours.

Anyway... just using normal household cleaners to clean up accident spots is not truly going to clean the area of the scent they look for. In fact, if it is bad and has soaked into the pad, I'm not certain that you can ever rid the area of the scent such that your dog can not tell.

There are special enzyeme products out there... "No Go" and "No Mark" are the two we are familar with. We had some problems initially when we got Chance and we had the same issues with Snowy & Gordo. Whenever we had a marking or potty accident, we cleaned with normal cleaning products and then treated those areas with these special products. Also, we obviously continued the potty training. Even with our 2 new rescues from less than 2 weeks ago, we have had no potty accidents of any kind this week. I think it is important to always cover all the bases in issues like this...
[/B][/QUOTE]


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

> QUOTE





> Yeah, I started slacking with the treats and the "potty" phrase when he goes potty outside. I'll have to continue to reinforce that. Last night, he decided to take a wee on my carpet. I think he may have done it out of spite, though. I put a shirt on him and I could tell he wanted it off, but I kept it on him. Next thing I know, he's squatting and left me a puddle. Lil stinker![/B]


Carpets are a real problem... Can I ask what you are doing to clean the carpet after one of these accidents?

If you watch most dogs closely when they are getting ready to go... (even when they are outside) their nose is usually down and they are looking for the scent which tells them "this place is where I go to the bathroom". Their noses are far more sensitive than ours.

Anyway... just using normal household cleaners to clean up accident spots is not truly going to clean the area of the scent they look for. In fact, if it is bad and has soaked into the pad, I'm not certain that you can ever rid the area of the scent such that your dog can not tell.

There are special enzyeme products out there... "No Go" and "No Mark" are the two we are familar with. We had some problems initially when we got Chance and we had the same issues with Snowy & Gordo. Whenever we had a marking or potty accident, we cleaned with normal cleaning products and then treated those areas with these special products. Also, we obviously continued the potty training. Even with our 2 new rescues from less than 2 weeks ago, we have had no potty accidents of any kind this week. I think it is important to always cover all the bases in issues like this...
[/B][/QUOTE]

I soak up the pee, scrub with Lysol or Clorox wipes, then saturate the spot with Nature's Miracle. Also, I steam clean my carpet once a week. I watch him like a hawk. Once I see him sniffing, out he goes. After a nap, or play, out he goes. Last night though he just squatted and pee'd...no sniffing. I think he did it to let me know he was not happy with the shirt that I forced him to wear.


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## wooflife (Aug 8, 2007)

I think he did it to let me know he was not happy with the shirt that I forced him to wear.
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Dogs don't think that way... especially not puppies.... when you gotta go you gotta go. Sometimes it just takes a while for them to learn how to communicate that message to us. 


Leslie and Izzy


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

Dogs don't think that way... especially not puppies.... when you gotta go you gotta go. Sometimes it just takes a while for them to learn how to communicate that message to us. 


Leslie and Izzy
[/QUOTE]


Well, that's good to know he shouldn't be able to communicate like that. Hopefully, he'll never learn that.


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