I'll leave other to make recommendations but honestly, I'd not do anything that suggests that indoor toileting is allowed.

 

• Accidents do occur.
• We will not be taking him outside every 45 minutes around the clock, especially in the deep freeze of winter.
• Our living room has wall-to-wall carpeting.
• All of our rugs will be rolled up and stored, so the pads will be decorative as well as utilitarian.

I did manage to get my last YT trained, but only after he had destroyed every surface at YT level. We are hoping for a better result this time. Luckily, we don't live on the 23rd floor of a condo high-rise, as is the case with my cousin and her untrainable (her words) Malti-poo.

 

@JayDee25 , since you ask for recommendations, my strong recommendation is never to use any puppy pads of any kind at all.

Unless you really, truly want to have a dog who thinks that indoors is appropriate for his toilet, and this would of course include all indoor spaces like the homes of other people you may want to visit, motel rooms, and so on, then do not train your puppy to use puppy pads. Making the transition from that to going outdoors will be a nightmare, and with some dogs it never really takes if you use puppy pads when they are very young.

You are getting this dog very very young. What you do in the first three weeks will impact the puppy's whole life. Start the right training from day one.

Take the puppy outside. Toilet train the puppy that indoors is never acceptable, while outside always is. It is almost guaranteed that you will regret it if you do not.

 

I agree that puppy pads is an outdated training tactic. Its also just not sanitary.
You just have to be hyper vigilant and always take your dog outside to relieve themselves a few minutes after food and after playing. or just when you see them looking to pee or poop. by outside, i dont mean to the general public of course, as im sure you know they should not walk on dirty grounds before being fully vaccinated. i mean more like your yard or a clean spot just outside your home. give them a few minutes and always reward like a madman when they do their business. pretty soon theyll even start notifying you on their own when its time, because theyll have the association that pee n poop means i go outside.
there will of course be accidents. if it happens when youre not there, do not acknowledge it. clean the mess and move on. if you catch it happening in the act, redirect your dog immediately by taking them outside to continue their business. no yelling no nothing.

 

Accidents do occur, of course - but there isn't a puppy pad homing beacon that will make sure that that's where they happen.

When you can't supervise, because you have gone for a shower or whatever, you could confine your puppy with an X pen or similar to an area that's easily cleaned. Although ideally you will have taken him out immediately beforehand so he doesn't actually need to toilet right then.

If you feel you absolutely must have an indoor toilet area, it would make an easier transition to get a large shallow tray that you can fill with gravel, sand, or turf to make it more like the outside surfaces you will have your puppy using later.

 

YES! I am glad you mentioned trays, because we had remarkable success with a "Potty patch." Of course, I gave it away with the rest of my YT's things because we were NEVER going to own another dog.

I am going to purchase two of them, one for upstairs and one for downstairs, and use disposable peepads only if we find it necessary.

An Ah-Ha moment, so let's leave it at that, okay??

 

@JayDee25 it certainly puzzles me why you would go about things this way, especially after having your last dog "destroy every surface" at his level in your home. If you train him to these decorative pads, he will probably think all rugs are potty places and that may be very hard to retrain.

Taking the puppy out around the clock is simply part of having a puppy, and the night time potty visits do not need to be every 45 minutes, nor do they go on for more than the first couple of weeks.

If you are concerned about cold weather, there are a lot of very lovely and warm doggie coats you can buy. Or easily make. I recommend you look into those. Amazon is full of them. And your dog is going to have to get used to going out in the cold sooner or later, and you will need to take him out sooner or later, even in the cold, so why not sooner, is what I was thinking.

Of course, this is your home and your dog and you should make the choice that you want to make. I truly hope that it goes well for you and for the puppy.

JoanneF was posting as I wrote this. I think her idea of a sand tray is a very good one.....ight indeed make the transition to outdoors easier.

 

I'm not quite sure what your end (or even short term) goal is with using the pads indoors, so my suggestions are going to be based on what I think you're looking for.

If you want to set up & maintain an indoor potty station for your dog, then make an area which is distinctively different than the surrounding areas/surfaces & actively train him to go there for business purposes. Just like house training him to go outside, you will need to take him/put him there & then reward heavily when he actually uses the area. A substrate that mimics outdoor surfaces that he will also be using (such as wood shavings, sand, grass, etc...) would be preferable to cloth, since dogs can & do develop strong substrate preferences & this can lead to them being resistant to eliminate on anything but their preferred surface (so, if you train him to pads/cloth, that might end up being the only place he'll "go" in the future) An area that has distinct walls with an entrance 'door' of sorts can help the puppy make sure to be entirely inside the boundaries of the approved 'bathroom area' (it's not uncommon for dogs who use flat pads to put two paws on & then proceed to eliminate off the edge of the pad) This distinction also might help speed up his understanding of the area & therefore the training process.

If you're still determined to use pads of some sort, then just buy hospital bed pads designed for human incontinence. They come in a variety with much larger sizes, are at least as well made/constructed & tend to be less pricy than the 'cute' pads designed for puppies.

 

Do you want me to close this to further replies?

 

Did anyone actually ever give this person what they asked for, ‘which reusable puppy pad is best?’ I have an eight year old rescue that we adopted a year ago. She came to me puppy pad trained. I recently had surgery and cannot walk. My dog does get outside, but, in lieu of potential accidents I would like to lay out reusable puppy pads. Does anyone have recommendations on which ones are best? If not, please keep your opinions to yourself. Thank you.

 

Maybe something like this? (I have never used it myself)

Amazon.com: CooZero Artificial Grass, Professional Dog Grass Mat, Potty Training Rug and Replacement Turf Outdoor Rug Patio Lawn Decoration, Easy to Clean with Drainage Holes(47.3x31.5 inches) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com: CooZero Artificial Grass, Professional Dog Grass Mat, Potty Training Rug and Replacement Turf Outdoor Rug Patio Lawn Decoration, Easy to Clean with Drainage Holes(47.3x31.5 inches) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

 

@TerrierLoverForever ......If no one on this forum has actually used them they can't tell you what they think is the best brand, in which case in your place I think I would just go by the reviews on Amazon or some other site and get the one that has t he most positive reviews.