How to House Train a Puppy With Puppy Pads

Your puppy's cuteness factor dwindles when he starts urinating on your floors, furniture and clothing. Puppy pads provide a way to train your pet not to eliminate on your personal or expensive items. Millions of people throughout the world rely on numerous brands of puppy pads to train one or more puppies to eliminate outside the home.

Things You'll Need

  • Puppy pads
  • Attractant spray
  • Dog treats
  • Leash
  • Bleach
  • Water
  • Cleaning bucket
  • Scrub brush
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Instructions

    • 1

      Place the puppy pad in an area where you want the puppy to urinate and defecate. Choose an area of the house where household members will not accidentally step on the pad and an area of the home with slick floors, as you want an area you can clean quickly in case of spill-over. If the puppy has already started using a certain area in the home, place the puppy pad in that location.

    • 2

      Spray attractant spray onto the middle of the puppy pads. This spray encourages your puppy to use the pad for urinating and defecating. Some puppy pads may contain attractants, but if your brand does not, you should spray each new pad that you put down for the puppy.

    • 3

      Sit your puppy down on the pad and let him smell the pad and the attractant spray. As he sits on the puppy pad, repeat a keyword to him that you want him to associate with using the puppy pad; you may use keywords like "pee," "potty" or "go".

    • 4

      Keep track of the puppy's eating and drinking schedule, allowing water and food at intervals throughout the day to better control when the pup needs to eliminate. A half-hour after each drink or meal, sit the puppy on the pad and repeat the keyword. If he does not urinate or defecate, remove him from the pad and place him back on the pad in five to 10 minutes. Repeat this until the puppy uses the pad.

    • 5

      Praise and reward the puppy with dog treats so that it associates the use of the puppy pad as an awarded activity. When it has accidents off the puppy pad, do not hit it and place it on the pad, as that causes a negative association with the pad. Instead, place the puppy on the pad immediately after an accident and repeat the keyword to remind it where it should go, and then place it in a crate away from toys for a five- to 10-minute timeout.

    • 6

      Replace the puppy pads after each use and slowly inch the pads toward an exterior door. Leave a puppy pad placed just inside the door and set one outside for the puppy to use. Once accustomed to using the pad near the door, take the puppy out on a regular schedule to use the outdoor puppy pad. Leave the inside pad to catch accidents when you cannot take him out immediately. Remove the inside puppy pad once the puppy starts alerting you each time he needs to go outside.