Puppy pad train or go potty outside?

sweetpeasmom2008

Bully lovin' movie buff
Community Veteran
Jun 29, 2012
2,515
89
Utah
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola and Lucy
I already have a bulldog but when I got her I lived in a house with a yard that no dogs could come in or out of, now things have changed and we moved to a new city and into an apartment. Im getting another female next month and I was wondering if I should take her outside to go potty or train her on puppy pads tell at least her third shot? I could take her out and wash her paws after eat time pup Im not sure that would be enough. How many of you on here have lived in apartments and potty trained your puppy to go outside? Thanks!
 

MeekosMummy

New member
Oct 9, 2012
606
42
Wales
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Wales
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Meeko
I personally dont like puppy pads but being in a apartment makes things tricky. Have u got a balcony or anything the new pup could do her buis ess on until she has all her shots? Or maybe keep a pad in the house for accidents and take one down when u take Lola down for potty down and encourage the pup to go on a pad outside so shes still familiar with toiletin outside from a early age? I dunno lol im not sure i just didnt want to read & run!
 

Tkelley

New member
Oct 15, 2012
477
33
Phoenix, AZ
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Lady Guinevere, Little Be
We live in an apartment and there are a lot of dogs here. Guinevere got her second set of shots a few days after we brought her home. We are lucky enough to have a little private walkway outside our door where we took her to do her business. We were just very careful about where we let her go until she got her 3rd set of shots. She wanted to eat the puppy pads so they weren't really an option!
 

Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
Community Veteran
Oct 8, 2012
9,740
597
Burlington, ON Canada
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Bulldozer and Blossom
I have 2 pups, brother and sister and I live backing on to a river and trail with lots of wooded areas, and a lot of wildlife. We have deers, rabbits, Squirrels, and a lot of raccoons, so i was afraid of diseases and especially leptovirus. I bought puppy pads when I first brought them home thinking I would use them until they were protected from their vaccines. They wouldn't stay on them, and they wanted to eat them. I spoke to the vet and she said it was okay, as long as we were careful where we took them, and only took them out for their duties and then wiped their paws when we came back in. I think it's easier to train them to go outside rather than on the puppy pad as it confuses them, first they are taught to go on a pad inside the house, and then they are trained again to go pee outside, so really you're making double work for yourself as well because you have to train them twice. Unless you are planning to only use the puppy pads inside, then I would just train your dog to go outside from the beginning. Plus I found the puppy pads are expensive as well. It's your choice to make as how you want to train your pet , I just find it easier to train with a schedule, and outside, rather in the house or apartment as it confuses them. Good luck
 

Vicaroo1000

"Slug Assassin" and PBS Gardening Dweeb
Jun 23, 2011
5,775
389
Mukilteo, Washington State
Bulldog(s) Names
Beefeater's Buxom Beatrice and Lord Harrington's Bodacious Beauregaard
Outside. Outside. Outside. I am speaking for both short term (before shots) use, as well as, long term for lazy people. I'm always surprised how many people use these as a regular thing -- and then wonder why their house smells like dog piss.

Puppy pads are wonderful things -- for interim use in, say, an enclosure or Xpen, when there's no other option. But RE-training a dog who gets used to them and wants to use them as an adult and NOT go outside, for always? No and for so many reasons. One big one is this: the bigger they get the bigger they piddle/poo. No matter how many you put down, they are always going to "miss the target" a bit. Plus, that thin sheet of absorbent material can only hold so much. There's bound to be leaks and over flow.

When my Mable was suffering with heart failure, her little body filled up with fluids that required weekly "draining" at the vet. The diuretics she had to take too made her pee a lot so I turned my bathroom into a "pee station" for her so she wouldn't have to wait to go out. She used them as a puppy -- just in the kitchen during work hours -- so she readily accepted the concept again. Plus, she had to pee so bad all the time, poor baby, because of the diuretics. Mable always missed them. Not on purpose. Not completely. But reguarly. No matter how many I put down or if I fortified the area with towels or a rug or I tried everything --- didn't matter. My "Pergo" style floors in my bathroom are actually ruined from Mable.

Dogs need to go OUTSIDE. IMHO.
 

Scueva

New member
Sep 27, 2012
738
22
Chicago, IL
Bulldog(s) Names
Duchess
Puppy pads are tough my experience was I tried them for a day. She would miss the pads and she would try to destroy them. I live on the 22nd floor of a high rise so potty traing was a challenge. I took her out literally every 2 hours. If I caught her in the middle of an accident I would immediately pick her up and take her outside. Believe me it's not easy when you have a puppy that you stopped in the middle of a pee and now you have to wait for the elevator! I trained her to when it's potty time we sprint to the elevator. It's so funny when my neighbors see us running down the hall they know to move cause she has to go potty! Duchess is a celebrity in my building.... Lol. Another thing with the pee pads is you can confuse the dog. There is a French bulldog in my building who is about 10 months and they trained him on puppy pads and to this day he will NOT go outside. No matter what or how long he stay outside he dog won't go outside! I say avoid puppy pads! It's harder but not impossible!
 

MeekosMummy

New member
Oct 9, 2012
606
42
Wales
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Wales
Bulldog(s) Names
Meeko
Also.. I dont know if its just Meeko but if u have a 'wander while im poopin' kind of pup like Meeko he CANNOT stay still to do his buisness then pads are going to be a waste of time. Meeko only has to do 1 poop and our yard looks like hes done 4 x
 

hnhammond

New member
Aug 20, 2012
470
33
Los Angeles, CA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Matilda (Tilly)
In an apartment, your biggest concern should be safety of the new puppy! Until she's had ALL her shots, it's very dangerous to have them go potty in a community area.

For Matilda, our apartment didn't have any private area, all the spaces were available for any dog to potty in... and parvo can live in soil for up to TWO YEARS!

Our vet recommended this: http://www.thepetloo.com/

We put it on the balcony, and Matilda had no problem transitioning from The Pet Loo to outside. HOWEVER, ONLY get it if you have a balcony/outside area to put it. It smells TERRIBLE, even with constant cleaning. I could not imagine having it in the house. However, it is fairly easy to clean, and SO convenient. The issue with puppy pads is that your dog will have problems learned when it's okay to potty inside and when it isn't. If you eventually want her to go outside, this is a great option because it IS still outside. And you won't have to expose the puppy to other dogs until she is ready!
 
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sweetpeasmom2008

sweetpeasmom2008

Bully lovin' movie buff
Community Veteran
Jun 29, 2012
2,515
89
Utah
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola and Lucy
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
Ok I will just start taking her outside then from the start! I will make sure to wipe her paws when I come in and hope for the best. Good think she isn't old enough to come home now because we have almost 2 feet of snow that we got yesterday and today so she would be lost in snow!:)
 

JeannieCO

Queenie
Mar 11, 2011
12,680
873
Tip of the Mitt, Michigan
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Emma, Charlie, Milo, Peekaboo and Jack
I'm not a puppy pad fan either. Personal choice. To me although they learn to go on it, it teaches them to go inside and not outside where you ultimately want them to go. I'm assuming that the day a potty pad is taken away for outside training that they'd still look for it and potty in that spot.
 

Sherry

New member
Jan 15, 2011
5,183
477
Denver PA
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Jack , Dolly, Grizz, Peggy Sue, and Scrimps
When we have snow, my husband clears and area for them, a path. I tried puppy pads for two days with infant puppies, but they would rather play with the pad, so that put the kibosh to that idea, always outside for us, we have a fenced in yard
 

PippaBD

New member
Jan 9, 2013
12
1
Bulldog(s) Names
Pippa
I had an apartment with my previous dog, who was not a bully, and used the pee pads. However, I know it took much much longer to potty train her than it is taking to train our current pup Pippa. I think it is much more confusing for them with the pee pads than strictly outside.
 

porkysmamma

New member
Jun 21, 2012
810
35
Warrensburg, New York
Country
United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Porkchop aka Porky
We had a house but really no yard n neighbor dogs off leash everywhere!!!!! She came to us paper trained so we slowly switched her to pads then found we needed 2 pads (how dare I expect her to pee n poop on the same pad)!!!!!! We had the pads strictly for night time accidents!!!!! I also strongly suggest going outside!!!!! I took her out every hour the first week n then every 2 hours for 2 weeks n 3 hours etc by the time she was 4 months she was completely house trained :) n could go through the night with only one potty trip!!!!!! As others have said pads r great for accidents but idt she will catch anything just going out to potty as long as she's on leash!!!!! Good luck :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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sweetpeasmom2008

sweetpeasmom2008

Bully lovin' movie buff
Community Veteran
Jun 29, 2012
2,515
89
Utah
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola and Lucy
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #14
I will take her out from the start! I am worried about parvo though so I will be really careful!
 

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