There are times when using wee wee pads might be desirable.  The most obvious times are when the puppy is very, very small (like a toy breed) or when the puppy is located within an apartment.  In these situations, it is hard to quickly walk the puppy outside.

The key to using wee wee pads in your puppy housetraining process is to introduce them correctly and offer them frequently.

Many of today’s wee wee pads are already pre-treated with an odor to encourage the puppy to use them.  If you purchase pads that are not, you would want to purchase a special spray to spray on each individual pad until your puppy has the hang of it.  Puppies are always more likely to go somewhere that smells like another puppy already has.

The pad should be placed in the same location each day.  If you intend to wean your puppy off the pad and would like him to eventually go outside instead, you should place the pad next to the door to outside you will use.  In an apartment situation, try to place the pad in an obvious and readily available location in the beginning.  When the dog is older, it could be placed in a more inconspicuous location out of sight.

You will need to bring your puppy to the pad many, many times throughout the day.  He won’t simply just get it and start using it.  Instead, just like someone would walk their puppy outside, multiple times throughout the day, ‘walk’ your puppy to the pad.  Remember to use the key times for all puppies:

• After mealtimes or drinking a lot of water.  You should begin taking him to the pad within 15-30 minutes.

• Immediately after waking up whether from deep sleep or a short nap.

• Before, during, and following a heavy play session.  All puppies forget to go when they are busy playing, so you will need to monitor how long it has been.

• Routinely several times an hour.  Very young puppies and very tiny dogs may only be able to wait 15-30 minutes in between each potty break.

Remember to praise heavily each and every time your puppy uses the wee wee pad.  Don’t ever get angry or scold the puppy for accidents near the pad or for destructive chewing of the pad.  Since the wee wee pad is this puppy’s method of puppy housetraining, any negativity associated with the pad might cause the puppy to stop using it altogether.

Be forewarned that many puppies by the age of four to six months view wee wee pads as potential play toys, so you might find yourself in the situation of not leaving one down all the time and only placing it for the actual potty time.

If you would like to transition your dog outside, begin placing a pad outside too.  Most wee wee pad dogs don’t understand to use grass at first.  Get a few successful potties on the pad placed outside.  Then, begin cutting the pad to smaller and smaller sizes until before long your dog is using just the grass.

Doing your puppy housetraining using wee wee pads can sometimes be the easiest thing for certain kinds of dogs or in certain situations.  It can be done successfully as long as you maintain patience and fully demonstrate to the dog what the pads are for.