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To puppy pad train or not

Whether or not you train your puppy to relieve himself on puppy pads or outside is a personal decision that should be made in accordance with the type of dog you have and your lifestyle.  While it is absolutely feasible to train most dogs to only relieve themselves outside, if you work long hours it is not likely that a puppy will be able to wait long enough.  On the other hand, puppy pads are somewhat of an unattractive nuisance.

There are some questions to ask yourself prior to deciding whether or not you will puppy train your dog. Just a few of these questions are:

• Do you have a doggie door so your dog can relieve himself at will?
• If you do have a doggie door are there any problem areas your puppy could get into? (i.e. pools, poisonous plants, etc.)
• Do you have an area in your house (preferably without carpet) that you can dedicate to a puppy pad?
• Are you willing to clean up a puppy pad area daily, if not twice daily? (Some dogs, will not use the pad once it is too “full” for them)
• How was your puppy trained prior to you bringing them to your home? (If your dog was pad trained, it may be difficult to break them of this habit)
• What does your veterinarian recommend? (some vets do not recommend having very small breed dogs wait to relieve themselves until you return home from work)

Regardless of what you decide, make sure that you take into account how much time you want to spend training or retraining your dog.  If you plan on puppy pad training until your dog is bigger and then training them to relieve themselves outside later on, you may have long days of training ahead of you.

Whatever your decision is, make sure that you are flexible and make adjustments when things are not working correctly.  If you find puppy pad training to confusing for your dog, try crating your dog and see if that helps with potty training. If you are worried that your puppy will fall in the pool then try puppy pad training and see how this works for you.

Good luck!

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