How to Housebreak Your Puppy Using Paper or Pads

If you own a puppy that lives inside of your home, then you know the trials and tribulations of trying to figure out how to housebreak your puppy so that it doesn’t soil your floors, carpets, and furniture. While there are a variety of methods available for housebreaking a dog – ranging from crate training to bell training – many of those options can be slow to work with certain breeds of dogs. Very small dogs, especially, often find it difficult to go to the bathroom outdoors – particularly when they are very young. Due to their size and natural submissiveness, many of these breeds are prone to submissive urination or feel intimidated when outside.

Because of these tendencies, you may want to consider learning how to housebreak your puppy with paper or treated pads. Once the puppy is a little older, he will feel more comfortable going to the bathroom in the great outdoors. However, paper or pad training can help to make your puppy feel more secure in its environment during the early stages of its life.

There is a natural progression involved in learning how to housebreak your puppy using paper or pads. In the beginning, you place papers or pre-scented pads in a designated area of your home. This is the area you want your new puppy to use for its toilet training. Whenever you see the puppy sniffing the floor, walking around, or squatting, you gently take it over to the papered area and tell them to “go potty”. Be sure to congratulate and praise the puppy after it has successfully gone to the bathroom.

In a very short period of time, most dogs will learn that they need to only go to the bathroom on the papers or pads. When your puppy has reached that stage, you begin to move the papers closer to the door, or set up another paper or pad station outside of the house. When learning how to housebreak your puppy using paper or pads, you should always keep in mind that the goal is to transition the puppy from going to the toilet indoors to going outdoors.

As your puppy gradually begins to understand what is expected of it, the need for papers or pads inside the home can be eliminated. Soon after that, any papers or pads that you have been using outdoors can also be removed, and the puppy should be acclimated to going to the bathroom in the designated spots outside. For extremely small or nervous dogs, the weeks of paper and pad training, combined with the gradual introduction to the “outside toilet area”, will have allowed the animal to gain more and more confidence. Spontaneous and nervous urination will have either be greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.

Learning how to housebreak your puppy with paper or pads is not complicated, but it does require more cleanup that some other methods. You will want to be sure to use a strong cleanser and deodorizer to clean the toilet area inside the home – particularly after your dog has graduated to going outside. Any lingering scent in the area may encourage the puppy to occasionally relieve itself in that same area. Also, be aware that this method – though it may be many pet owners’ best option - can sometimes take several weeks longer than other approaches.

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