How to Wean a Dog off Dog Training Pads and Go Potty Outside

It is a good idea to wean dogs off training pads and the reasons are various. One of them is that training pads may be confusing to dogs as it teaches them to go potty in the house. Dogs, do not generalize well, and therefore they may have a hard time understanding why they can go in a selected area and not another. Also, dogs may not do well on aiming for the training pad. They therefore may tend to go potty on the edges and leave messes nearby the pad and not directly on top of it.

Weaning a dog from training pads to the great outdoors is a gradual process that will take some time, but can be done. The secret is doing it step by step with lots of praising for doing things right. What you would do is move the training pad gradually closer and closer to the door over the course of a week or two. Finally, you will take the pad outdoors and then remove it once she gets the idea.

A good way to prevent a dog from soiling in the indoor area he/she was used to is by:

1)Taking her outdoors and making sure she has done everything. Some dogs like going on the pad when they come out from outside because they have been used to it for a long time and it has their scent. Some dogs may be saving some pee or poop to mark it. Many training pads contain products that encourage dogs to mark.

Take her out, try to tell her ''go potty'' just seconds before she does number one (pee) or number two (poop) and after she goes potty, just within two seconds, praise her and give her a treat. She has to associate going potty outdoors with something good. The more she is praised and given a treat, the more she will feel motivated to do her business outdoors. Always keep treats with you handy when outdoors to emphasize this.

2) Clean up all indoor areas well. Invest in a good carpet cleaner. It needs to have enzymes in it. You want a product like ''Nature's Miracle''. If you do not use an enzyme cleaner the carpet will have traces of her smell and she will feel compelled to still go indoors.

3) Make going potty indoors inconvenient. In other words, after cleaning the carpet with an enzyme cleaner put something in place of where she had her training pad. This is just temporarily. You can put a box or something she cannot go underneath or around it.

4)When coming indoors keep her leashed so you can prevent her from going potty again inside. Watch her carefully. If she is giving signs she is about to go say ''no'' in a firm tone of voice, pick her up and immediately take her outdoors. When she goes outdoors, lots of praise and treats.

5) Use an umbilical cord. If you cannot trust her going potty when you are not watching, attach her leash to a belt or around your waist so you can go about your business and keep an eye on her. This way she will not sneak away and try to go potty indoors and can give you warning signs she may need to go potty.

6) If the dog is crate trained, use the crate for when she cannot be on an umbilical cord. Make sure it is the right size. If it is too big your dog will feel compelled to make it a bathroom. It should be snug enough that she would not feel comfortable doing her business there and sleeping in it. She still though be able to stand up and turn around comfortably.

7) Should she ever go potty indoors when you are not watching, scoop up the poop and take it outdoors. Clean up the area immediately with the enzyme cleaner.

8) If dealing with a puppy use the general month plus 1 rule, to figure out how often he/she needs taken out. If a puppy is 2 months old add 1 and three hours is how often you should take him out. If he is four months old, add 1 and five hours will be how often to go out, and so forth.

8) Last, but not least, keep her on a feeding schedule. Do not leave food out all day. When on a feeding schedule, a dog's potty time is more predictable. Set up a potty routine and stick to it if you can. Generally, dogs go potty first thing in the morning, in the afternoon, in the mid evening and then right before bed time.

Adult dogs should have good control of their bowel and bladder. This means they should have no problems staying without going potty for extended periods of time (at least six hours) and should not have problems keeping it during the night. A vet visit is always recommended if a dog starts to go potty more than usual. Urinary tract infections and disorders of the bowel may cause an increasing in potty frequency.