How to get a puppy off pee pads without constant accidents
Keeping an indoor pee pad available gives a puppy a convenient option instead of building bladder control or learning to signal at the door. Removing the pad entirely while relying solely on scheduled outdoor trips stops the fallback habit, though it requires managing indoor accidents during the transition.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Taking the puppy outside every 2 hours during the dayDid this help you?
- 2Setting up an enclosed or restricted sleeping area at night without a crateDid this help you?
- 3Waking up at scheduled times during the night for potty breaksDid this help you?
- 4bringing the pad outside and progressively making the pad smaller via folding or cuttingDid this help you?
- 5removing any indoor pad at the beginning of the transitionDid this help you?
- 6using a bell for signaling and maintaining consistencyDid this help you?
- 7Keeping a puppy pad down inside for urination while attempting outdoor tripsDid this help you?
- 8Taking a puppy pad outside held down by bricks to associate going outside with poopingDid this help you?
- 9Providing an alternative outdoor surface like a concrete slab if the puppy dislikes grassDid this help you?
- 10Using indoor puppy padsDid this help you?
- 11Waiting until the puppy is a little older and has more bladder controlDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I genuinely don't think I can do this anymore; I'm at the end of my tether and it's affecting my mental health. I go up and down two flights of stairs 10 times a day just to watch my puppy chewing rocks and his lead and then have him go immediately once we get inside.”source ↗
“We’re working on transitioning our 4 month old bichapoo from the pee pad to outside… our back yard just isn’t the greatest and he comes inside a mess and bugs get inside the house every time”source ↗
“he’ll go potty outside when we take him but he’s still not signaling the bell to let us know he has to go and will just go on the pad by the back door.”source ↗
“He goes potty outside when we take him, he’s just still resorting to the pad rather than signaling to us he needs to go in between taking him out.”source ↗
“We want to transition her to strictly peeing outdoors and stop relying on pads entirely so we aren’t dealing with indoor accidents long-term.”source ↗
“She still pees in the house occasionally—is this because keeping the pee pad around gives her permission to go whenever she feels a mild urge, rather than building up her bladder control like an average 3-month-old?”source ↗
“If you don't use a crate at night, how did you handle the transition off night pads without constant accidents?”source ↗
“The breeder used puppy pads for the first nine weeks of my puppy’s life, and now she has a very hard time using the bathroom outside.”source ↗
“I will wait 10-15 minutes outside, she will sit in the grass, eat the grass lol, and won’t go to the bathroom. But as soon as I get inside, she will often go on the floor, or about 10-30 minutes later, she will go on the floor.”source ↗
Where this came up
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