OMG! I thought they were potty trained!

[Carolina Girl 2]

Okay, so I adopted Ozzy (shih tzu) from animal control. I "inherited" Daisy (mini daschund) from an elderly relative who was going into a nursing home. I brought them both home and they both "seemed" potty trained. I leave every morning at 7:00 and come home at 2:30. I have to leave Ozzy out-meaning not crated. So, I leave Daisy out as well. I put up gates and close doors so that they are only in my living room. I realized over the weekend when I got to looking for something dead in my house, that they have been using my huge area rug as a toilet! It smells so bad. I took it out and shampooed it, let it air dry outside and it still smells like urine. I finally chunked it. I so thought they were holding it. My husband kept saying that he smelled pee. I have severe allergies and can't smell half the time anyway. I know it had to be bad if I could smell it. So my question: I think I would like to train them to pee on pee pee pads during the day. How do I do this? Ugh.....This is just too hard. I wish that I were starting fresh with a puppy. They have got to be so confused. What to do?

[tzuhouse 4]

I never did pads, well 2 days with Maddy and then didn't like that I was saying it is OK to potty in the house....so, I can only assume that if you put a few pads where the rug was, they may just go to it out of habit. Not sure, but others that use pads will surely have some answers for you.... I am sure you were disappointed to discover they were not trained, but it will happen....patience, patience, patience. Good Luck

[Ozzy'sMommy 5]

oz is pad trained...my advice is to use the washable pads and not the disposable ones.

we started with four...one by each back door and one next to each opening to the kitchen....we had noticed when we were home and he was allowed to run amuck, the few accidents he did have were in those places. whenever we saw him pee on the pad we acted like it was the best thing ever, he got kisses and "good potty, good ozzy!" and then a little wellness puppy treat. if he went on carpet we didn't say "bad doggy" but instead went and got a paper towel, if it was pee we soaked up some of it and then walked over to the pad and showed him "good potty, good ozzy", ditto with the poop. the of course we cleaned his mess up, lol.

it didn't take much time until he got the idea and went on the pads, who could pass up treats for pottying! and over time we went down to one pad by the back door. and it was so cute to see him suddenly stop playing and run to the pad (even if he was on the other side of the apartment) to go potty.

now that we moved to my mom's house and it's a good i dunno, 5 times larger than our apartment was, he just walks to the back door if we are home so he can go pee outside. we never had to do the 4 pad thing here. there is one pad in the corner of my bedroom that he uses if its storming out or no one is home to let him out to pee. i leave my bedroom door open if i am gone and he will run across the house to pee.

also for cleaning the spot on your carpet that your rug sat on, i would use some nature's miracle. if the smell is really bad i would spray it on overnight (as long as your dogs aren't confined in that room at night) to let it really soak in. this stuff really is a miracle. when we moved out of our apartment they blacklighted our place to decide if we needed to pay to replace the carpet. apparently they do that to all pet owners upon moving out and 9 times out of 10 they replace the carpet and charge the tenants about $1500 for it...they said our carpet showed normal wear and tear and that barely anything showed up on the blacklight...they only shampooed our carpet and didn't even need to use pet stain remover

let me know how the training goes. i honestly don't think it will take your dogs much time at all. and you may even be able to replace the rug eventually. at the apartment at first oz thought our small rugs were also pee pads...he got over that and my mom's place is mostly wood floors so there are quite a few rugs around...he hasn't peed on ANY of them.

[shihtzumomof2 11]

oz is pad trained...my advice is to use the washable pads and not the disposable ones.

we started with four...one by each back door and one next to each opening to the kitchen....we had noticed when we were home and he was allowed to run amuck, the few accidents he did have were in those places. whenever we saw him pee on the pad we acted like it was the best thing ever, he got kisses and "good potty, good ozzy!" and then a little wellness puppy treat. if he went on carpet we didn't say "bad doggy" but instead went and got a paper towel, if it was pee we soaked up some of it and then walked over to the pad and showed him "good potty, good ozzy", ditto with the poop. the of course we cleaned his mess up, lol.

it didn't take much time until he got the idea and went on the pads, who could pass up treats for pottying! and over time we went down to one pad by the back door. and it was so cute to see him suddenly stop playing and run to the pad (even if he was on the other side of the apartment) to go potty.

now that we moved to my mom's house and it's a good i dunno, 5 times larger than our apartment was, he just walks to the back door if we are home so he can go pee outside. we never had to do the 4 pad thing here. there is one pad in the corner of my bedroom that he uses if its storming out or no one is home to let him out to pee. i leave my bedroom door open if i am gone and he will run across the house to pee.

also for cleaning the spot on your carpet that your rug sat on, i would use some nature's miracle. if the smell is really bad i would spray it on overnight (as long as your dogs aren't confined in that room at night) to let it really soak in. this stuff really is a miracle. when we moved out of our apartment they blacklighted our place to decide if we needed to pay to replace the carpet. apparently they do that to all pet owners upon moving out and 9 times out of 10 they replace the carpet and charge the tenants about $1500 for it...they said our carpet showed normal wear and tear and that barely anything showed up on the blacklight...they only shampooed our carpet and didn't even need to use pet stain remover

let me know how the training goes. i honestly don't think it will take your dogs much time at all. and you may even be able to replace the rug eventually. at the apartment at first oz thought our small rugs were also pee pads...he got over that and my mom's place is mostly wood floors so there are quite a few rugs around...he hasn't peed on ANY of them.

Washable ones? Where do you get those. I go through so many piddle pads,that it is getting very expensive. Kylie was pad trained, which is OK, but now Casey and Cricket have started using them when they need to. So, of the three or four that I have throughout the house, they get replaced a lot. I didn't know you could get re-usable ones. Tell me more please?

[bluesy 2]

I started using washable ones too, with 3 of them I was going through tons of pads. Here's where I order them from: http://www.personallypaws.com/onlinestore/. I got mine about 1 1/2 years ago and they are still like new, I wash them with regular detergent and a little bleach and either dry them on the clothes line or use the dryer. There's no smell at all on them after they're washed. You can get them at Petco and Petsmart too, but you only get 1 or 2 I think for about $25.

[Ozzy'sMommy 5]

the washable ones are the best!!! and they come in different sizes too. i have 5 or 6 so i always have clean ones to put out once he uses one.

the ones we use are from petsmart and they are the medium size. i think it was two for $25 when we got ours. supposedly they are good for up to 300 washes and so far they are living up to that!

[Cackle 144]

I always trained mine to go outside. But we don't have the issues with snow like some of you do. I don't know anything about pee pads but I don't like the ideas of using them. If I'm away for more that about 4 hours I get a neighbour to let my two out.

[Carolina Girl 2]

Thanks for giving me so much great advice. I also did not know that they made washable pads. That is great. I will have to get some of those. I put one down in the area that gets used the most, and Ozzy went right to it and peed on it! We had a pee pee party. Then he peed on the floor beside the sofa an hour later. I guess it will take time. I'm realizing that they just can't hold it very long.

I really think that Daisy probably just peed all over my great aunts house, and she (my aunt) just didn't see or smell it. Also, with Ozzy who knows his history? Maybe that is why someone gave him up.....I will keep you posted on how things are going! Thanks again!!