Being of the old school (50+), I must admit that I only recently learnt about puppy pads. When a friend of mine could not stop talking about the new puppy training pads that she was using, and how much easier it made her life, I first had to ask what she was talking about! I suppose it is the same with diapers. In our day we had to wash and sterilize dirty diapers, whilst nowadays disposable diapers are commonly used (by those who can afford them at least). In much the same way, we used newspaper on the floor to housebreak our puppies as a puppy training pad did not exist in those days.
As to the question on whether or not puppy housebreaking pads work or not, there are generally 2 schools of thought. Some say that it is a waste of time and money as the purpose of housebreaking is to teach the puppy to do its business outside and using a puppy pad would teach it that doing it inside (albeit on the pad) is contrary to the primary objective. Those in favour of puppy toilet training pads would argue that once the puppy has been taught to do its business on the pad, the pad could then gradually be moved outside and ultimately dispensed with.
The fact of the matter is that when puppies are very young, they have to go to the toilet quite often. Unless you spend 24/7 with them and can correct their behaviour immediately when it happens inside, or they spend most of their time outside, accidents are going to happen. Not having newspaper on the floor or use puppy pads for training simply means that the mess will be more difficult to clean up.
Ultimately, all the puppy wants to do is please us. It does not know what behaviour is not acceptable and has to be taught. The problem is to communicate our requirements to the puppy in such a way that they understand. The only way to do this is to act immediately when an undesirable behaviour takes place, not afterwards as the puppy cannot distinguish that we are referring to past behaviour when we scold it.
The solution to housebreaking a puppy is very simple. Accept that there will be lots of mishaps, especially in the beginning when the puppy is very young. Also accept that there is nothing you can do about it and that scolding the puppy afterwards will only confuse it. So clean up and smile! As you spend time with your puppy, watch it carefully for any signs that it needs to go to the toilet. If it does so inside, react immediately by a stern NO, pick it up and put it where you want it to do its business (on the pad, newspaper or outside), and then praise it when its business is done. Do this consistently and your puppy will learnt very quickly where to go, and even alert you to the fact before a mishap happens.
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