When I first heard the term puppy training pads coupled with the description of an absorbent material backed by waterproofing, I had this vision of hundreds of puppies running around with disposable nappies. Similarly, the terms puppy potty training and puppy toilet training evoked cartoon like images that are actually quite funny.
In my view, puppy pads actually have nothing to do with puppy training. Let me explain: A puppy is unable to relate a scolding to any wrongful behavior that happened in the past (the past for a puppy being longer than 2 seconds). The key factor in effective puppy training is that it has to happen in the present, i.e. see the puppy engaged in unacceptable behavior, scold him / her right there and then and show them the right behavior, followed by praise if they comply.
Puppy house training pads are used to show a puppy where to do its business. Normally however, the expected behavior is that the puppy does its business on the pad during times that it is unattended, e.g. when the owner is away or sleeping. When the owner then returns, all correct or incorrect behaviour (doing business on or off the pad) will have occurred in the past, meaning that praise or scolding at that stage will be ineffective as a training action. It would in fact only serve to scare the puppy, as it has no idea why you are scolding it.
Having said that, I don’t deny the value of training pads for puppies in that it protects floors and carpets and makes cleaning up the mess a lot quicker and easier. Newspaper and plastic sheeting on the floor, or, in the case of ceramic tile floors nothing at all, would in fact serve the same dual purpose. Manufacturers of puppy pads would like us to believe that their product will make house breaking of a puppy easier and faster, but, if I had to use them, I would go for cheap puppy training pads, quite simply for the convenience.
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