Brussels pups like to chew up their piddle pads!

[facethemusic]

We have 2 Brussels Griffon pups - 6 1/2 and 4 1/2 months old. The potty training is going more slowly than we would like. My wife and I are not home during the day - we keep both pups gated off in our master bath with 2 piddle pads. Sometimes they shred them completely, other times they just nibble at them a bit. We've tried spraying Apple Bitter on them the past couple of days but they are still chewing them up. Any suggestions out there?? BTW, we just love both our little girls!!

 

[dr2little]

First, I would probably trade the puppy pads on the floor for newspaper inside a large (bath mat size) upside down tote lid with a lip on it of about 2' or so.
Puppy pads have plastic backings and are much more interesting to play with and more dangerous to the pups than plain newspaper. Also, with the pups having to jump into and then out of this potty area, they will see it as something other than just another floor surface...pads on the floor can make housetraining much more difficult.

I would make sure that they only have access to this area when you are out for longer periods and then go straight to outdoor training as soon as you are home in the evenings and weekends.

I adore Brussels...a breed I will always share my life with.

PICTURES PLEASE!!!!!opcorn:

 

[T&D's Mum]

Our pups used to destroy their pee pads by ripping them up into little pieces. We eventually got rid of them and allowed them to stay outside when we weren't home. When can your start going out?

 

[facethemusic]

We won't let ours stay outside unsupervised - we have a water feature that I have to add Spa Shock to pretty much daily. I was told that it could be toxic to dogs especially in that amount.

As to the request for pics - I'm not very computer savvy but I will try in the next few days or so...

 

[T&D's Mum]

Gotcha. So if they stay in the house, where do you eventually want them to pee? That would probably be the place to encourage them to go now. I know you can get faux grass which dogs can do their business on.

 

[Herschel]

faux grass

Haha. Foie Gras.

 

[noludoru]

Disgusting, Herschel.

Facethemusic, please take Doc's advice. The problem with puppy pee pads is.. well, there are way too many problems with them. Go for sheets of newspaper in something like a large litterbox/ tote lid type thing that they can easily get into but is clearly not the floor. Honestly, if you're not going to take your pups outside, I would just litterbox-train them. But I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the Spa Shock thing and if it's your whole yard that has the stuff or not..

 

[MafiaPrincess]

My dog never chills outside alone. She's still housebroken to the outdoors.. We go out together she goes, she may play a bit we come in..
Why can't you take them out to go when you are home?

 

[girlbuffalo1]

I wouldn't litterbox, paper or pee pad train them--I would crate train them! Honey (our Brussels girl) seems to have no problems in her crate although I wouldn't consider her completely trained yet. I really think pee pads or anything like that just make more work on yourself--why not crate when you are not home and make regular potty breaks for them outside to they learn to go outside?
I would say at almost 5 and 7 months potty training for outside should be a cinch even with a small dog as they can hold it fairly long.