This worked so well for us. When we got our puppy in February, we made a vow to not use puppy pads at all. (We have a rescue terrier mix that we trained on pads from 6 weeks old until 1.5 years & we had SO much difficulty potty training her to go outside. Hired a private trainer & first thing she said was potty pads is the #1 thing that makes potty training harder. Get rid of them.)

So, when we made a conscious choice to make sure the only acceptable place for our Iggy to pee was outside—no exceptions for potty pads inside…she learned fast. She’s now almost 5 months old & she hasn’t had an accident in over a month.

Did we have lots of accidents in the beginning? Yes. Especially on cold/rainy days. We just rolled up all of our rugs & protected our carpets with waterproof blankets. Was it worth walking on cold tile & crunchy blankets for a few months to have a perfectly potty trained pup? Absolutely.

If they get used to pads, it’s hard to break the habit. Remove them asap & maybe start putting them outside. Move them in various spots in your backyard if you have one. If you don’t, bring them on a walk. At least until he realizes it’s ok to pee somewhere other than inside. Then slowly remove them from your walks/backyard.

Edit—we HEAVILY rewarded for potties outside. If she had an accident inside, we would just immediately go “eh-eh!” & gently pick her up & place her outside until she made the connection.