Living in a flat and puppy pads

[xxxJess123xxx]

Apartment/flat and toilet training/pad training.
Hi all, puppy is 10 weeks and has pretty much mastered pad training. She regularly takes her self down to the front door where the pads are and goes herself and I praise and treat her. Poos, I call her down when I see her sniffing and she goes. Again, praise and treat.

My question is, does anyone live in an apartment and carry on using pads long term? I’m up 2 flights of stairs and I’m not sure how easy it will be to now transition to going outside. She can’t go for walks for another 2 weeks and we only have a communal garden used by other dogs so iv just been carrying her places to get used to sights and smells.

I don’t know if I’m finding the thought of a dog always using pads inside a bit grim? I’m unsure xx

We started training with pads, and then used those disposable grass pee patches for a while - didn’t have any trouble transitioning but the pad training did give her the habit of liking to wee on rugs which was hard to break! (But your idea of pads by door probably better, our pads were all over the house)

We take our dog out for all wees. In terms of schedule, as an adult she goes in the morning by 9:30am, at lunch, early evening, around 7pm and once before bed between 9-11pm (or on walks if they are at these times). It is definitely our most disliked chore and we are looking forward to moving somewhere with garden access SO MUCH, so I feel you! We also have a lift which makes it a bit easier, but the faff of it is the getting dressed to go out to leave the house when you’re all cosy inside or having the clock ticking in the morning that you need to get dog out ASAP - it’s easier in summer.

When I was in brazil I noticed that they did puppy pads inside forever for adult dogs in apartments, so maybe take that as inspiration?

The wees will get too big for a puppy pad soon! Maybe if you have a tiny chihuahua it would be fine but anything bigger and you'll have wee running down your hallway. And dog poo smells worse than puppy poo somehow.

We have a dog and live in a flat. For the transition you have to start just taking them outside very regularly so they get used to weeing outside. And if they go to the door you have to rush their lead on and get them outside.

We take our dog on 3/4 walks a day so he can wee so if you're taking him out a lot weeing inside shouldn't be an issue anyway.

She is a shitzu x poodle and a tiny 1.4kg at the moment bless her. Once she can go outside, it will be very regular. Do I leave the pads down inside by the front door until reliably going outside?

I live in a flat, I have toilet trained two puppies whilst living in a flat (or flat-like conditions, where the garden was actually downstairs and not easily accessible) and I have never used puppy pads.

It's never been an issue being in a flat, because my strategy has always been to anticipate puppy's needs and to go out before they needed to pee.

For an adult dog, I really don't see the benefit of using pads or litter tray or stuff like that.

How can I use the communal garden though when she isn’t fully vaxed yet? Other dogs use it/cats/foxes etc

I would keep using the pads until you can take her out.

Once vaccinated, anticipate her needs by taking her out after sleeping, playtime, food etc and stay out until she's done her business.

I let my puppy into the back garden before she was vaccinated and she's a fit and healthy 15 month old now 🤷‍♀️

Happy pet parenting!