Best Puppy Pads : Potty Training Your Puppy on a Pee Pad

Tim Seidler

Tim Seidler – Head of Pets

with support from the Pawster Research Team


At Pawster, we are committed to presenting the most accurate and up-to-date information to assist you in your pet care journey. When appropriate, we consult licensed and practicing veterinarians to fact-check our professionally written articles.

The joys of owning a puppy are seemingly endless. It’s an amazing experience seeing a little ball of fluff run around play for hours on end before crashing asleep on your lap at the end of the day. It’s so good we almost wish they never grew up sometimes.

However, as any dog owner will be able to tell you – it’s not all fun and games.

House training a puppy is one of the most frustrating, and unhygienic parts of dog ownership. But once they’ve learned to not leave their droppings in the home it’s an incredibly satisfying feeling. Not only do you no longer have to pick up poop and mop up pee every morning, you’ve also managed to train a dog.

Over the years various different solutions have been designed to help people house train their dog quicker and cleaner. The vast majority of them are behavioral training techniques, which are excellent. They should be your first port of call, there is no product that is a substitute for proper training.

Puppy pee pads are all about making things a little bit easier. They make a dirty and difficult job a little less dirty, and a little less difficult.

With that in mind, today we are going to look at puppy training pads to see what they are, how they work, and we’re going to provide you with 6 recommendations of the best puppy pee pads on the market in 2024.

Here is the 9 Best Puppy Foods

Let’s get started.

What Are Puppy Training Pads?

Puppy training pads are essentially large rectangles of material that are designed to be a backup plan for when your little pooch can’t wait to go outside (or when they don’t understand that they need to). They are often scented with a special odor that is designed to naturally entice your puppy to do their business on it instead of your carpet.

This means that when your pooch does have a little accident before they are trained, you won’t need to mop it up and clean – you can just throw the pad away.

Pros and Cons Of Using Puppy Pads

Pros:

Good For When You’re Not Around – Many puppy owners hate leaving their little pooch even for the smallest amount of time before they’re fully grown. However, as many of us have jobs and other responsibilities it’s inevitable that sooner or later they’re going to need to be left home alone.

Puppies generally can’t hold their wee and poo long enough for their owner to come home – so even if they’re trained, they may not make it until you’re back. A pee pad is a great backup solution for when these inevitable situations occur.

Good If You Live In An Apartment – If you live in a house then when your puppy starts to wee inside you can attempt to rush them outdoors to limit the amount of “damage” that is done. However, if you live in an apartment, this isn’t possible. You’re not going to make it downstairs before they finish, and your neighbors won’t be too pleased about the puppy pee in their corridors.

Puppy pads can be used as an emergency pee place when this happens. When the little doggo starts to answer natures call you can simply place them on the pad and throw it away when they are done.

Bad Weather – Puppy pads are great if you live in an area that is prone to extreme weather conditions. If you’re likely to experience severe wind, rain, heat, or snow that’s not safe for your puppy to be out in – then a pad is a nice backup option to have.

Cons:

Teaches Bad Behaviour – While many people see puppy pads as an amazing invention that saves a huge amount of time and hassle, some people disagree with their usage. They believe that it can actually do more harm than good in the long run as it almost teaches puppies that it’s ok to do their business indoors.

There is certainly some merit to this argument, and lazy dog owners can sometimes rely on the pads too much and use them as a substitute for proper training. However, in our opinion, this is the exception and not the rule. If used properly and in conjunction with a proper training routine then there should be no reason why puppy pads should teach your doggo that it’s ok to pee inside.

It’s Not A Toy – There’s a good chance that some of you reading this are thinking “my pooch would tear these things to shreds”. Some of the more playful puppies can see these pads as toys at first, and they’ll try and tear them up and throw them around.

Luckily this doesn’t happen all that often. There’s a quick understanding that “this is where I pee and poo, it’s not for playing”. But if you’re unlucky enough to be one of the rare owners that experience this behavior in your puppy, then there are several ways that it can be resolved.

Primarily you’re going to need to teach your puppy that this is not ok. It’s not a toy, and from day one you need to lay down the law. Be firm if you need to. It’s horrible disciplining a puppy, but if there’s one thing you don’t want them to play with – it’s a pee pad.

Additionally, you can tape down the edges for further protection if you wish, but to be honest, with a little training this is very rarely required.

What are Puppy Pee Pads made out of?

Puppy pee pads are made from a wide range of different materials often found in layers to provide multiple beneficial properties.

The bottom layer is often made of a reasonably thick layer of flexible plastic, similar to a tarpaulin in a way. It’s 100% waterproof and is designed to be the barrier between the “gifts” and the flooring.

On top of this is usually a middle layer of an absorbent material. What this is made from depends on the manufacturer. Sometimes it is quilted, other times its not.

The top layer can also be quilted sometimes, but it’s almost always made from a different material to the absorbent layers below. This is because they are designed to be super fast drying (to prevent the spread of pee around the house if they walk on it).

What to look for in a Good Puppy Pee Pad

Puppy pee pads aren’t the most advanced products on the market, they’re reasonably straightforward. However, there are still a few features that you should ideally be looking out for.

Quick Dry Top Layer:

This is pretty standard for most high-quality puppy pads on the market, but you’ll find one or two who still don’t do it. Check that the manufacturer is mentioning somewhere in their advertising that their top layer is quick drying. If they’re not talking about it, then it’s probably not going to dry quick enough to be considered acceptable.

Scented:

Puppy pads are scented for two main reasons. One of which is to try and mask the odors that are produced when your pooch pees or poos. But the main reason they are scented is that they naturally attract your dog to do their business on them. In an incredibly short amount of time, your dog will associate the smell of the pad with going to the toilet – which makes them much more effective.

Lock In Layers:

The last thing you want your puppy to do after doing their business on a pad is to run over it and spread their pee all around the house. All of the best puppy pads on the market will have several layers of absorbent material that has lock-in properties. This means that any pee will quickly be absorbed by the layers below (but it will have difficulty returning to the surface).

They’re not foolproof, and they’re certainly not 100% effective. But they definitely help you keep the pee on the pad.

6 Best Puppy Pads

In this section, we are going to take a look at what we think are the top 6 puppy training pads on the market in 2024.

Overall Best Puppy Pad: Frisco Training & Potty Pads, 22″ x 23″

If you’re looking for the best overall puppy pad, then this is the one for you. It’s made by the well-respected brand Frisco, and it does everything a good pad should do.

It’s a super dry pad that does all it can to ensure the pee that’s absorbed doesn’t end up being carried around your house by your pup. It’s got interlocking layers that keep the pee where it should be, and the quick dry top layer ensures that any pee that is on the top is removed quickly. It’s quilted, affordable, and an all round great pick.

Pros And Cons

  • Pro – Locks wetness away
  • Pro – Scented
  • Pro – Quilted top layer
  • Pro – Great brand
  • Con – Not suitable for very large dogs

Small Training Pads: Wee-Wee Pet Training and Puppy Pads

Smaller dogs are going to need a smaller pad if it’s going work effectively. Huge pads are not only wasteful when used on small dogs, they’re also slightly off-putting for your pooch in some cases. These small pads have been custom designed for use with small dogs to remove these issues.

They’re absorbent, and they have an extra heavy duty bottom liner layer that will ensure there’s no leakage. Additionally, the 5ply amour lock system keeps pee out of harm’s way once your pooch has finished their business.

Pros And Cons

  1. Pro – 5Ply armor lock system
  2. Pro – Highly absorbent
  3. Pro – Great for small dogs
  4. Pro – Heavy duty bottom liner
  5. Con – Not suitable for larger dogs

Extra Large Training Pads: Frisco Extra Large Training & Potty Pads

These pads from Frisco are almost identical to the pads we chose as our overall pick. They’re made from the exact same materials in the exact same configuration. The only difference here is that they are better suited to larger dogs (as the pads are bigger). Larger dogs have more pee, and these pads are going to be able to soak it all up without any spillage or issues at all.

Pros And Cons

  • Pro – Locks wetness away
  • Pro – Scented
  • Pro – Quilted top layer
  • Pro – Great brand
  • Con – None really

Giant Training Pads: Frisco Giant Training & Potty Pads

Guess what, these are the exact same pads as our overall top pick too!

But seriously, Frisco’s pads are the best on the market right now. There’s no point us offering alternative products in these sections for the sake of it. These pads are the largest that Frisco make. They’ll be able to soak up the pee of a Great Dane (or two) without breaking a sweat. If you’ve got a big dog, these are the ones for you.

Pros And Cons

  • Pro – Locks wetness away
  • Pro – Scented
  • Pro – Quilted top layer
  • Pro – Great brand
  • Con – May be too big for some smaller homes

Odor Eliminating: Hartz Home Protection Lavender Scent Odor Eliminating Dog Pads

These pads from Hartz are an excellent option if you’re worried about the smell a pee pad might create in your home. They’re absorbent and quick drying, but the odor eliminator compounds that are infused into the product will ensure that your home stays smelling fresh too.

Pros And Cons

  • Pro – Odour eliminating
  • Pro – Absorbent
  • Pro – Quick drying
  • Pro – Very affordable
  • Cons – None

Washable Puppy Pad: Simple Solution Washable Training & Travel Pad

Some people prefer the idea of having a washable and reusable pad instead of a disposable one. These are generally seen as better options for traveling, furniture protection, and for use after surgery. However, they’ll do a decent job at house training if that’s what you want them for. They’re absorbable and reliable, but make sure you don’t underestimate the hassle of washing a pee soaked pad.

You can’t just throw it in with your clothes.

Pros And Cons

  • Pro – Eco-friendly
  • Pro – Comfier than a disposable pad
  • Pro – Great for traveling
  • Pro – Good value long-term
  • Con – Not the best option for house training

Conclusion

So there you have it, everything you wanted to know about puppy training pads.

It’s not the most glamorous purchase in the world. But if you make the decision to get a pad, we’re pretty sure you’re going to be cleaning up accidents much less often.

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