Potty Training Guide for Fake Grass Potty Pads
A Guide on How to Potty Train With Fake Grass
Potty training a dog is hard work, especially if you live in an apartment building or somewhere with cold weather. Sometimes it’s not feasible to get your puppy outdoors in enough time for them to relieve themselves outside. Instead of getting frustrated with your puppy, there’s an alternative solution you can try to teach your dog to go to the bathroom indoors — on a designated potty training mat.
If you’re not sure how to potty train your dog using a dog grass mat, look no further. We’ve put together a quick guide on using potty training pads for dogs that will leave you and your dog much happier.
Potty Training Using Fake Grass for Dogs
Using a dog grass mat is an effective way to get your dog to relieve themselves indoors. However, you can’t just lay the pet turf down and expect them to know what to do, even if they’re used to going to the bathroom on real grass. To get your dog to go to the bathroom of the fake grass, you’ll need to go back to the basics of potty training and essentially train them all over again. To get started with your training session, gather the following items:
Treats – Use high-value treats to reward your dog when they perform the action you want. This will help reinforce the behavior over and over.
Leash – Because your dog isn’t going to be comfortable using the artificial grass potty training mat just yet, you’ll need to use a leash to guide them to it and keep them there until they relieve themselves.
Dog grass mat – Instead of disposable puppy pads, opt for an easy-to-clean artificial turf mat that more closely resembles real grass. Cut down the mat to be an adequate size for your dog.
Time – Set aside time for multiple training sessions each day to get your dog acquainted with going to the bathroom on the fake grass. In most cases, it will take more than one training session for your dog to catch on — practice makes perfect.
Now that you have everything you need, let’s get started training your dog to go potty using fake grass.
Choose a Designated Spot for the Dog Grass Mat
One of the top dog training tips we can give is to choose a spot where the potty pad will go and keep it there. Moving the artificial turf pad around to different areas of your home can confuse your dog — causing them to have accidents in places you don’t want! Keeping the dog grass matt in the same spot will help them begin to understand what you’re asking them to do. We recommend placing it in an area that is out of the way of the main flow of traffic in your home, but somewhere on a hard surface to prevent the fake grass from slipping.
Start from Square One with Basic Potty Training
Even if your dog is potty trained outdoors, you need to start with the basics when training them to go to the bathroom using fake grass. Using their leash, guide them over to the artificial turf every half hour if a puppy or every two hours if an adult. Keep them on the turf mat until they relieve themselves, praising and rewarding them right after they do the desired action. If your dog doesn’t go to the bathroom on the pet turf, remove them from the spot but keep them on their leash. Bring them back to the spot in 30 minutes and repeat this process until they go to the bathroom and are praised. The goal is to get them to understand what the synthetic dog turf is for.
Take the Leash Off Once Regularly Using the Pet Turf
Until your dog is using the synthetic dog turf every time they need to relieve themselves, you should keep them on a leash to prevent them from having an accident elsewhere in the house. By preventing accidents and having them only go to the bathroom on the pet turf, you’ll reinforce the idea that this is the only approved area in the home to go potty. If your dog isn’t having accidents and is going to the bathroom on the fake grass every time, you no longer need to use the leash and can trust them to relieve themselves in the correct area of the home.