Housetraining Pads… can they chew 'em?

[JazzysMom]

I am going out of town for a week and my older kids will be "in charge" of the dogs. They both work, so there will be several hours of each day when the dogs will be crated.
Usually, when I leave the house, I put paper towels in Keoki's crate and he shreds it into confetti and pees everywhere.
I'd like to put housetraining pads in there instead, but is there any danger if he should shred – and possibly ingest -- some of the pads?

It just takes so many paper towels, and I think we could use fewer of the pads.

[tanza]

@JazzysMom:

I am going out of town for a week and my older kids will be "in charge" of the dogs. They both work, so there will be several hours of each day when the dogs will be crated.
Usually, when I leave the house, I put paper towels in Keoki's crate and he shreds it into confetti and pees everywhere.
I'd like to put housetraining pads in there instead, but is there any danger if he should shred – and possibly ingest -- some of the pads?

It just takes so many paper towels, and I think we could use fewer of the pads.

Most of them have plastic backing… I would be very concerned with these is they were to shred.... and possible ingest...

[dash]

Dash has ingested them before without any negative effects except poop with pee pee pad in it:D

[Quercus]

hmmm….I don't know...I dont think I would trust it. The idea behind those pads is to be absorbant, so if the material is ingested, it might absorb liquid in the gut and swell up...not to mention the chemical reaction that might occur in the stomach/intestines.

I would just keep using lots of paper. We are in the same boat with Ariel...she is our first shredder/eater of all fabric bedding...Querk shreds but doesn't eat....so she is stuck with paper, or cardboard.

[dash]

@Quercus:

hmmm….I don't know...I dont think I would trust it. The idea behind those pads is to be absorbant, so if the material is ingested, it might absorb liquid in the gut and swell up...not to mention the chemical reaction that might occur in the stomach/intestines.

I would just keep using lots of paper. We are in the same boat with Ariel...she is our first shredder/eater of all fabric bedding...Querk shreds but doesn't eat....so she is stuck with paper, or cardboard.

I guess I should add we didn't use it long because it was just as messy as nothing at all. Since he shredded it 2 minutes after we put it in there it wasn't useful for the pee anyway. So I don't exactly have long term use experience. Quercus has a good point. I didn't think about possible swelling.

[Duke]

I don't put anything in Daisy's crate with her anymore. She destroys and makes a mess out of everything I have given for her comfort. So I figure she doesn't need these things. She lays on the plastic tray that came with the crate. I do however give her a biscuit and sometimes a kong to chew, but I think she just lays down and sleeps. Later on maybe in the fall/winter, I'll try an old blanket or comforter. She just might appreciate it when the weather becomes colder. I had done the same last year when Duke was Daisy's age (7 months now), and I was surprised that when I did give him a blanket that it mostly stayed in tact. He has a nice comfy dog bed in his crate now. He hasn't tried to de-stuff it . . . yet.

[Duke]

I should add that she HAS urinated in the crate a couple times and unfortunately, when I got home, it had dried up. Daisy and the room smelled of urine. :eek: Daisy got a bath. The tray slides out and is easily sprayed off with a hose outside and finished with Lysol disinfectant wipes. This happened only twice. Often, my sister-in-law comes to the house for lunch and lets my dogs outside. Daisy seems to be getting stronger bladder control.

[JazzysMom]

Keoki has two cozy pads to sleep on at night, and he doesn't bother them at all. It's just the day time. I take those out and put in a bunch of paper towels.

Sigh, I guess I'll just keep investing in the paper towel companies. LOL
I have debated not giving him anything, but they at least absorb some of the pee so he's not splashing around in it.
I just don't think my kids are going to do a great job cleaning it up, and then his bedding will be put in there at night. ew and ugh.

[Quercus]

We use lots of newspaper….much cheaper than papertowels...but not quite as absorbant. I have thought about using cardboard boxes....

[tanza]

@Quercus:

We use lots of newspaper….much cheaper than papertowels...but not quite as absorbant. I have thought about using cardboard boxes....

If they "eat" cardboard can ball up and cause a blockage… have seen it happen.... especially the glued parts....

Newspaper is good and you can usually go to a print shop and get the ends of rolls of blank paper... then you don't have to put up with the newsprint

[Quercus]

Yeah, so far she hasn't eaten paper …and I have put in a little cardboard, and she doesn't seem to have eaten that. But, wow, has she eaten and pooped out a lot of fabric! I have never seen a dog eat so many tiny pieces of blanket!

Good point about the cardboard blockage though....sometimes I forget they aren't gorillas

[JazzysMom]

Ahhh, newspaper. Duh @ me. LOL Why didn't I think of that a long, long time ago?

I may give that a try. Thanks!

[Duke]

Poor Daisy gets nothing . . . Hope you all don't think I'm mean, but even if there is urine soaked newspaper or paper towel, there is still an unsanitary mess to clean - right? Wicked puddles would be better than not. I really fear that Daisy would eat the paper towel. I'll try it and see what she does, next time she's crated.

[Quercus]

<>
I don't think you're mean I just think it is easier to clean up the pee when it has been absorbed some. And there are many, many times were she doesn't pee, and the newspaper offers some comfort to lie on.

[YodelDogs]

I'm one of those folks who advises against using puppy wee wee pads in crates, period. The pads are impregnated with a scent to entice the dog to relieve themselves and thus it could teach the dog to relieve itself in the crate. Newspapers are an affordable and relatively safe bedding. You can buy rolls of unprinted newspaper at the newspaper printers. These are solid white and thus do not leave ugly grey all over a Basenji's pretty white feet.

[JazzysMom]

I bought a pad today for Keoki that is guaranteed to not be tear-able. If he tears it w/in the first 7 days, we get our money back.

I put it in for the drive home and Keoki curled right up and went to sleep. Usually he shreds and whines in the car. So maybe…. {or maybe he was just exhausted from his big day}.
Anyway, we'll see what happens.

[JazzysMom]

LOL Got my money back this morning for the "indestructable" crate pad. hee hee Keoki had it torn in three places in the hour it took us to drive back for the second day of the show. ha ha….

[Quercus]

@JazzysMom:

LOL Got my money back this morning for the "indestructable" crate pad. hee hee Keoki had it torn in three places in the hour it took us to drive back for the second day of the show. ha ha….

Ha, ha! I did the same thing many years ago with Querk at a show….we bought it, put it in his crate on the way to the hotel. By the time we got there it was trash...the next day I took it back to the guy and dumped it out on the floor of his booth

[JazzysMom]

This guy was really chatty yesterday, showing photos of his dogs {Am. Bull dogs} and making all sorts of small talk.

Hmmmm, wasn't so happy to see me today. LOL

[Mantis]

Cairo is 7months now and will unstuff toys (not eat) and will eat pieces of towels if I put them in the crate. I think it is just a stage that they pass through with age.

I like the gray padding/ bedding that fits the shape of the kennel exactly. If they have an accident, it absorbs in, they can only destuff the edges and cant tear it apart.

I think the towels are kinda a sucking chewing thing.

The pads (at Petsmart) are super easy to throw in the washer for the occasional accident.

Puppy pads have a particular scent which helps puppys know where to go to release themselves. I would not suggest using this in the kennel because you may be working against yourself with potty training.

Typically my guys may have accidents, but they are usually pretty upset about it when I get home. Almost like they are embarrased.

Caesar even taught himself to drink less in the morning to stop having accidents while I was at work. He guzzled water as a puppy.