When our new arrival came in the form of a very cute golden Labrador puppy I was well aware of the need to start house training her straight away. My other dog was very straight forward to house train and he was very particular right from the word go that he wanted to go outside which of course made it very easy. However, despite this I was fully aware that not all dogs are the same and in order to make the house training process as simple and as easy as possible I needed to make sure I had a few things ready.

One of those items was the disposable puppy training mats. Basically the mats you unfold and put down on the floor with the hope that the puppy will head over to them and go to the toilet. My other dog had used these successfully for the first month or so and I had no quarms using them again. My local pet store tends to stock a good selection of puppy items having their own section and within that section they do a few varieties of these puppy pads but the ones I opted for Trixie Disposable Floor Mats.

I opted for the Trixie Disposable Floor Mats over the other brand simply because they were better value for the amount in each pack. Trixie manufacture a wide variety of dog related items and I am not unfamiliar with their products so I didn't worry about the quality or whether they would be suitable as I tend to find their products are fitting to their price tag. I paid around £11.00 for a pack of 5 sets - each set contains 7 packs. Of course you can buy them online as well as in pet stores but the prices do vary so it is worth looking around if you are wanting the best deal especially when they can be used to frequently.

The whole idea of puppy mats is that you slowly over time manage to successfully house train your dog. The thought behind it is you put a mat down and slowly move it towards the door where they will then realise that that's where they need to go to the toilet. This isn't the most pleasant experience but it can be effective if done correctly. Once a dog was wee'd on the mat the likelihood of it returning to the same mat is actually quite high so they won't go in several places they will just return to the same mat to go to the toilet. Obviously after a few times you will need to replace the mat but hopefully you've already sowed the seed in the young dog's mind that the mat equals toilet and little by little you can eventually get them outside.

The Trixie Disposable Floor Mats are 60cm x 40cm in size and are made from a soft material which has diamond shaped quilting making them look and feel quite soft. On the underside it has a blue protective type of sheeting which is the part which is waterproof and protects from the fluids leaking as it doesn't allow any of the wetness to come through. The mats are leakproof also as they have sealed borders around all four sides therefore trapping in any liquid but by this point you should really have already changed the mat! The mats themselves are quite thin despite their size making them quite handy to store out of the way. Not just for home use but they are also ideal to be used in carriers, crates and kennels.

To use you just simply put down on your chosen area of flooring, simple! The key is to take your puppy over to it on a regular basis so they can associate themselves with it. Eventually they will go to the toilet on it if you return them to it enough times, don't just expect them to know what it is for automatically as they won't! After about a day of constantly leading my puppy to the mat within the next day she was quite happily going over and going to the toilet on it. But of course being 9 weeks old she had her accidents which is expected but sure enough over the next week she managed to get to the mat 80% of the time and as the weeks went on I was able to move the mat further and further to the door. Granted I did it slowly but I needed her to learn properly not just a quick fix and these mats are not as you do need some level of patience so don't expect your dog will be instantly house trained as soon as you put the mat out!

It didn't take long at all to get my puppy house trained which I am very pleased about and I guess she did have my older dog to follow too but these mats definitely came in handy as well as keep my flooring urine free which of course saves a lot of clearing up to do. I changed my mat every day simply because a puppy goes to the toilet many, many times when they are very young and apart from wanting to keep it clean for her I also wanted a clean mat in my house! I never had a mat that leaked which is obviously great as they had done everything that they intend to do which is to lock in liquid but to help house train a dog too. They are also great at reducing the odour as I barely noticed any form of bad odour coming from the mats but then I did change the regularly.

Overall, I can't find fault with these mats at all. They do the job they are supposed to, nothing more and nothing less. They won't house train your dog by themselves so a little owner input is needed but they do make the whole house training process a little easier and they do make you feel like you are making progress as I do know how much you sometimes want to tear your hair out whilst house training a dog. They don't leak which is obviously a big plus as they retain liquid easily. Definitely an item which is worth considering when wanting to choose suitable puppy mats.

~ Useful Information ~

Brand: Trixie
Price: From £9.99
Availability: Pet stores and online

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