How to get my dog to use dogpads? Help needed.

I don’t have a dog at this time, only cats, but….I’d say to crate her at night with a pad in the crate. Make it big enough so she can sleep away from the pissy pad.
The easiest solution is to crate her, no accidents and she gets exposure to peeing on the pads. Then maaaybe, after a few weeks or months you can try leaving her out again and see if she makes the association with going on the pads.

You could also just confine her to the bathroom with a pad and see if that works.
Good luck!

She tears up the pad in her crate. She wont tear it up anywhere else but if I stick it in there with her she tears it up, and she has plenty of room away from it. I could try the bathroom I suppose but I’d hate to have to do that to her

Crate train her as @Coloma said. That means she will NOT be allowed to pee in the crate. Overnight, she needs to sleep in the crate.

If she has to pee overnight at age 5, either she’s eating or drinking too late, or she needs to go to the vet. Peeing overnight, if she’s been taken out prior to you going to bed, is not normal.

The potty pads should be placed near where she normally goes out to go potty. That way she already associates going to that door as going potty. Never put a pad in the kennel. Dogs should not pee and sleep in the same area.

Next, take her out more often. Immediately take her potty after opening the crate. Reward her when she’s gone potty outside.

If she goes inside (not on the pad), clean it up immediately. Have you cleaned the carpets since she went on them? If it wasn’t done well, no matter what training you do, the odor will lure her to use the carpet as her bathroom.

Do you limit her water at night?

As said above, a crate/den with pillow, blanket and enough room to comfortably stand and turn is the best. Don’t put potty pads or food/water in the crate. Den is for sleeping and burrowing, don’t confuse the issue.

A dog will naturally love his/her safe space. It isn’t where they eat/drink/eliminate.

@spatzielover I do clean the rugs whenever she goes on them and the carper underneath with my carpet cleaner and the special pet odor soap, and when she does pee on the rugs it usually is in a different spot and not the same one if that matters. And I will try placing the pad more towards the door, and rewarding her more when she goes outside.

@Pandora I wasn’t at first limiting her water but I have since then but I have also been keeping her in her kennel since then as well. She doesn’t always go to the bathroom in her kennel at night just when I leave her out.

My best advice is to go back…all the way back to puppy potty traning. Train her again as if she wasn’t previously trained.

Have a “good girl” potty party outside with lots of praise everytime she goes and treat reward her, too.

Limit her food and water to a set time at night, then pick it up & put it on the counter.

It shouldn’t take more than a few weeks to have her fully trained.

@SpatzieLover Thanks I am going to try to start all over with her training, Thankyou very much :)

First, have her checked out by your vet. A 5 year old dog should be able to hold it longer than that. If there’s no physical reason, then you need to treat her like a puppy that’s never been house trained (which is what’s happened). If you are not home, or asleep, keep her in a crate but then take her out as soon as you get home or wake up and then praise her like crazy when she goes outside (if you don’t feel like an idiot, then you’re not praising enough – there should be high-pitched noises, clapping, treats….the whole works). Gradually allow her more time out of the crate and ultimately unsupervised time, but the process should take at least several weeks. Once you get her house-trained, the puppy pads won’t be needed.

I go along with the crate training but NEVER EVER try to teach the dog to go in its crate, that is just the opposite of what you are trying to train. Dogs are fastidious by nature and unless they were raised in filth will rarely soil the area where they sleep. That is the whole concept of using a crate. When you get the dog out pick it up and run outside immediately and as was said make a huge fuss when the dog does as you wish. Positive reinforcement works well but I also believe in sharp words and a swat when they are naughty. I would show her the accident and let her know you are not happy. Maybe you could get rid of the rugs that she is using until you get this problem under control.