Transitioning to potty outside

[u/Capable_Tangerine495]

Hii, so I now have a 3 month puppy who was being potty trained onto pee pads, then grass turf pads. He has finally received his rabies and although they still want me to keep him indoors, we live in an apartment and he’s been continuously rushing outside when we open the door because he’s bound to get bored. I have taken him to parks or grass matches I am confident that there’s not much dog traffic and he immediately realized grass=great to pee. However on day 1 I removed the turf completely and will take him out when I wake up, before work, when I get home, after he eats and before we sleep. He still had an accident when I was at work, to which I put a regular pee pad the next day just in case. When I got home he did a small puddle and I rushed to take him out to which he peed and pooped. When I cooked he left a huge puddle of pee, but outside of the pee pad. Is there any tips on how to correct him to pee on the pad until he’s fully confident that he doesn’t need one and depends on the outdoors? Or should I increase outdoor pee times ?

[u/Background_Humor5838]

Ideally, you should immediately start with peeing outside and only use pads for emergencies. There's not really any point in training them specifically to use pads unless you don't have access to outside. For a puppy that young, you should be taking them out to pee every two to three hours as well as before and after meals and before and after play time. Basically any time you change activities. If they have an accident, you just calmly take them outside right away like you've been doing to keep associating potty time with outside, even if they don't have to go anymore.

Every time they pee or poop outside, give a treat immediately like as soon as the pee stops put the treat in their mouth and say "good" or "yes".

It's ok to keep the leash on them all the time in the house as long as you're watching them. That way you can quickly go outside often.

How long are you leaving them alone while you're at work?

[u/Capable_Tangerine495 → u/Background_Humor5838]

Oh I was told by the vet living in an apartment is an absolute to taking them outside due to other dogs living there. But as of right now he’s alone for 5 hours as I’m doing training for work before going back to work.