Keeping a puppy indoors can be challenging to say the least. As much as we love and adore Jack, like all babies, he’s a little poop-factory. The little piles of you-know-what all over the floor are already doing my head in.

I haven’t for the life of me worked out how to get him to do “number twos” where I want until proper housebreaking begins – he seems to prefer cold flat surfaces for that. But when it comes to number ones, Little Stinker Housebreaking Pads have been a godsend.

“Super Absorbent Polymer Turns Liquid Into Gel” trumpets the packet, which features a photo of a slightly crazed-looking Doberman.

Liquid into Gel eh? That sounded good enough for us.

Our puppy needed no encouragement to use them – as the only absorbent surface in the room besides his bed, he naturally seeks these out when nature calls. They soak everything up and the plastic underside protects the floor. And you can use the clean bit to wipe up other, more toxic, “spills”. And who knows? Maybe – unlike me – you can get your puppy to use them for number twos as well. Then your life will be an easy-but-expensive Nirvana where all you have to do is pick these up and put them down again.

I should repeat that these Housebreaking Pads should be the only absorbent surface in the room. On the first day we suffered domestic blindness and failed to notice a doormat we’d left in Jack’s room. You can just imagine what happened next…

At AUD$51.00 for a pack of fifty, Little Stinker Housebreaking Pads aren’t cheap (a dollar each, and not very environmentally friendly, either). But I have to admit that the hospital-whiteness of these puppy wipes has a positive psychological effect on me. Now I understand why nappies are plain, boring white. They may not lift your spirits, but they certainly make you feel less miserable about the stinky task you’re performing when you handle them.

Nevertheless, I wear gloves and a World War One gas mask when I’m performing Jack cleanups.

RATING:
BUY IT: www.precisionpet.com
COST: AUD $51.00 (US$32.00)