Nobody tells you quite how much a puppy goes to the toilet. I knew it would be frequent. I did not know it would be that frequent. In the first two weeks with our Cockapoo, Mabel, I was cleaning up accidents from the kitchen floor approximately six times a day, which was exhausting, time-consuming, and doing nothing good for my kitchen tiles.
Training pads were the obvious solution. What I hadn’t anticipated was how much I’d think about the environmental impact of using fifty disposable pads in a month. The Petface Planet biodegradable pads solved both problems at once.
The First Two Weeks With Mabel
Mabel arrived at eight weeks old, which is the standard age for puppies to leave their mothers and is also, it turns out, the age at which they have essentially no bladder control whatsoever. The advice from our vet and from every puppy training resource I read was consistent: take her outside every hour, after every meal, after every nap, and after every play session. Reward her when she goes outside. Don’t punish accidents indoors.
The reality is that even with the most diligent outdoor schedule, accidents happen. Puppies don’t always give warning signs. They sometimes go mid-play without any indication that they needed to. Having training pads in the kitchen gave Mabel a designated indoor option for when we didn’t make it outside in time, and it gave me a much easier clean-up than mopping the floor six times a day.
Why I Chose the Petface Planet Biodegradable Pads
The Petface Planet Biodegradable Puppy Training Pads were the ones I chose specifically because of the eco credentials. Standard training pads are made from plastic and synthetic materials that go straight to landfill. When you’re using fifty pads in a month — which is a realistic figure for the early weeks of puppy ownership — that’s a significant amount of plastic waste. The Petface Planet pads are compostable and biodegradable, which meant I could use them without the guilt that would have come with the standard alternatives.
The 56x57cm size was also right for Mabel at her current size — large enough that she could use them comfortably without stepping off the edge, which is a real problem with smaller pads.
How They Performed
The absorbency was the first thing I tested, because a training pad that leaks is worse than no training pad at all. The Petface Planet pads absorbed quickly and held the liquid without pooling or leaking through to the floor beneath. The surface stayed relatively dry to the touch after use, which matters because puppies sometimes walk across their pads immediately after using them and you don’t want wet paw prints across your kitchen.
The pads also stayed flat on the floor without curling at the edges, which is something I’d had problems with cheaper pads in the past. Mabel occasionally tried to pick them up and carry them around — she’s a puppy, everything is a toy — but they were substantial enough to resist most of her attempts.
The Biodegradable Difference
I want to spend a moment on the environmental aspect because it genuinely mattered to my decision and I think it’s worth explaining. Standard puppy training pads are essentially disposable nappies for dogs — they contain plastic, synthetic absorbent materials, and adhesive strips, none of which break down in landfill within any reasonable timeframe. The Petface Planet pads are made from plant-based materials and are compostable, which means they break down rather than persisting indefinitely.
I’m not going to pretend that composting used puppy pads is something I’ve actually done — the practicalities of that are complicated — but knowing that the material itself is biodegradable meant I felt significantly less bad about the volume I was using. That matters when you’re already sleep-deprived and slightly overwhelmed by new puppy ownership.
Six Weeks In — Progress Report
Mabel is now fourteen weeks old and the accidents are becoming less frequent. She’s starting to go to the back door when she needs to go out, which is the behaviour we’ve been working towards. We’re still using the pads as a backup, but we’re going through them more slowly now — maybe ten a week rather than the fifteen or so we were using at peak chaos.
The training pads didn’t train Mabel — that’s been a combination of consistency, patience, and a lot of treats. But they made the training period significantly more manageable by reducing the number of floor-cleaning sessions per day and giving Mabel a clear indoor option when she needed one. That’s exactly what they’re supposed to do.
Where to Find Them
The Petface Planet Biodegradable Puppy Training Pads are available in the Pet Training Pads and Pet Training Aids collections, within the broader Pet Supplies range.
If you’re in the early weeks of puppy ownership and you’re looking for training pads that actually work and don’t come with a side of environmental guilt, these are the ones I’d recommend. The chaos of a new puppy is unavoidable. The plastic waste doesn’t have to be.
— Rachel Hennessy, first-time dog owner, Mabel’s slightly sleep-deprived human, and now a committed advocate for biodegradable pet products
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