I call them pee-pads and have heard them referred to as pet pads and also housetraining pads. It doesn't matter as they are all the same thing.
Obviously these aren't going to work for your Doberman or Rottweiler as I am sure those monsters can produce a poop that likely weighs more than a chihuahua, plus since the pet pad is only about twice the size of a laptop, an animal the size of a Rhodesian Ridge-back would need to have pinpoint accuracy to even hit the mark.
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The training process can be a bit difficult at first because puppies will do their business just wherever, but after the training is complete (as is the case with my doggo) you don't even need to watch them anymore. My dog will literally not go anywhere else indoors. If i am at a friend's house and she is indoors (this doesn't happen often) she will come up to me and whine when she can't hold it anymore because..... they have no pee pee pad.
I was very happy to have these things shown to me and when I stated my confusion about how I have never seen them before, my girlfriend at the time was confused. You see, they are so common in Asia that they just assumed that everyone uses them and I really don't believe that to be the case. However, we always had a yard when was growing up so I suppose we never needed something like this.
It truly is an amazing thing because I know that I can leave my dog for a few hours and not be worried that I am going to come home to a turd in the middle of the floor. Since we got her trained she has only (and I promise I am not making this up) pooped on the floor one time. ONCE in 5 years and this was because I was moving a refrigerator that for some reason the dog didn't like (a sound it made?) and it literally scared the shit out of her. I wasn't even mad, that was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
I am not a dog trainer but I have been told that if your dog is already past puppy age this will be incredibly difficult to train them to use. However, old dogs CAN learn new tricks and there are some sprays out there that you can treat the pads with that will help encourage them to use it.