6 Weeks of Indoor Potty Training in India: A Gurgaon Diary
How I potty trained Pixie in an 11th-floor Gurgaon flat — what failed, what clicked, and what our routine looks like now. Real experience, no fluff.
I did not expect potty training to break me.
I expected it to be annoying. I expected a few accidents. I did not expect to be crouched on my bathroom floor at 2am, Pixie staring at me like I was the confused one, wondering how I had gotten here.
This is that story. And what eventually worked.
Week 1: The Overconfident Beginning
Pixie came home at nine weeks old, fluffy and completely feral.
I live on the 11th floor of a society in Sector 56, Gurgaon. One lift serves our wing. It is slow on a good day. At 6am, it stops at every floor because everyone is leaving for work at the same time.
The math was obvious: I needed a proper indoor potty training setup. I couldn't sprint her downstairs fast enough, every time, forever.
So I bought pee pads. Three brands over two weeks — the ones from the pet store near Huda City Centre, a fancier imported pack, and a vet's recommendation.
Pixie used exactly zero of them correctly.
She'd sniff them, walk off, and pee on my bath mat instead. The bath mat, apparently, had the right texture. The pee pads did not. They crinkled when she stepped on them and she wanted nothing to do with that.
Week 2–3: The Artificial Grass Chapter
I read somewhere that dogs prefer surfaces that feel like ground. Logical. So I got an artificial grass tray — the kind with a plastic grate and a collection tray underneath.
It was ₹850 from a seller online. It looked reasonable.
Pixie actually used it. Twice. On day one, I felt like a genius.
By day four, I stopped feeling like a genius.
Gurgaon in June is humid in a specific, punishing way. That tray started smelling by day three. By day five, I could smell it from the hallway. By day seven, my flatmate mentioned it without me bringing it up first. That's when you know it's bad.
I was rinsing the tray daily. It didn't help much. The plastic grate held urine in all its little grooves and no amount of soap was getting in there properly.
I'd read about the smell problem with various indoor dog toilet options in India but I thought I'd somehow avoid it. I did not avoid it.
Week 4: The Turning Point
A friend in my apartment building — she has a Dachshund named Churro — mentioned she'd switched to a coir pad. Natural coconut fibre. I was skeptical.
It looked like a doormat. It cost less than the artificial grass tray. It did not look like a product.
But she said Churro had taken to it immediately. No smell issues. And she just replaced it when it was done, no rinsing required.
I ordered one. Put it in the corner of my bathroom — same spot where I'd been trying every other surface.
Pixie walked over to it, sniffed it for a long time, and used it.
I stood there waiting for the catch. There wasn't one.
Something about the natural texture made sense to her in a way that plastic and synthetic grass hadn't. My working theory — not a scientific claim, just what I observed — is that coir feels closer to earth than anything else I'd tried. For a dog still figuring out what "go here" means, that cue seems to matter.
Week 5–6: Building the Actual Routine
Getting the right surface was only half of it.
The routine was the other half. And this is where a lot of apartment dog parents in India go wrong — they fix the product but not the schedule.
Here's what our day looks like now:
6:30am — First thing. Before I make chai. I take Pixie to the pad, wait. She usually goes within two minutes.
After every meal — 10–15 minutes post-eating, back to the pad. This one took two weeks to click but now she'll walk there herself sometimes.
Before bed — Around 10:30pm. Non-negotiable.
In between, I watch her. If she starts circling or sniffing the floor near the bedroom door (her old accident zone), I redirect her to the bathroom immediately.
I also said a lot of "good girl" in a voice I'd be embarrassed about in public. It helped.
If you're combining this with crate training, there's a useful way to structure both together — I didn't do it perfectly but knowing the logic helps.
What I'd Tell You Now
Indoor potty training in India is genuinely different from anything you'll read in a Western dog training guide.
The lift situation is real. The humidity is real. The marble floors that make every smell echo — real.
A few honest things I'd pass on:
Surface matters more than training technique. I spent weeks trying to train Pixie onto the wrong surface. Once the surface was right, training took days, not weeks.
Location consistency matters as much as timing. Same corner, every time. Don't move it around while she's still learning.
Accidents are information, not failure. Every accident told me something — wrong surface, wrong timing, I wasn't watching closely enough.
Smell is a dealbreaker in Indian apartments. If your setup smells, you'll start tolerating accidents elsewhere. Don't let it get there.
FAQ
Is indoor potty training in India suitable for all apartment dogs?
Most apartment dogs — especially in high-rises where outdoor access takes time — do well with indoor potty training when the setup is right. Smaller breeds like Maltese and Pomeranians typically adapt quickly. Larger breeds like Golden Retrievers can also be trained indoors, though they'll need a generously sized pad and more frequent outdoor supplements if possible. The key variable is usually the surface, not the dog's size.
How long does indoor potty training take for a puppy in India?
In my experience with Pixie, consistent behaviour took about three to four weeks once I had the right surface. The first two weeks were messy because I was still testing wrong options. If you start with a surface your dog actually accepts, you can see real progress in ten to fourteen days — though every dog is different and some take longer, especially if they've already formed habits on the wrong surface.
Do I need to clean the indoor potty every day?
It depends on the surface. Artificial grass trays need daily rinsing and still smell in Indian humidity. Pee pads are one-use. Coir pads absorb and don't need daily cleaning — I replace Pixie's every few days, sometimes longer. The lower maintenance is genuinely one of the reasons I stuck with it.
If you're at the beginning of this and still figuring out which surface to start with, this comparison of pee pads, coir, and artificial grass is worth reading before you spend money on the wrong thing.
And if you've landed here after weeks of failed attempts, I'd genuinely say: check the surface first. Training technique is secondary.
Pixie's coir pad — the one that finally worked — is what SniffSociety makes. You can order one here.