Training adult dogs on wee-wee pads

Question
Hello, I wanted to find out if you have any information or advice on this. I have a 3 year old mini male dachshund. I have had him for 2 years and his is house trained very well. I take him out in the morning,afternoon and at night. However the problem comes in during the day. Between my commute to and from work and my shift I am gone for almost 12 hours a day. So he has to wait that long during the day for a potty break. He does fine with it, doesn't have accidents but I feel horrible that he has to wait that long! And guilty, as if I am torturing him. I have wanted to train him on wee-wee pads so he could go during the day on them and won't have to suffer. And I wont have to worry. But he doesn't seem to understand them. He just lays on them and rolls over. From everything I have read on Dachshunds I understand they can be difficult to train and are stubborn. So any information or advice you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Answer
Hi Natasha,

Dachshunds are notoriously hard to house train. The fact your dog is so very well housebroken might not be something you want to play round with. A dog doesn't understand the concept that it's okay to urinate here, on this pad, but it's not okay to urinate in your living room behind the couch. To your dog, it's all inside, and one spot is as good as another.

There are "dog litter" (like cat litter) systems you could use, or use the instructions given to train adult dogs to use dog litter, and just use house-breaking pads if you'd rather. Either way, here are training directions:

http://www.doglitter.com/GetPage.aspx?ContentID=226
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/can-your-dog-use-a-litter-box/page1.aspx
http://www.doggysolutions.com/

Some adult dogs can be retrained to use a litter box, or house training pad, but this is a lesson that's easier to teach a puppy.

Do you have a neighbor (or neighbor's child) that might be able to walk the dog at some point during the day?

Best of luck,
Patti