Pee pad training

Question
I have a seven month old Shih Tzu/Bichon puppy.  He is pretty much totally trained to go potty outside, but we have been thinking that it would be a lot easier to have him use the pee pads instead, especially because of the cold, snowy Pennsylvania winters.  Is it too late to switch his potty habits?  If not, how do we get him to start going on the pee pad?

Answer
Ginny, I just answered this same question from another user, who has a 7 month old Cairn terrier puppy. I will tell you the same thing I told her. If your dog is already trained to go potty outside, I would NOT recommend trying to re-train it to use potty pads inside. This can be confusing to the dog, and many dogs will eventually start pottying in other parts of the house when taught to pee on pads. No longer than he has to be outside to do his business, he will be fine. One thing you can do if it snows is to clear out a path from your door to the place in your yard where he normally potties, so he doesn't have to try and forge through snow to get there.