Hartz Home Protection Ultra Training Pad - Product Review

Ever need to potty when it's raining?  I do!

While I was at BlogPaws 2012, Hartz gave me pack of their Home Protection Ultra Training Pads to review. 
First I want to bark about how useful Training pads are.




At our house we call them piddy pads or potty pads. My command is "potty on the pad".

Yaay!  I don't have to go out in the rain!  I'm allowed to potty on these in the garage!

Training pads are perfect for wet weather, lining crates, and training puppies (Most of them, including Hartz Ultra, contain an attractant to encourage puppies to pee on the pad). 
They are also useful as floor mats in the car; or to cover the seat for rides home from the beach, lake, and other sandy or wet places.
They are pawfect for when you don't want your small dog to go outside in the dark, stay safe from owls!

I bring piddy pads when I travel too!  They are very useful when you are in planes, trains, hotels, and restrooms in non-dog places (service dogs only).

They are also handy for soaking up spills from water bowls.
(Remember my "tent crate as a hamster ball"  episode at BlogPaws?  BOL!)

 Piddy pads also make great door mats to trap dirt and dry paws.  

If you miss your dog's signals that he needs to go out, or if he is ill, a piddy pad by the door helps keep the mess contained.

Ummm, NO!  You may not photograph me going potty on the pad!  How rude! 

BOL!!!

Now that I've explained how useful piddy pads are------
I'll bark about performance!

We have seven kinds of piddy pads right now, so Mom decided to do an experiment. She poured 2 ounces of water on each pad. She just poured it, so it was faster than I pee.

Then she circled the "used" area with a marker.  She also felt each to see how wet it felt after a few seconds. 

Here are the results (In order of Mom's preference):

1.  Hartz Home Protection Ultra - It had the smallest used area of all the pads designed for dogs.  It felt dry to the touch.  They have a Dry Paw guarantee!  No little pee pawprints in the house.    The filling puffs slightly as it absorbs, and stays in place when the pad is lifted.
2. Simple Solution extra large - The used area was about twice that of the Hartz Ultra pad.  It felt dry to the touch.  The filling does not puff as it absorbs, and stays in place when the pad is lifted.
3. Hartz Training Academy large - The used area is about 3 times the size of the Hartz Ultra.  It felt slightly damp to the touch.  The filling does not puff as it absorbs, and stays in place when the pad is lifted.
4. Simply Right Under liner - (This is a bed lining pad for humans.)  The used area was about twice the size of the Hartz Ultra.  It felt very wet to the touch.   The filling does not puff as it absorbs, and stays in place when the pad is lifted.
5.  Simple Solution Eco-Care - The used area was slightly larger than the regular Simple Solution.  It felt slightly damp to the touch.  The filling does not puff as it absorbs, and stayed in place when lifted.  (We used this pad at BlogPaws and the filling shifted and fell out when mom tried to straighten it after I spilled a whole bowl of water on it.  Lots of little bits of it to pick up - a huge mess.)
6.  Tidy Cats Breeze - (Not really for dogs, it is part of a litter system for cats, we had some left after Teddy went over the rainbow bridge)  The Pad is actually too small for most dogs,  including myself.  It is designed to hold a week's worth of pee from one cat.   It had the smallest used area and felt dry to the touch.  The filling puffs as it absorbs, and it shifted when Mom lifted the pad.
7. Bargain Hound super absorbent - The used area is about 5 times the Hartz Ultra.  It continued to spread after the circle was drawn, to occupy almost the entire pad.  It felt wet to the touch.  The filling does not puff as it absorbs, and stays in place when the pad is lifted.  The top cover layer moves, so if your dog is a digger, he will probably try to "dig" in the pad.

*  My  results are based strictly on performance, I did not consider pricing.  I do not have pricing on all of the tested pads, some were prizes, some were leftovers from friends, some were samples, and some were purchased previously.    They are different sizes and the packages contain different amounts of pads.

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I won enough Hartz piddy pads for a year at NipClub Monthly!

Hartz Ultra pads fight odor with baking soda and an anti-bacterial.
Hartz Ultra pads can provide protection for up to 12 hours for an 85 pound dog.  (Assuming it does not urinate more than the average amount of 2.5 cups in 12 hours)
Use more than one pad if your dog is larger, has poor aim, or you need more than 12 hours of protection.  I recommend overlapping them slightly in case your dog pees where 2 pads meet.

 Hartz training pads are available at Walgreen's

Do you use piddy pads?  Do you use them for something other than puppy training (for example:   as door mats or spill absorbers)? 

Review Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation for this review. I was given a free product to review. The opinions in this review are my own and not influenced by any outsider . I receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.