The real test of a training pad is not the moment it gets used. It is the moment it gets lifted — whether what went in stays in, or comes straight back out onto the floor the pad was there to protect.

Sharples build these around SAP, a super absorbent polymer, which does not just soak liquid up but locks it in place so nothing drips when the pad is picked up. There is also a built-in pheromone attractant, which is there to draw the animal onto the pad rather than beside it. Each pad measures 56 x 56cm, and Sharples point them at puppies and equally at older, incontinent and convalescing dogs. Three pack sizes are available on this page.

• 56 x 56cm per pad
• SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer) core that locks in moisture
• Built-in pheromone attractant
• Three pack sizes
• For puppies, and for older, incontinent or convalescing dogs
• Single-use, not washable

On the attractant. Sharples say there is a pheromone attractant built in and name neither what it is nor how long it keeps working once a pack has been opened — so a box that has been sitting in a cupboard half-used may not be doing that part of the job any more. There is no absorbency figure either, in millilitres or otherwise, which is the one number that would let you compare one pad against another. And these are disposables: if the running cost matters, a washable mat is a different sum.

Who it's for: anyone house training a puppy indoors, owners of an older dog who has started having accidents overnight, and households nursing a dog through a recovery.