Has anybody done this? I was thinking of using wood pellets in a tray, but is it actually practical?
The layout of my house means that pups can't have access straight outside and need to be carried to the garden/outside run due to steep steps.
I thought either litter training or just covering the whole run with shredded paper...

I use shredded paper in their indoor puppy pen (6 x 3), but from a month old they spend a good part of the day in an outdoor covered run.

I still have a bale of wood sat in the shed - it was a total mistake....stick with paper - I use chip parer and washable inconti pads underneath. I split the pen in 12th's (I know - anal) so that a 3rd of the pen will be the toileting area by 5 weeks and the pups use this 95% of the time and no.2 are pretty much spot on. At 10 weeks old the pups pretty much use it exclusively now and try to hold until they go outside. 2/12ths are vet bed the rest is floor as they prefer to be on the cooler floor than the vet bed.

For all the litters I have had in the past I have used newspaper...mainly dog world or our dogs..lol. The downside of this is the print comes off & makes my white vet beds & the puppies look very dirty!!
I went to visit a litter of pups before mine were born & they were using puppy pads, this time I am trialling the puppy pads & so far am happy with the result.

I think what you use can be a little dependant on the breed & where they are being kept...

I'd be afraid of them eating the pellets and getting obstructions.

They are in my house, they will go outside in a run for time each day but mostly will be in the house (especially in colder or wet weather) and are a medium/large gundog breed with a large litter expected so puppy pads aren't really an option.
I usually use newspaper laid out but found it incredibly messy if I wasn't there quick enough to pick a poo up!

I did think of that Jeangenie, but I use the woodpellets for my horses and they just turn to a powder when wet- rather than clumping.

The pups can eat the pellets before they get wet, and enough sawdust inside a dog can certainly cause an obstruction.

Yes of course, it is one thing to bear in mind, I have just seen that some others use it with success. I think I will probably go with shredded paper instead though.

Newspaper for me. I tried shredded paper but it gets everywhere and hides the poo, wood pellets I would think will make an awful mess and get wet sawdust everywhere, the puppies will almost certainly eat the pellets too so I would steer clear of them.

> I tried shredded paper but it gets everywhere and hides the poo,

hiding the poo is the main advantage, and I never found it hard to find it as it clumps.  I use a board to keep it in place (then pen is walled it three sides) and yes it does get everywhere, but it keeps dowbn the smell and keeps pups cleaner, so well worth the extra hovering.

Many American breeders use wood pellets with great success...'Stove pellets' they call them, sold for multi fuel burners.

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Incon pads off ebay the large ones worked really well for me. I used newspaper as well but really didn't like how it soaked and smelt in the end. Incon pads are a cheaper way of puppy pads. I moved mine into the kithen and I have a large step to the garden for pups anyway so rolled a loads of towels and put a non slip mat over the top so it was OK for them to move about. When the door was open they would go outside to toilet. I really didn't have the huge mess everyone kept saying I was to expect.

I use white vet bed and we ran out of chip paper a few weeks back and had to resort to newspaper - never again..it turned in to mulch and was stuck all over the place in tiny pieces. There was newsprint on the floor, the puppies and the vet bed. I put the inconti pads on the floor and then place the paper on top. I use around 6-7 sheets and then when they get wet or soiled I just remove the top 2 sheets. Not using puppy pads (or in our case, the bigger human bed pads has saved us a fortune this time as I run the machine twice daily anyway for the vet bed so two pads with it makes no difference cost wise...

If you do want to use disposable, use the human ones as they are bigger and less likely to be shredded by pups, they usually have a weave pattern so thetr is less fluff if the pups do destroy them. Also, get them from the chemist and non branded (tena lady ec) will be cheaper. If you ask, they may have damaged packs which they'll sell cheaper as otherwise they have to send them back.

i bleach the floor and then when dry put layers of newspaper down.when pups poop i  pick them up in doggy or freezer bags then add more newspapers over the top (pick the poop up not pups).at the end of the day i put the pups in a crate and roll all the newspaper up into a ball and bag into a bin bag or clear bag.i have small breed so this works well.then do it all over again.do this once or twice a day.

We always used newspaper (unshredded) - and yes, quickly discovered which used print that 'came off' and which didn't!   At one point I had to bath, concentrating on the legs of those puppies who were going home, on the morning of departure so they didn't go off looking 'dingy'.   And as most of our litters were born into the Sping/Summer, they did spend a percentage of the day outside in an extended ex-pen so I could completely clean out the whelping box on a regular basis.    I'd be careful with pee pads unless covered because so often puppies can get hold of them, and risk choking.   Ditto with wood chips although I knew somebody who kept their litters on that.    I'd imagine they 'd still need emptying out regularly or the area would become a soggy mess?!   And smell.    But this is with a bigger breed litter with significantly more outflow than a small breed?

As for having to carry them outside - although we only had the back step, carrying up to 8 - 9 heavy Basset puppies out to the ex-pen (we had no ability for direct access) was very tiring!    And given the noise those left indoors made while this was going on - had to be done fast or risk neighbour wrath.