Doggy Sand Pit / Toilet Area

slumped

Hi

We are getting our back garden landscaped and want to include an area for out labrador to have to himself.

We are thinking of a sand pit next to his run for playing, but is it possible to train him to use something like a pit as a toilet?

He is a very clean dog, and will never poo on paths or flowerbeds. He poos on the grass.

We are putting in special lawn strips and while I accept that he will wreck them, is there any way I can train him not to poo on them!!

S

iguana

I am about to go through the same thing as I'm trying to resucitate my garden after the winter. My plan is to go out with them when each time they need the toilet and bring them to the spot I want them to go in, on lead in necessary. I will do this whether they are doing number 1 or 2.

If we are going out and need to leave them in the garden unsupervised we will take them for a walk directly beforehand to give them a chance to do their poo outside. If they do poo on the lawn/patio I will just have to clean it immediately with a dettol solution, if it's weak enough it won't damage the lawn.

Once they start to get used to the toilet area I will let them out unsupervised when they want to go. But I will watch at first to the window and go out and walk them to their "toilet" if they start to go somewhere else. Apparently this would have been much easier to teach them this along with house training when they were small puppies. But I thought it would be expecting too much.:rolleyes:

Another thing is that adult dogs mostly prefer a little privacy when pooing, so a little fence which let the dog feel more secluded might be a good idea. And keep it clean as dogs have no more desire to use a stinking, turd-filled toilet than we do.

Our man in Havana

The sand pit I fear would attract all the local cats - they love to poop in sand! Much easier to bury the poop etc.