meriel

thankyou all so much, this has all been most helpful!! Amhailte: no, she never toilets where she sleeps thankfully - she is not a petshop puppy but a pup from a litter from one of our previous dogs, so she has always had her bed/food/toilet areas separate. currently her bed is in the lounge room, inside water is in the kitchen. litter tray i have put in the laundry, and she gets fed on the veranda with another water, then can outside toilet on the grass where she likes. she has had a couple of accidents in the last few months (getting old ) and its always in the hallway, which is neutral territory which i guess is why she goes there, as its not in any of the designated "people rooms" where we all hang out. snobbybobby: as above - i am not trying to make her toilet where she sleeps, or eats, the tray will be in the laundry and a seperate designated "toilet area". if you are thinking that she won't go in the house because she sees the whole house as where she sleeps/eats, i dont see how this is different to outside dogs who sleep/eat and poo all within a yard area? tigerjack: brilliant!! this is awesome advice and suggestions, thankyou so much! i looked at the petloo ad on that website posted and was pleasantly surprised to see it was only $49.95. then i read your post, went and looked again and saw it was $499.95 thankfully hubby is a very handy type of man so i think he will love the task of making our own petloo. i think that will help alot, she doesn't dig in the litter or anything but she just won't get in the tray at all, i think some faux grass will do her good so at least psychologically she might feel more "outside" hehe. thanks so much everyone for your advice! i think i might hold off on the tray training until we can make our own petloo rather than have her just getting used to the litter, then throwing some grass on it and confusing her all the more. thanks again all, and wish me luck! :D

Hello All, I want to teach my dog (silky terrier) to use a litter tray. For several reasons, the main being that she is an inside dog by nature, and when she is left outside she gets lonely and starts to cry despite having toys and bones to keep her occupied. Also, she is getting on in years (14!) and our yard has no shade at all, and I certainly do not want to be leaving her outside in the upcoming sweltering summer temperatures. So I want her to have somewhere else to relieve herself if she needs to, other than on my carpets. My husband seems to think that if we just put a litter tray out, eventually when she needs to go she will just use it, because she would think thats more "toilet texture" than the carpets, or something. I disagree, I think I am going to have to undergo a slow and labourious process of getting her to associate the litter tray with toilet time, plus semi undoing her current knowledge that peeing in the house is not ok, before she will think its ok to go in it when its inside. I have started taking the tray outside and putting it on the grass when I take her out in the mornings and at night for designated wee-wee time. I have also played a game with her where she gets a dog biscuit for jumping in the tray (she was not too impressed with getting in it at all at first). SO my question is a) can it can be done, to train a dog to go in a litter tray, and b) what are some tips and tricks for re-toilet-training dogs Any tips or suggestions would be most appreciated, thanks!