Changing Pup's Toilet Spot

[GeorgieB]

Hi guys. Before now Reggie has been allowed (and praised) offlead to toilet anywhere outside except the concrete areas. In hind sight.. It would have been much better to teach her a specific spot so I don't have to watch my step everytime I am outside and so I don't have to hunt for cleanup. :D

She will go anywhere on the grass. We have a reasonably large raised Garden bed, dirt/tanbark. I would love it if she would go there as there's no risk of stepping in it and also no lawn burning.

Reggie has free access to the whole yard during the day while I'm at work, unless I take her with me, but that is not possible every day.

Is it worth still taking her to that area on lead when I am home and rewarding?

I took her out tonight before bedtime and she wee'd straight away, I rewarded her. She normally does a poo soon after at this time but after a few sniffs of the area and realising she couldn't go anywhere else on lead, she just sat down and then lay down, while I stood there freezing for 15 minutes :laugh:

I took her to the grass and she almost instantly started her 'poo walk' I stopped her just as she was about to go and went back to the garden bed.. and she lay down again.

We did that twice before I just let her go on the grass. Didn't want to train her out of toileting all together :laugh:

I'm not sure if I should wait it out on the garden bed no matter how long it takes.. or perhaps get her used to the routine of going out on lead and toileting and then move to the garden bed at a later stage..

Any ideas appreciated :)

Edit to add: Reggie is 16 weeks. In case that helps with advice :)

Edited October 1, 2012 by GeorgieB

[Simply Grand]

I'm a lazy trainer and am happy that they just go outside to toilet on the grass so I'm no help! Koalathebear has had great success in teaching her kelpies to go to "poo corner" though so she may have some good tips. PM her if you want, I think she'll be happy to share. If Kelpies can learn it Aussies certainly can ;)

Edited October 1, 2012 by Simply Grand

[dancinbcs]

In my experience dogs are happy to toilet in a garden area, especially under bushes but bitches always prefer grass, so good luck with that.

[Rebanne]

Mine taught themselves to poo at the back of the yard, all of them have done so.

[GeorgieB]

Well maybe I am hoping for more than we can achieve :laugh:

Thanks guys. :)

There's no real 'back' of our yard. Everywhere is near something. Shed door, pool gate, one of the two house doors or where you walk to go between these points.

Oh well, we will see how we go. :laugh:

[aussielover]

do you have a command or word for toileting?

this can be a useful thing to teach. then you can take the dog to the designated area on lead and tell them to go. if you reward everytime they go it it right spot hopefully they'll catch on.

but keep in mind that some dogs like to choose their own spots where they feel most comfortable going

[GeorgieB]

I have one for wees but not for poos. To be honest I am pretty happy that she's going outside rather than in :laugh: So if I can't get it to happen, no biggie :)

Thanks for the idea Aussielover!

[Alkhe]

Man, I just litter trained my rats in like.. 2 days, and all I had to do was buy a little litter box and move their poo into a few times! I wish dogs were as easy as that!

I was hoping for a silver bullet in this thread - alas.. I have the same problem, though one dog likes to poo in an area I like her to poo in, and the other likes to mix it up. Damn her! ;)

[BCPuppy]

Dont know if this might help. When we moved to our new house we had no fences so couldn't allow Marlin free access to downstairs. So I made her a large litter box, used an old rubber car boot liner, lots of kitty litter and some synthetic grass on top, and put it on our large balcony complete with some screening plants around it for privacy. I moved some of her poo onto it.

Everytime we took her there before we moved in I showed her her corner and tried to encourage her to use it, she just looked at me like I was bonkers I was beginning to get really worried that we were going to have a problem. Then come moving day we were sitting around having a beer after all the hard work and she just took herself off to poo corner and did her business like it was completely natural!

Marlin was about 14 months old when we moved, she had been used to free access to a garden with grass and shrubs, never been taught to go on command, she has never had an accident inside since we moved two years ago. We now have fences and she has a downstairs dog door so she can sit on the grass and watch the world go by, but our living area is upstairs so she still has her poo corner on the balcony. I have found that most dogs, when visiting, will naturally use the area, others will not go near it. I use the crystals type litter and find it does not smell if changed weekly and the 'grass' is soaked in disinfectant and sun dried.

So I think if you persevere she will eventually ger the idea, one other problem had was Marlin hated pooing when on lead, I have also come accross dogs that will bot do it if anyone is watching