# Outside doggy toilet ideas



## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

We're building a dog run for Phoebe and half of it will be paved but the other half needs to be something for her to go to the toilet on.

She squats too low when she pees and ends up sitting in a puddle of urine so need something where the pee will drain away quickly.

Grass isn't an option as we don't own a lawn mower and don't want to buy one for such a small area.

Gravel would be perfect for pee but it's messy when lifting poop.

Phoebe also loves to dig so sand isn't an option either.

Any other ideas? Has anyone tried artificial grass? Does pee drain away on it and can it be hosed down?


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## Aahlly (Sep 12, 2014)

Artificial grass IME is pretty useless. It's a nightmare to get completely clean and ends up very smelly and we had one dog who hated the feel of it on her feet and completely refused to stand on it. How about bark chips? You would need to change them regularly but they should be fairly absorbent and easy enough to pick up poop.


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## 3dogs2cats (Aug 15, 2012)

I have both artificial grass and gravel in my garden I find both are easy to keep clean. They get hosed down every so often with a kennel disinfectant I bought from a dog show years ago, a little goes a long way! I have heard people say they have to hose down their AG virtually everyday or it smells I must admit I don`t do mine very often but then it rains an awful lot here, The gravel is extremely easy, I have the small size stuff, even if we have are having an upset tum moment it all just scoops up easily. I have had gravel that dogs toilet on for years and years, many dogs have used it I have not yet had to replace it due to scooping it all away


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

As long as poos are solid gravel shouldn't be particularly messy. And probably a hell of a lot easier to scoop up liquid poo from than grass. It's whether your dog will toilet on it though, they can be very specific about what they will and won't go on in my experience and convincing them to change their mind can be difficult.


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## shadowmare (Jul 7, 2013)

Why would sand be unsuitable? If it's her run, would her doing some digging matter?


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## shirleystarr (Mar 22, 2009)

I have concrete slabs on the patio easy to hose down and easy to pick up the poo


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## penguin (Jan 2, 2013)

We have pea gravel at the bottom of our garden, much easier picking it up off that then the grass!


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

Aahlly said:


> Artificial grass IME is pretty useless. It's a nightmare to get completely clean and ends up very smelly and we had one dog who hated the feel of it on her feet and completely refused to stand on it. How about bark chips? You would need to change them regularly but they should be fairly absorbent and easy enough to pick up poop.


Knowing my lucky Phoebe wouldn't like the feel of it either!
We've just had to get rid of some bark chips as she was eating and swallowing them so they're no good. This is only a temporary fix until next year when we can afford to do the whole garden. Do you think we could get a year out of artificial grass or did u find it useless from day 1?


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

3dogs2cats said:


> I have both artificial grass and gravel in my garden I find both are easy to keep clean. They get hosed down every so often with a kennel disinfectant I bought from a dog show years ago, a little goes a long way! I have heard people say they have to hose down their AG virtually everyday or it smells I must admit I don`t do mine very often but then it rains an awful lot here, The gravel is extremely easy, I have the small size stuff, even if we have are having an upset tum moment it all just scoops up easily. I have had gravel that dogs toilet on for years and years, many dogs have used it I have not yet had to replace it due to scooping it all away


The gravel that we have at the minute is quite big pieces so I'm lifting loads of it when she poops. Maybe the small stuff would be better. I liked the idea of the artificial grass and it will be hosed down daily as the run will be right at the back door.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

Sarah1983 said:


> As long as poos are solid gravel shouldn't be particularly messy. And probably a hell of a lot easier to scoop up liquid poo from than grass. It's whether your dog will toilet on it though, they can be very specific about what they will and won't go on in my experience and convincing them to change their mind can be difficult.


We have gravel at the minute and she doesn't mind going on it but I found it was tearing the poo bags and I was also getting handfuls of gravel each time. It's been fab for her peeing problem though so it might still be an option.


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

Nettles said:


> We have gravel at the minute and she doesn't mind going on it but I found it was tearing the poo bags and I was also getting handfuls of gravel each time. It's been fab for her peeing problem though so it might still be an option.


You need to work on your poo handling technique in that case 

A good poo leaves no residue and nothing sticks to it.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

shadowmare said:


> Why would sand be unsuitable? If it's her run, would her doing some digging matter?


The "toilet" will be on one half of the run so two sides of it will be fenced. She has already tried to dig a hole under one of the fences into the neighbours garden and she's become obsessed with it every time she's outside.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

shirleystarr said:


> I have concrete slabs on the patio easy to hose down and easy to pick up the poo


Our garden is all concrete slabs and gravel but she's getting urine infections from peeing on the concrete as she squats to low to the ground and ends up sitting in it. That's why we're building the doggy toilet as we need something that will drain pee away quickly.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

penguin said:


> We have pea gravel at the bottom of our garden, much easier picking it up off that then the grass!


I think the smaller pea gravel will be the way to go if the artificial grass is no good.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

Nonnie said:


> You need to work on your poo handling technique in that case
> 
> A good poo leaves no residue and nothing sticks to it.


They usually are quite solid but it's my poo handling technique is the biggest problem! I have to work myself up to going over to lift it. Giving myself pep talks "you can do this" Then I start wretching and gagging as I get closer.. so you can imagine my horror when the poo bag rips lol. My neighbours must have such fun watching me on poop patrol lol.
We've only had her 5 weeks so hopefully I'll grow to love it in time epressed


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## steveshanks (Feb 19, 2015)

Watch gravel coz we put some down to stop cats pooping in our garden and the dog (puppy) started playing with it, then threw up and had 3 stones in the vomit, we got rid of the gravel but he now digs for stones!!......At puppy classes they have false grass and the trainer said they laid it on 2 inches of sand and this stops it smelling.......Steve


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## steveshanks (Feb 19, 2015)

Sorry didn't realise you already had gravel, if she is fine with that I'd go with more the false grass is very expensive.........Steve


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## Aahlly (Sep 12, 2014)

Nettles said:


> Knowing my lucky Phoebe wouldn't like the feel of it either!
> We've just had to get rid of some bark chips as she was eating and swallowing them so they're no good. This is only a temporary fix until next year when we can afford to do the whole garden. Do you think we could get a year out of artificial grass or did u find it useless from day 1?


If it's temp then yeah, you would probably be fine but I found it a bit of a pain in the long term. It's quite a lot of maintenance and expensive. If you're hosing it down twice a day and careful how you lay it then you might get away without it becoming smelly. Really, though buy a small test patch and make sure she'll stand on it because honestly one of my dogs refused point blank to put her feet on it at all haha !! She is a funny dog and doesn't even like standing on slats or bridges though so maybe it's just her little quirk !!


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## sskmick (Feb 4, 2008)

I would be inclined to use grass, if its a small area then a strimmer would probably suffice. I have turfed the middle part of our back garden for our dog's toilet. I have to re-turf it every year because by Spring its a mud bath. This year I used grass seed.

My son made a dog toilet it was a wooden floor large enough for the dog to mooch round and choose a spot, with a wooden rim of 4 x4 planks, he covered it with lino/cushion floor type material and placed puppy pads on top, or newspaper when we ran out of puppy pads, easy to dispose of and easy to clean/disinfect.

We have a dog kennel in the cat run which houses the cats' litter tray, much more pleasing to the eye.

Couldn't you just leave it with plain soil, you could dig deep holes to bury the poo which together with the dog weeing and you digging will stop weeds.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

Aahlly said:


> If it's temp then yeah, you would probably be fine but I found it a bit of a pain in the long term. It's quite a lot of maintenance and expensive. If you're hosing it down twice a day and careful how you lay it then you might get away without it becoming smelly. Really, though buy a small test patch and make sure she'll stand on it because honestly one of my dogs refused point blank to put her feet on it at all haha !! She is a funny dog and doesn't even like standing on slats or bridges though so maybe it's just her little quirk !!


The dog run will be where the tap and hose reel already are so hosing it down won't be a problem even if I do it after every pee.. but it is very expensive even for such a small area to then find out she won't stand on it.. hmmm don't know what to do now!


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

sskmick said:


> I would be inclined to use grass, if its a small area then a strimmer would probably suffice. I have turfed the middle part of our back garden for our dog's toilet. I have to re-turf it every year because by Spring its a mud bath. This year I used grass seed.
> 
> My son made a dog toilet it was a wooden floor large enough for the dog to mooch round and choose a spot, with a wooden rim of 4 x4 planks, he covered it with lino/cushion floor type material and placed puppy pads on top, or newspaper when we ran out of puppy pads, easy to dispose of and easy to clean/disinfect.
> 
> ...


Grass would be so much easier but it's going to be right at the back door so I want something I can hose down and keep clean. The area doesn't get much sun so real grass would get all mucky if I hosed it too much.
Soil will have the same problem as the sand and she'll dig her way out of the run.. she also likes to eat soil lol.
I have a cupboard full of puppy pads because I bought hundreds before we brought her home and then she wouldn't pee on them. She preferred to rip them up and eat them instead. Same with newspaper. I swear, she's not normal lol.
I think we'll just have to go with either gravel or artificial grass.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

steveshanks said:


> Watch gravel coz we put some down to stop cats pooping in our garden and the dog (puppy) started playing with it, then threw up and had 3 stones in the vomit, we got rid of the gravel but he now digs for stones!!......At puppy classes they have false grass and the trainer said they laid it on 2 inches of sand and this stops it smelling.......Steve


So far, she only holds stones in her mouth and then spits it out. Surprising as she eats and swallows everything else! I can't even take my eyes off her for 2 seconds in the garden.
You're right, the artificial grass will work out much more expensive than gravel, and there's no guarantee she won't eat the fake grass..


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

The majority of my garden is gravel, I have never had any dog, adult or pup eat it, neither is there any issue re urine or faeces, simple to pick up and drains well and does not smell. My dogs are fed raw so have nice solid poops so I do not pick up lots of gravel nor do the poop bags split. I have explored AG however it does get hot underfoot in the sun and I want my dogs to be cool in the summer so have discounted it.


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## IncaThePup (May 30, 2011)

Nettles said:


> They usually are quite solid but it's my poo handling technique is the biggest problem! I have to work myself up to going over to lift it. Giving myself pep talks "you can do this" Then I start wretching and gagging as I get closer.. so you can imagine my horror when the poo bag rips lol. My neighbours must have such fun watching me on poop patrol lol.
> We've only had her 5 weeks so hopefully I'll grow to love it in time epressed


Have you ever heard of a long handled pooper scoper?


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

smokeybear said:


> The majority of my garden is gravel, I have never had any dog, adult or pup eat it, neither is there any issue re urine or faeces, simple to pick up and drains well and does not smell. My dogs are fed raw so have nice solid poops so I do not pick up lots of gravel nor do the poop bags split. I have explored AG however it does get hot underfoot in the sun and I want my dogs to be cool in the summer so have discounted it.


The toilet section only gets sun first thing in the morning and the rest of the run will be shaded when the fence goes up.. But think I'm going to go for gravel anyways.. at least I know she'll go on it!


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

IncaThePup said:


> Have you ever heard of a long handled pooper scoper?


Hahaha! Seriously, I looked at these in pets at home but laughed at the idea of carrying it with me on a walk.. BUT never thought about using it in the garden!! I'm def going to invest in one lol


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## Westie Mum (Feb 5, 2015)

I'd go with gravel for good drainage - even if it means you loose a few bits when picking up the poop. Cheap though to replace. 

Neighbours have artificial grass. It's only been down 2 months and I can smell the wee already  worst thing is they all lie on it and can't seem to smell it !


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

Westie Mum said:


> I'd go with gravel for good drainage - even if it means you loose a few bits when picking up the poop. Cheap though to replace.
> 
> Neighbours have artificial grass. It's only been down 2 months and I can smell the wee already  worst thing is they all lie on it and can't seem to smell it !


Ewww! :Yuck :Wtf Def going for gravel now. Checked out the prices again and it's too expensive to "try" and find out it stinks or she won't pee on it.


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## IncaThePup (May 30, 2011)

Nettles said:


> Hahaha! Seriously, I looked at these in pets at home but laughed at the idea of carrying it with me on a walk.. BUT never thought about using it in the garden!! I'm def going to invest in one lol


You could use an old long handled dustpan and brush for garden and put a carrier bag over the brush part so any poop is not getting stuck between the bristles, then the bag can just be thrown out. Make use of your carriers from the supermarket shop! ..but those loads of ebay too if you just search for long handled pooper scooper!


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

IncaThePup said:


> You could use an old long handled dustpan and brush for garden and put a carrier bag over the brush part so any poop is not getting stuck between the bristles, then the bag can just be thrown out. Make use of your carriers from the supermarket shop! ..but those loads of ebay too if you just search for long handled pooper scooper!


We have to pay for our carrier bags in the supermarket so it would be 10p a poop lol. I'm gonna invest in a pooper scooper with the longest arm I can find. No more wretching on poo patrol for me haha! Can't believe I never thought of getting one for the garden.


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## IncaThePup (May 30, 2011)

Nettles said:


> We have to pay for our carrier bags in the supermarket so it would be 10p a poop lol. I'm gonna invest in a pooper scooper with the longest arm I can find. No more wretching on poo patrol for me haha! Can't believe I never thought of getting one for the garden.


If you get your shopping delivered and they bring them in bags they don't charge you, you can just hand back any you haven't used the next time they deliver and then use the next lot!  Or if you like going shopping Iceland will drop your shopping off home if you buy too much to carry home in the store!


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

IncaThePup said:


> If you get your shopping delivered and they bring them in bags they don't charge you, you can just hand back any you haven't used the next time they deliver and then use the next lot!  Or if you like going shopping Iceland will drop your shopping off home if you buy too much to carry home in the store!


Tescos/Sainsburys etc deliver our shopping in baskets so you have to select whether you want bags or not and then they charge you for them as part of your shopping :Wideyed I feel like I'm being robbed lol  I'm in Northern Ireland so maybe its different here?


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## IncaThePup (May 30, 2011)

Nettles said:


> Tescos/Sainsburys etc deliver our shopping in baskets so you have to select whether you want bags or not and then they charge you for them as part of your shopping :Wideyed I feel like I'm being robbed lol  I'm in Northern Ireland so maybe its different here?


oh.... didn't relaise some did that! I use Ocado as they had best gluten free range and don't get charged for the bags, and didn't when use Iceland to stock up on frozen stuff as its cheaper and only need to spend £35 to get free delivery.


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## Nettles (Mar 24, 2011)

IncaThePup said:


> oh.... didn't relaise some did that! I use Ocado as they had best gluten free range and don't get charged for the bags, and didn't when use Iceland to stock up on frozen stuff as its cheaper and only need to spend £35 to get free delivery.


I always forget about Icelands for my shopping. Didn't even realise they delivered! Must try there coz they always do great offers


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