Pet Dog Poo in the Garden

Certainly not artificial grass- friends made that expensive mistake and it was a total disaster.

Honestly, with a small garden the only way is regular walks and pick up.

Mine has always refused to go in our garden even for a wee.
So we have always had to have regular walks. It does get harder as he gets older and more infirm but he still struggles on and out.

If you Google 'dog toilet' you will find all sorts of things there which could be placed in your garden.

These may work for a new dog/puppy you are training- but not necessarily for older dogs with ingrained habits.

I Googled dogs' toilets but they are to small for ,as Fleurpepper observed an older dog although a p;up can be trained to go on a special small surface area.

My small garden would have an area perhaps about 6 feet by 18 feet. I wondered if turf is the best surface for cleaning up and picking up.

I'd like the whole garden to be turfed, but in my experience with an active dog and a large garden, much of the turf become mud for about three months in the year. So much as like grass, I thought, in a small garden, concrete slabs would be good for the dog's ball games, his wee paws, and I could plant some low bushes for the birds and bees, and some greenery. It's only the problem of toileting surface on the smaller toileting area that is a puzzle. My dog already has a preference for certain areas in his garden so that is not a problem.

I mean 6 by 18 for the dog toileting area! We would need a much bigger space for the ball games.

We have a large garden, with a lower part which is an orchard with longer grass/wild flowers. We will soon have our new dog, but I will train her not to use the garden and take her for long walks in the countryside, or to the fields behind us, and of course always clear up after her. I would not want any dog of mine to get used to use the garden where we often have friends or family with young children.

My dog though active is small, and I am too frail for dog walks. I live alone. My dog gets walked by someone else twice a week. I need the dog to be able to toilet in the garden, so that, if I am ill, I only have to open the door for him and he can get out whenever he needs to go, day or night.

Fleurpepper - the fields you plan to toilet your puppy in represent someone else’s livelihood. Unless you’re in Scotland you have no right to roam off one of the various types of bridle/pathway as designated on an OS map.
Secondly, there will come a time when you really need your dog to do their business without taking them out of your garden, as a neighbour found out during a bout of covid. I’d suggest having a corner where messing is allowed when need be.

Maya1

Mine has always refused to go in our garden even for a wee.
So we have always had to have regular walks. It does get harder as he gets older and more infirm but he still struggles on and out.

Our dogs have always been the same.

You could have a small area of artificial grass which could be easily replaced when necessary.

My dog is old and some days she struggles with the steps up to the lawns quickly enough but she hates peeing or pooing on slabs, so I've made holes in a paddling pool and lined it with stones then turf! If the turf gets ruined I plan to lift it and replace it.

Smileless wrote:

"You could have a small area of artificial grass which could be easily replaced when necessary."

This is the direction of my own idea for a dog toiletting area. I thought of plastic grass but I think real turf would be more hygienic because the bacteria in soil break up the urine. I suppose garden centres can sell small rolls of replacement turf, and used turf can go in the brown wheelie bin for garden refuse.

Ali: brilliant !

When we had dogs they wouldn’t poo in their own backyard. We used to take them for a walk and use doggy bags. Before they were so strict on this the dogs used to take themselves off and we never knew where they went, probably in the woods up the top of the road.

ExperiencedNotOld

Fleurpepper - the fields you plan to toilet your puppy in represent someone else’s livelihood. Unless you’re in Scotland you have no right to roam off one of the various types of bridle/pathway as designated on an OS map.
Secondly, there will come a time when you really need your dog to do their business without taking them out of your garden, as a neighbour found out during a bout of covid. I’d suggest having a corner where messing is allowed when need be.

Thank you- I can assure you this does not apply to me or our dogs.

As you have a dog and its preference is for using grass, I am very much afraid you will need to include a small grassy area in your new garden.

Trying to get an old dog, or cat to change its sanitary habits just does not work in my experience.

So thank you too! My husband is a farm manager and is plagued by people that treat the countryside like a theme park all designed for their particular convenience. There’s never a bad dogs but many bed owners.

I have an area where I added lots of fine gravel and sharp sand, then turf on top. It doesn't get waterlogged so the dog prefers it. I do pick up every single day, though.

Great idea Hetty. Thanks. That sounds ideal.

My garden is only small but half of it is fenced off for the dog to use. I use lawn seed that’s supposed to stand up to pets and children. In the winter the grass dies die back but it’s still quite mossy and not too muddy. I reseed it in the summer, especially if I’m going away for a couple of weeks. And in summer I always put water down when she does a wee. I only have a problem if she gets a bad tummy which happens from time to time and then she doesn’t want to go on ‘her patch’ but asks to go onto the main lawn, bless her.

MayBee, it's not the dog's excretions that kill my grass, it's my dog's exertions. He's only a small middle aged Jack Russell but he is an enthusiastic ball player and his wee claws tear up the turf.

My garden is big, for a suburban semi, and parts are muddy. I decided that if I go to a small garden he can have smooth paving for his ball games, and have a special area for his toileting. Hetty 58's plan is very good and I will work with that.

That’s why I’ve fenced off half of my garden. She’s a Whippet and when she does zoomies it’s goodbye to any grass! When she was a youngster she used to dig the garden up. The good thing about that is that it was perfect for re seeding ( she did a good job…I thought about hiring her out). She hates getting wet so wee’s on the concrete if it’s been raining. She also has a small covered area for when it’s really wet. I could do with downsizing but I’ve got such a good set up dog wise that I know if I become incapacitated I have an easy to maintain garden for the dog. My first Whippet destroyed all of my flowering plants!

You can put wire or plastic under grass to protect it ( the stuff they put down in car parks). I thought of doing that when she went through her digging phase.