Pet Dog Poo in the Garden

Caleo

I have kept dogs for about forty years. My dogs always preferred to poo on turf and refused to poo on concrete.

I am think of moving house to a small garden where any turf would soon become mud. So I would like to ask what sort of surface in the garden is best for the dog's toilet?

Walking a few times a day and picking up /disposing poo.

Ali23

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.

When we first get our dogs/puppies we never think of them getting old. Just like you Ali23 the lawned area if our back garden is up quite a lot of steps and the problem my old dog had was getting up there in time before he had an accident. Unfortunately he had begun to wee in the courtyard so we began to take him out the front door so he could wee on the lawn as it was quicker to get there and no steps to manoeuvre.
Very sadly we had to have him pts just before Christmas, he was 16 3/4.🥲

When we got the dogs it never occurred to us that one day the garden would be a problem. I used to think that it would have been so nice if we’d had a garden where we could just open the back door and out they’d go.

Thank you IAm64. There is an implication of some big life change in your story and I hope you are okay.

MayBee, my whippet lurcher was a rescue and two years old when I got her. She had the most beautiful temperament as you can imagine and she was a terrible worry off lead when I first got her . She was either doing a zoomie straight at me(she once knocked me over) or she was dancing about in other peoples front gardens, or galloping after her most favourite other dog, an Airedale.

Caleo, great to plan ahead and sone good suggestions here. I have a giant two year old lab. I confess, if I’d ever thought mr i wouldn’t be here, I’d still have got another dog but probably a small rescue rather than giant lab - who won’t mature for another couple of years.
So our lives changed totally in the spring. The happy long walks went. The big dog had to use the garden as his toilet. Our lives simply weren’t compatible with re-training to use a patch with gravel. Sometimes, it’s needs must rather than smug perfection.
My last Bog Dog refused to toilet in any way in the garden. My current spaniel uses the paved area, as she was trained as a pup. The giant youngster sees the world as his domaine. I plan to attempt to retrain hi to paved area or gravel. If I fail, that won’t be the end of the world
My suggestion is do what you can, you’ve shared your life with dogs 40 years. Whatever you achieve will be fabulous x

I had a terrible growth of moss on the concrete part of the dog area last winter. I’ve put moss killer down that is supposed to be pet safe and lasts for months but some of it is coming back. It was really dangerous. My big worry with my dog is that she runs back into the house at speed. I know of a couple of sighthounds that did that and slipped with tragic consequences. I have Hugh mats down everywhere. Much as I love sighthounds I can’t relax with them. When she does run off lead in a safe area I close my eyes. A relative of hers took off after a deer into woodland, again with tragic consequences.

I love whippets! My last dog was a whippet lurcher who did joyful zoomies that made a path straight down and up the garden. That path has now healed since she died.

I did actually dig in slightly buried chicken wire next to my fences when I had my digging lurcher. Together with 6 foot fences it served to stop her escaping.

I had thought of combining pea gravel with grass, which is what I have in the large front garden that is used as a car park. The gravel looks like a longish lawn but is a solid enough foundation for parked cars, and is nicely drained and safe to walk on in the frost. The dog never gets out there to do his ball games. Gravel+ grass might work in a back garden too, especially on a slight slope that may be slippery if it's paved in solid concrete or bricks.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Great idea Hetty. Thanks. That sounds ideal.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ali: brilliant !

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.