Dog Area

we have recently completely redesigned our garden dug it all back to scratch and we are left with one corner 4x8ft patch that is in dry shade on clay and is used by the dogs for toileting purposes.

They have been trained to use this area as we have a small garden and 2 children.

The dogs will only pee and poop on grass so we cannot gravel it but by the same token its currently an unsightly bald patch of mud where i doubt anything would grow any suggestions?

Hi, we have a similar area for our dog to use and we covered it with bark chippings. It looks good and if the poo is not quite solid it's easier to pick up because you can take some of the chippings surrounding it. It's also very cost effective and easy to top up.

got be honest i quite amazied that that they no were to go and poo/pee in this space experince aving a hound/dog myself she my dog i had she pee/poo anywere with no respech to anyone i ho[pe this works out for you ( my advice  is walk the the dog out your garden and take the kids with you lol) .

good luk

Wow - some excellent suggestions.  See three heads are better than one!

I didn't believe it till I saw it, but a local lady has a lurcher that she's trained to poo directly into a bag. She puts the opened bag down on the pavement or wherever, the dog positions itself and produces. Dog unfortunately hasn't got opposable thumbs so can't tie up the handles itself, but still pretty impressive.

At one point as the back garden took so long to redesign we had been able to get our dogs to go to the toilet on command because they had to use the open front yard which of course was very public and not at all enclosed so was quite embarrasing having them pee and poop first thing in the morning in my jimmies so they had to hurry.

How do you train them to go where you want?

i once asked a dog training friend what am i doing wrong with my two dogs she was very quick to reply. you have terriers. I might try this so much more hygenic

I wouldn't worry too much about putting gravel/stones down, they'll soon get used to it. My Border Collie's patch is made up of small golden pebbles (1-3cm) which are fine but I'm thinking I'll probably drop to a finer gravel, grit or even just plain ol sharp sand the next time I do a lift, wash and refresh.

Hi, ive got a small garden and have two dogs. they destroyed the lawn i had so i replaced with gravel. the dogs go on the gravel and everywhere else too! well done to those who have trained there dogs. gravel is good as i can wash it down if you find any nasties [if you know what i mean]

I understand police dogs are trained to go on command as obviously they can't go while on duty.  If I remember, coloured discs were employed at the start of training, but dispensed with when the dogs were trained.

The bark chippings are a good idea, unfortunately my garden is too small to give the dog a dedicated poop area.  There's not really much point anyway, as whenever I go out to clean up poop, I end up cleaning up at least as much cat poo as there is dog poo.  If anyone has any ideas for keeping the cats away, I'd be interested (have tried super-soaker filled with beer and that works for a while, if I'm quick enough and my aim is OK!).  Welshonion, I think the discs you're talking about are distraction discs, for use when the dog is doing something it shouldn't.  I have trained dogs to go in a specific place in the past, you need to be very patient, find out when the dog normally does it's business, then take it out ON A LEAD to where you want it to go.  When it goes, tell the dog 'Wee-wees' or 'poo-poos', and give lots of encouragement & treats when they've finished.  They then associate the word and action, and in time the lead can be discarded, and when the dog gets let out, you can say 'wee-wees' and the dog will go to the area and do it's business.

We used to have two (sadly one had to be PTS earlier this year) and they understand this AND bedtime wee-wees - they know they won't be let out until next morning, so when we let Max out at night, he knows what's happening.

He also knows the difference between 'collect the boy' (from nursery, 30mins) and 'going shopping' (a couple of hours).  But then he's a GSD Collie cross, so probably cleverer than I am!!