City Living - The Porch Potty

[Puppy Madness]

I live in the city at the moment.  My back 'yard' is 10'x10' stones with a small alley running down the side of my house to the front street for draining.  Not really dog friendly.  I do however have a huge park literally across the street for walks and play time.  Probably 1 square mile.  One side of the park even has designated dog areas that are fenced in where people bring their pups to play.  Long story short, I'm looking at late night options for the taking my puppy out.  I have no problem taking him across the street but if its the middle of the night or I'm not home and my wife has to take him out at night she wants no part of the park at dark.  I mean, it is Baltimore City.  Not the safest place.  So I was looking at the Porch Potty.

http://www.porchpotty.com/

 

I searched DK for any info on this or anything resembling this type of system without much success.  I am new so possibly I just haven't mastered the forums yet so I apologize if this was beaten to death already.  Does anyone use this for training or late night bathroom options for their dogs?  Thoughts on it?  I think if purchased I would go with the self cleaning option.

Thanks!!

 

[Erin & Maizey]

Welcome to DK.  I'm not sure how big your doodle is going to get but that might work.  I also live in a city and have a very small patio area as a back yard too, although slightly bigger than yours.  I actually had a strip of fake dog turf put in for maizey to use (which is about 3 feet by 8 feet long).  I think its the same stuff that this is made out of - looks very similar.  She seems to use it just fine and will sometimes even lay on it which seems kind of gross to me, however I've found that she also tends to just pee on my paver stones and uses the turf for #2.  So i periodically hose the pavers and the turf off.  As your doodle gets bigger your pup might do this too.  Just wanted you to be prepared.  I had the same issues with not wanting to walk her late at night in the dark. 

Good luck and congrats on the new member of your family!!!

[Julie and Max]

That looks like a great idea for late at night if you don't have a yard. 

[Jess & Stewart]

I'd look up the Fresh Patch on Amazon. It gets delivered right to your door and you just throw it out when you're done with it, it's real grass as well. I bought one & used it for a little over a week on my deck until Stew had his second round of shots and could walk around outside, then I transitioned to going outside of my apt to a mulched area.

[Kate]

We only have hard surface in our backyard, so we bought the Porch Potty when we got Owen (now 15 wk old ALD). We hose it off every few days (more important when artificial turf is there vs. training sod). We have been very pleased with it!

[Kate]

I bought the standard one along with the training sod. We do live in San Diego, so using the hose in the winter is not an issue for us. If we lived where it snowed, I would have definitely gotten the one with sprinklers!

[Kate]

Owen is about 20 pounds now (expect 50 pounds full grown). He has no issues with it right now. I read the same reviews and took a chance because of the lack of grass in our backyard.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

I have a friend who lives in Canada.  Long story short, she too, did not want to be out in the cold @3am by herself.  She found the cheapest and easiest was a piece of sod, bought at a place like Home Depot or Lowes.  She placed it on her balcony and her dog felt right at home.  It, of course, died after awhile, and she'd just go and replace it.

[Patti Engle]

This may be another option...I haven't tried it but I'm considering it.  I'm thinking about using it in the garage since the weather has become so cold.   Has anyone tried this    http://www.ugodog.net/index.php