Ugh, gross. Any ideas on how to deter your pup from raiding the litterbox?

[Katie and Murphy]

Murphy has a really bad habit of raiding the litterbox. I'm usually good about blocking the boxes, either with baby gates or holding onto his collar when we pass by the bathroom on the way outside. I can't always keep an eye on him, though, and he's become really sneaky about getting to the boxes when the gate is leaning against the door. I'd move the boxes to a room he can't get into, but the cats already have potty issues. I'm afraid relocating them would bring on even more trouble.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Any proven methods from deterring a dog from eating cat poop? (Any ideas for both inside and outside would be great, too. The neighbor's cat uses our front yard as his litterbox and Murphy absolutely loves finding those "cat truffles" when he's outside.)

I put this under health, though it could also be behavior/training. I'm just nervous about what all that litter/cat poop is going to do to his insides.

[Katie and Murphy]

I've never heard of this. I'll try with a covered litterbox, but if that doesn't work (my cat is REALLY picky) then I'll have to look for the Meat Tenderizer. Where can you find it?

[Candace Lockett]

This probably wouldn't work for Doodles, but here's what I did for my pug:

I got a big rubbermaid tub (whatever size works for your spot, the bigger the better) with a lid. I filled it with litter (I like the good clumping stuff) then put the lid on. I cut a hole in the lid big enough for kitties, but inaccessable to the dog. Worked perfectly! Big dog may still be able to get his head in, though. =(

[Joy Williams]

If you have your litter box in an area like a laundry room or utility room that has a door, you can buy one of those "hook & eye" locks that are about 5-6 inches long. Put that on the door on the outside and lock it. It leaves a space wide enough for the cat to get in there and the Doodles can't. They try, but they can only get their nose in there. But that's the only way we've been able to keep ours out of the litter box.

[Louise and Toby]

That's how we do it too, Joy! I'll put up a picture later. We have ours on the inside though.

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

Our pup Penny is only 4 months old, and since she's been with us we have a wooden chest across the door of my office where the cat's litterbox is. So far so good, she flops her front paws over the chest and usually gets off when I say "No!", and she's climbed on top twice but no further. Now she is too big to get through a cat door, we have a 41" high safety gate on order with a cat door in it. You can get them through Walmart's website and they will deliver free of charge to your nearest store.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper used to raid the cat litter box, but then she stopped. Whew I though. Now she has started again. I used to use wood (pine) pellets which broke up into sawdust, but at the moment im using clumping cat litter made from corn (it was a free sample from a rep at work - I work in a pet store). Im really concerned that the clumping cat litter, although all natural, will harm her. Im considering buying an enclosed cat litter box, but finances dont really warrant that at the moment and im concerned the cars wont like it.

On a side note, Im trying all different kinds of cat litter... all natural, but trying to stay away from the pine pellets (trees dont need to be cut down just so my kitties can pee and poop). Im not liking the corn litter. has anyone tried the recycled paper litter such as yesterdays news? http://www.yesterdaysnews.com/products.html
Maybe ill try to make my own... http://thegreenists.com/tip-of-the-day/tip-of-the-day-make-your-own...