Am I crazy for wanting her to pee INSIDE? Suggestions please?

Is there a possibility of utilizng doggie daycare or even hiring a dog walker while you're not home? I would not feel comfortable at all letting her urinate inside of the house. That can totally confuse her and lead to a lot of problems down the road, plus it's just not healthy for any people living in the house. If she goes on the carpet, that can soak through to the carpet pad and cause mold and other bacteria, which can only be resolved by replacing the carpet entirely. I definitely would not want her to go inside. I would thoroughly research other options, such as the doggie daycare or a dog walker.

I don't really care for the idea but they do make fake grass pads that have a container below to catch the urine. They are designed primarily for people with small dogs in apartments. But if it would help with your pups health issues I suppose you could give it a try.

For a short period, maybe you can afford to hire a pet sitter to let her out? I know that if that was all you were asking of me (and you mentioned the reason why you were hiring me), I would most likely only charge you $10 a visit, which is pretty cheap. Or, you could see if there is a stay at home mom or someone else in your neighborhood who would like to make just a little bit of extra money.

I actually think this could work for you. It's not ideal, but what is ideal about the situation you find yourself in, seriously. Sometimes you have to get creative and the grass pee pads sound pretty darn creative to me! Better than having her suffer.

Do you think you can train her to use them? So that if they're not there, she would know not to potty? Just wondering how this would work in the longterm ... but even then, sometimes you have to deal with the here and now first.

I love it that you are taking care of her. This must be very challenging for all of you.

I think you are on to a solution to her repeated UTI. She probably is not getting completely clear of the infection and holding it too long .

There are several brands of this type of indoor potty area, it's more sanitary than letting her pee on your floors.

http://www.porchpotty.com/

This may not be a feasible idea at all, but when the weather is cold (daytime highs not above about 65) I take Brooks to work with me. He has always loved being in my car-and waiting for me has never been a problem for him. I have the kind of job that has me in one place for no more than 2 or 3 hours max (sometimes only one hour before I drive to another spot).
Anyway, that made me think of you in school. If you can park somewhere in the shade, leave a water dish in the car and the windows open enough to allow fresh air to get in, then could you go to the car between classes to let your dog out to pee? Maybe this could get her through this UTI if you could do this for a week?

Do you live in a city with a high school? Maybe you could post something there asking for a volunteer to come let her out/walk her/play with her for an hour after school or something. I know when I was in high school I was ALWAYS looking for ways to gain NHS volunteer hours.

I suppose you could set up an indoor, contained grass area, but it might be tricky to teach her to use it.

If you're in apartment, do you know any of your neighbors? Any chance one of them could help you with a mid-day pee break?

Any children in your neighborhood or building? When Sam was a small puppy we had the next door neighbor's son come over and give him a mid day potty break for a few weeks and it worked out really well. The kid's mom was right there so we weren't worried about him being unsupervised.. and while we did end up paying him, he wasn't expecting any $$ from it.. he just wanted to come play with our puppy!

That said, I don't think a peepad or even a grassy area indoors is the worst idea. Sam used peepads and weaned himself off them as he was able to hold it longer and has no issues from that. He never associated being allowed to pee on the peepad with peeing anywhere else in the house being ok.

I wish I could bring her to college with me, but we park 15 minutes away in an open stadium parking lot (not safe), and I couldn't be able to walk her frequently.

The only neighbor I knew just moved, so I don't know anyone else around my area.

I agree I think it would be tricky to try and teach her to use a designated area. I could see her tearing up fake grass rather than peeing on it.. When she was a puppy I turned over the top of a crate top and put an old towel in it. She would pee in it when she had to. Then when she became completely potty trained she stopped. I almost wished she still did that... Oh course she grew too big to squat in a crate lid now.

I looked at the porchpotty, but it's too expensive... Any other ideas??

Thank you!

skylielover said:

I looked at the porchpotty, but it's too expensive... Any other ideas??

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We just used peepads and they worked great. Sam went on them religiously. We bought the largest size they had even when he was a small puppy. I don't know how you'd entice her to go on them though.. that's the one upside I'd see to a grassy area indoors over a regular peepad.

missmarstar said:

We just used peepads and they worked great. Sam went on them religiously. We bought the largest size they had even when he was a small puppy. I don't know how you'd entice her to go on them though.. that's the one upside I'd see to a grassy area indoors over a regular peepad.

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I suppose she could have Skylie pee on one outside and then bring it indoors and place it where she wants Skylie to pee. That way she'd smell it and figure, "Hey, I guess this is where I go." ...Maybe.

kdmarsh said:

I suppose she could have Skylie pee on one outside and then bring it indoors and place it where she wants Skylie to pee. That way she'd smell it and figure, "Hey, I guess this is where I go." ...Maybe.

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LOL yes that would probably work :doh:

You would think I know this as I did use peepads... but honestly Sam just kept peeing in one spot on the floor so we put the peepad there and that did the trick for him LOL

Your idea is a good one though! Maybe rub it in the grass a bit so it smells like grass too and pee.

When Caleb was a puppy, DH and I were concerned about him sharing the communal dog potty area of our apartment complex. So DH built a "porch potty" type thing for Caleb to use on our balcony. We used real grass - a lot of sod places give away the stuff that's a couple days old for free. But real grass is kind of a pain to maintain. It needs to be hosed off and drained well after each use or it gets gross really fast. But maybe you could construct something similar with astro turf instead?

Anyways, here's what dh did - he bought 2 stackable plastic storage containers and fitted the bottom one with a spigot with a hose for drainage. He filled the bottom one with coarse gravel and stacked the second container (with drainage holes drilled into it) inside the first. Into that one went some more gravel, soil and finally the sod.

Caleb only used it till he had all his shots, but I think something similar could work for an adult dog, so long as she only used it a couple times a day.

A couple more thoughts:
Instead of putting it (pee pad, artificial grass, whatever) on the kitchen floor, how about in the shower or bathtub instead? It would be really easy to rinse off!

This is going to sound kind of gross, but to get her to pee in the place of your choosing, try using your own pee on it. It worked for us with Caleb's sod box.

Anyways, good luck and I hope Skylie feels better soon.

cinnamonteal said:

This is going to sound kind of gross, but to get her to pee in the place of your choosing, try using your own pee on it. It worked for us with Caleb's sod box.

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LOL Oh the things we do...... :

A lot of my seniors use the pee pads or chucks and they really work for their dogs...guess there is a smell on them that attacks the dog to go on it!