-
Potty Zones and Surface Preferences
Is your puppy sprinkling inside your home, instead of going potty outside? ????
I recently worked with a darling cavapoo who had the habit of peeing and pooping on area rugs, much to the dismay of her pet parent. It’s not unusual for puppies to develop a strong preference for a specific surface to pee or poop on. Easy access to a particular surface, along with regular practice, can lead to this.
Two key tips I shared with the cavapoo’s parent:
➡ Temporarily roll up area rugs so they didn’t “invite” her to pee or poop.
➡ Reduce her freedom in the house to make it easier to supervise her and be able to catch early warning signs that she needed a potty break.
One of my own dogs, who was raised in the country, had a heck of a time peeing or pooping when we visited my sister in NYC. ???? Sidewalks as a potty zone? No, thank you! I had to run with him to a nearby dog park to find a scraggly patch of grass for him to relieve himself!
Does your dog have a strong preference for her potty zone’s surface?
-
5 Replies
-
Great tips here, @virginiad
My puppy Bliss was born in the desert and her backyard was crushed gravel. So when I got her at 4mos she thought nothing of eliminating on asphalt or concrete. She met her first grass about a month later and now I wonder if she’d ever eliminate on a hard surface again? She definitely prefers grass or at least mulch!
-
I bet grass and mulch are a lot more comfortable for Bliss’ delicate tootsies! ???? But she does sound quite adaptable.
Another client of mine raised her pup in NYC, but then began living part-time in the country. We had to teach her dog how to pee and poop on the grass in her yard, rather than only on the road. It was a bit of a challenge.
-
-
I guess consistently marking and treating helps too when he goes outside. I never had to do that with my dogs, but it makes sense!
-
My old Lab used to prefer concrete for pooping…kind of embarrassing, I always thought, to poop on a sidewalk out a nice concrete driveway in our suburban neighborhood! But, I figured it had to do with her living her first 5 years of her life as a breeder lab. The rescue told me that she was raised and housed in an outdoor kennel in a very posh suburb of Chicago.
Another interesting thought I’ve had while talking with my clients is that some dogs prefer to potty or poop on walks, not in their yard. I’ve talked a walking client through training his adult dog to poop in the fenced back yard (in a pinch, when weather gets too horrible and cold for a walk here)…his dog was used to apartment living and enjoyed daily walks 2-3 times a day…then they moved into a house with a lovely fenced yard, but the dog didn’t understand at first that he was expected to do his business in his yard!
Has anyone else had clients with preference to “go” on a walk, not their yard?
-
My brother’s dog won’t poop in their yard. At all. He’ll hold it for daaayyyys… They have a relatively small yard. I think some dogs are just ultra clean, that way. Or maybe, the preference is for territorial fecal marking? Hard to know the actual motivation, right?
-
Log in to reply.