Pet owners in apartments..

KDJD2012

Got a suggestion today to use our balcony for Dexters outside potty area. We just need to get chicken wire so he can't get through the railing. We also need something to cover the floor to keep his business from leaking to the persons below us balcony. What would you suggest to use for this?

YellowUmbrella

Blegh - that sounds disgusting and I would hate if my upstairs neighbors did that. Every once in a while our dog will accidentally go on our concrete patio in the backyard and it smells so bad that I have to get the hose out and spray it off.

I bet it's probably against your apartment complex's rules anyway.

Mrs.Mc08

For the business- I bought a porch potty and directed the hose away from the balcony below us. Not that it mattered- the dog never used it, but it was a grand idea at the time.

SparrowGreen

I wouldn't do it.  Pottying anywhere but outside in the grass tends to really confuse them, plus that just sounds sort of icky to me.  How would you clean it up? 

RedheadBaker

I don't have a balcony (my apartment is technically basement-level), but it's stipulated in our lease that such a set-up as that is not allowed in apartments that do have balconies. 

KDJD2012

Thanks ladies. I would clean it off. I was thinking more about for while its so cold and he refuses to go. Eh was worth a try lol

NotJennay

Mrs.Mc08:

For the business- I bought a porch potty and directed the hose away from the balcony below us. Not that it mattered- the dog never used it, but it was a grand idea at the time.

Haha, yes!  These things are brilliant, hypothetically.  We used a ugo dog with a puppy pad.  We eventually moved the ugo dog and puppy pad from inside next to the door to outside on the front porch (we didn't have a back porch).  She peed in the ugo dog (well, mostly, she still had bad aim) but pooped where ever she wanted.  It was such a pain to clean dried poop off of the front porch, not to mention it was disgusting. 

From someone who spent a whole year being stubborn and cleaning diahearra and pee off her living room floor and later front porch, it is so much better just having your dog trained to eliminate while on walks.    

dusk42

It's gross, and if you clean it enough to be not gross, it's more work than it's worth.  

Caz1221

I agree that it might be confusing for him to use the patio.  You may already do this, but if he doesn't like being outside in the cold, can you "reward" him by taking him right back inside immediately after he eliminates?  One of my dogs really hates the cold and the rain.  In addition to teaching a potty "command," I showed him that if he potties quickly in bad weather, he can go right back inside.  If he refuses to potty, I walk him until he goes.  At first, I had to stay outside in miserable weather for quick some time (there were times we walked around our block 3-4 times), but he caught on eventually!

lyndausvi

From lurking on this board I know what we do is not popular here, but it works for us. 

We have a 15 week old english bulldog.  We live in a 10th floor (and of course, the furthest apartment from the elevator bank)  in the city with the closest grassy area is 1.5 blocks away. 

At first he was all pee pads.  Now we take him outside, but use pee pads as a back-up.  When we are not at home or at night he is in his crate in our bathroom. The crate door is open and there are pee pads down.  ( Chef D has a problem with being locked in his crate, but that is another issue. He does not mind sleeping or playing in there, but once the door closes he freaks out.  He is fine with being confined in the bathroom.  Weird dog. We are still working on him liking it)

We take him out ALL.THE.TIME.  I'm not kidding.   

In the morning the minute he wakes up, he is out the door.  Currently about 50% of the time I carry him b/c I'm afraid he will have an accident on the way down because he had been holding it overnight.   Right now he is 23 lbs.  It's like a workout for me, but worth it.  

Since our schedule is all over the place we do not have set bed or wake up times.  While I do not set an alarm, I get up and check on him through out the night.  Most nights he can sleep 6 hours, sometimes it's less.  I could easily just 'ignore' him and just let him use the pads, but I get my butt up and take him out.  I have my shoes, jacket, treats, poop-bags all ready to just grab and go.

After he plays hard I take him down. About 30-45 minutes after he eats I take him down (I look for his signs). When he wakes up from a nap I take him down. I take him out so often the doormen are like "again?"  Yep, again.  Serious a few days ago I took him out  3 times in a 1.5 hour period of time (wake up, ate breakfast and then wanted to play hard).  There are days when I feel like all I do is go up and down that elevator.

Positive reenforcement.   Chef D LOVES treats.  As soon as he starting peeing I start having a party. I say "Good boy, yeah Chef D, woo hoo".  The minute he is done he gets a treat.  1 for peeing. 3 for poop.  He also gets a treat each elevator ride he sits and stays.  One pee break might yield him 6 treats.

I really think the treats are the motivation for him. I've actually caught him trying to do a fake pee in order to get a treat.  

We are at the point where if we are with him all day he rarely uses the pads. If we are both at work all day we might come home to a pee, but not always.  We could start maybe removing them all together, but honestly we are okay with him using them occasionally.  We rarely have accidents on the carpet anymore, so he doesn't seem confused on where to go.

IDK, dogs like people are not all the same and sometimes you have to do what works for you even if it's not what others would suggest. 

 

 

 

 

 

PunkyBooster

The only thing I could think of was putting a patch of grass out there? I really have no idea... I have always just taken mine outside.

But I will confess to using our back alley as a quick pee place for fosters at our old place. Gross? Sure, but when you are housebreaking in January in Boston, who cares LOL. 

My dog will never go anywhere near the house/building where we live, so I would take her to the closest tree and she would pee there (thankfully). 

 

 

+v+

A friend used to do that.  It is nasty, and neighbors complained a LOT.  I don't know how you could clean thoroughly without it leaking into other people's or public spaces.

Sunflower22

Our lazyass upstairs neighbor years ago did that with her huge yellow lab. More times than not it leaked down onto our patio. She had 3 flights of stairs down to a huge grassy area yet let him do this all the time.

KDJD2012

Thanks ladies, we're not going to do that, it was just a suggestion someone made and I wanted to hear more about it. : )

Dex has actually been doing really well the last couple days.

kcircell

I'm not sure how old Dex is but it does get easier.  We are in a condo and take Rufus out for a walk in the morning and in the evening, then he gets afternoon pee break, and depending on when his evening walk was he may need one last pee break before bedtime.  Pee breaks usally only involve stopping at a bush on our way to check the mail, total time less then 2 minutes.  He has been on a schedule like this since about 14 months old.