Litter Box for Dogs

Why do you need a litter box for your dogs?
Some may say: If you cannot find the time and effort in taking your pet outdoors to do their business a couple times a day, you shouldn't be a pet owner.

But what if you had an emergency to handle at work and couldn’t get home as early as usual? What if it is raining really badly outside? What if it is really

cold and you already caught a cold for a couple of days? What if…

And to be fair to the dogs, it is really uncomfortable for them to hold for 8 hours without releasing themselves, try it yourself, and you will know.

Is it really possible?

For all those reasons, people are using newspaper, training pads, even diapers to solve the problems. But is it possible to litter box train a dog. Of course

it is possible, and it is actually a very easy thing. In addition to the benefits you get from using pads, by using a good litter box, you can keep your

house very clean and almost odor free. Here is a good book - Litter Boxes Aren't Just For Cats - that will guide you trough each step of litter box train

your dog. Basically, you need to paper train your dog and then put the paper in the box, and make the paper smaller and smaller, eventually your dog will be

happy to go on the litter. But you really need a well designed litter box.

Commercial litter boxes for dogs.
Before I show you how to make a good litter box yourself, let’s take a look at the commercial ones.

There are basically two kinds of commercial dog litter boxes, the litter boxes that have special litter in it, and the drainage based dog litter boxes.

Second Nature Dog Litter by Ralston

This product falls in the first category. The litter is made from natural, non-toxic recycled paper. Most of the people who bought this product found it is

really highly absorbent and good at odor controlling, but it seems some dogs likes playing with the litter and sometimes even eat it, and tracking is a

problem too. However, people still like this product, since it is made from paper and it is non-toxic, and easy to clean up.

The price is about $12 for a 25 lb. bag. You don’t have to buy the litter pan, because it comes in only three sizes and you can easily find a good box

anywhere. But you should change the litter often.

PETaPOTTY


It is basically a plastic box that has two layers. The top layer is a shallow box, you can grow real sod in it or you have a choice of using synthetic grass. Your dog’s

urine will go through the sod and drip into the second layer that is a slide-out tray. I would use the synthetic grass instead of the real sod, because the

sod will trap urine and may smell bad, but if you change the sod often enough, it shouldn’t be an issue.

The product comes with three sizes, the original measuring about 3' by 3'. There is also the petite size, measuring about 3' by 2', and the mini size

measuring 18" by 20". The slide-out tray makes this product unique, and it is really convenient.

Prices run from $295 for the original, down to $195 for the mini.

Patio Park

Patio Park is not drainage based. It has real grass on it, and dogs will directly go on the grass. You normally want to put it outdoor to avoid the stinky

urine smell. If you have a backyard with grass, there is no point to have the Patio Park; if you live in an apartment, you have to put it on the balcony, but

I wonder do you have to leave the door to the balcony open or you have to lock your dog on the balcony when you are not at home?

The price is $199 plus shipping fee.

Wiz Dog

Wiz Dog is basically a very shallow box with a rigid plastic grid on the top. The urine will go through the grid easily and drip into the box. You can put

newspaper in the box to absorb the urine and help you clean up. It eliminates puddles on the floor that sometimes happen when you put newspaper directly on

the floor. The product is about 3 pounds and easily to carry around. I don't own this product, but I really think it is worth a try, for only $40.

The price is very good, $39.99

Pet Patio Potty

This is also a drainage based litter box. You put cat litter in the lower layer to absorb the urine, and you have a choice of gravel or synthetic grass on

the top layer. I personally like using gravel because it is cheap and when it gets dirty, you can either wash the gravel or scoop out the dirty gravel

(normally the gravel in the center of the box gets dirty first)

The product comes with 4 sizes, the price runs from $389 for the large down to $199 for the toy.

Pup-Head

Pup-Head works in the same way as Wiz Dog. It's a mat made of K-9 Grass that is the only synthetic grass designed specifically for dogs, and it features

instant drainage so that dogs are not stepping into urine and tracking it onto other surfaces.

The added bonus is that PupGear has developed an extremely effective, all natural, organic attractant that eliminates having to train a dog to use it. They

just automatically know what to do!

It was originally designed for boaters, but after they got a lot of orders from folks living in apartments and condos, they took the product globally to dog

owners of all walks of life.

The price is $149 including shipping.

I am sure there are other commercial litter boxes that I didn’t cover, and you choose whatever you want. But if you don’t want to spend hundreds of bucks for

a litter box, you can make your own.

Self-Made litter box.

Inspired by Pet Patio Potty, I made a dog litter box myself. The Pet Patio Potty is the most expensive one in my list, but actually it is the easiest one to

copy.

First you need two plastic containers, you can buy them in your local supermarket.

Drill holes in the top box, the more holes you drill the easier the urine can drain into the lower box.

Next, you need to cut the boxes to make an opening for your dog to walk in.


The following picture shows how you make a space between the two boxes.


Finally you fill the lower box with cat litter or newspaper, and fill the top box with pea size gravel.

That’s it! $20 self-made dog litter box is done. I don’t know about others, my dog loves it!

Well, of course the self-made box doesn't look as good as the commercial ones and I found it is a little bit hard to scoop out the litter, since you have to

put the heavy top part aside (the bottom is dirty). The PETaPOTTY for mini breads looks really neat and the slide-out pan will make the cleanup job

a lot easier. The fake grass is certainly an extra expense, but again it is easy to clean up. If you don't like the fake grass, you can either buy your own sod ( I

wouldn't recommend this, it will be stinky, and you have to water it), or putting gravel on the top box will be a good option. If you are not sure if you can

litter box train your dog, Wiz Dog will be a good one to start with, since it is so cheap.

I am not advocating locking your puppy at home all the time, in my opinion the litter box is only for my dog when I am not at home, since I know why having a dog brings health benefits to myself.

Good luck with litter box traning your dogs, I hope this article will help you solve one of your big issues.