Indoor Dog Potty

As a breeder I am always on the look out for the best way to potty train a puppy. For my own litters I had found that wood pellet in a litter box were very effective...But the problem is the litter falls out of the litter box and gets spread all over. It can be a mess for the new owner to keep using, and the need to purchase litter can be expensive over time.When I got an 8 week Toy Schnauzer for my family, I decided to try a new Puppy Potty System. The Ugodog was the least expensive for long term maintenance, the most clean, very easy to train. It was everything I had hoped it would be.VERSATILE.. You can easily transistion from whatever potty surface the breeder had used for your puppy (Pee pads, litter, newspaper, or whatever other surface.) By putting the familiar surface on top of your Ugodog grates and under it, for the first few weeks, your puppy has the familiar smell and surface and will comfortably use your Ugodog. After the puppy is successfully using the Ugodog for several days you can just use the familiar product under the grates. In time you can use the Ugodog all by itself.EASIEST TO CLEAN. The system is super easy to rinse clean. If you use a pee pad or newspaper under the grate all you have to do is throw that in the trash. The poop stays on top of the grate, and has been very easy to pick up and toss in the toilet. Don't buy artificial grass toilets! They harbor bacteria and will be super smelly in no time.Compact, Descreet, Lightweight. I cannot say enough about the Ugodog. I wrote a blog post describing how we set up a pen (link at bottom of page)with the Ugodog. Our puppy has used it successfully from Day 1 and is as easy to keep as a hampster!Now that she is accustomed to her Ugodog, I will start familiarizing her to also use the woods outside. To do this, I will help her to be familiar with the smell of the woods, by adding a little bit of leaves and dirt underneath the grate. I start this slowly and gradually and she will recognize that smell as a potty place too.I love the Ugodog! If you start using it at 8 weeks old, it is super easy to use! For more info and photos visit my blog...[...]

The free shipping makes me tolerate the price a bit more. Other than that, the product is fine (I purchased 2). I have 2 Shih Tzu who are 1-y.o. and 2-y.o. who were previously trained to use puppy pads.PRODUCTThe construction of the product seems durable. I don't expect the base to break anytime soon. I believe the grates will hold up for some time as well, though it would be nice if they sold replacements just in case. It is a bit small and makes me wonder how medium-large dogs could ever use this! Sometimes my dogs go off the side so I can't imagine a larger dog (especially if they like to spin like mine) making the mark.Some reviewers have mentioned that it's a bit of an eye sore, however, I find it to be a huge improvement over looking at a pee stained white pad! The product is a bit bulky so I will stick to puppy pads for travel. The bulkiness can also affect cleaning, but I find [if they get really messy if a dog gets sick or something] filling up a bathtub and leaving them to soak with some cleaner and disinfectant makes the job a lot easier. The color and discreetness of the product makes me comfortable with placing it in high traffic areas of the house.The product description describes the system as being built to be used with newspaper to be eco-friendly, however, I wish they'd sized it to also accommodate  PoochPad 20-Inch by 27-Inch Pet Training Pad, Medium, 2-Pack . If you're interested in using the reusable pads the smallest on the market (17" x 23") are the best fit, but do leave some uncovered areas(length). Not ideal, but will save me a few hundred dollars a year (literally, not kidding, I did the math) compared to using disposable puppy pads and since most of my reading is online the newspaper idea won't go far with me.TRAININGI'll try to summarize, but will be more than happy to elaborate if asked. To train them I first used it without the grates and placed a puppy pad inside and placed it where they usually relieved themselves (replacing the old pad holder). One dog took to this right away. After a few days I placed the grates on. When they would go near it or look like they wanted to relieve themselves I placed them on the grates and gave them the command to relieve themselves. They looked at me like I was crazy, but after a while (with high praise and rewards when she go it right) my youngest dog became an expert.My older dog was not warming up to the system at all so I had to keep pads out or he would go on the floor instead! I even tried wiping his urine over the grates and stuff to get the smell in to no avail. Luckily I had a week off when the snow storms came through and made it my mission to get him used to it. I started from scratch and treated it like we were house-training all over again. I began with placing the reusable pad on the floor, then moved up to placing the pad in the base, finally put the grates on. I used the same training techniques I did when he was a puppy. If he went to the bathroom in the wrong place and I caught him in the act I said "bad potty" picked him up and put him on the pad. When we got up for the day I took him to the pad and put him on it and gave the command "go potty" so he knew that's where he goes. After a while I think he got used to the feel of the grates on his feet. The first time he used it on his own he got a huge celebration and treats. He's been good since. You really have to be prepared to retrain them to use it. It will take time for some, maybe even a few weeks (or months like my older puppy).SUMMARYThe price is ugly, but the initial investment makes it cheaper in the long run than my old system. I was going to give it 3-stars, but settled on 4 because it meets the criteria for the new house-training setup. Not 5 because of the price and sizing.I wanted [and it met]:-Something that would save me money compared to what I was using at the time which was a plastic pad holder and disposable pads.-Something that wouldn't become a toy or project in the middle of the day. My youngest dog started tearing up pads and showed the older one how much fun it could be.-Something that I could use reusable poochpads with. I wish it was better sized to accommodate these especially since they help with smell.-Something that would keep paws dry (especially after moving to a place with wall-to-wall carpeting).-Something that was more eye-pleasing. Most people have to ask what it is now!