Why are my dogs so scared of our new garden?!

[TheShittas]

Moved 2 months ago. Previous garden was large grass garden. 2 small dogs. They loved it. Played all day outside.
No accidents in house.

New garden is a quarter of the size and paved with a square of those shingle chip/rock things.

Ever since we moved they HATED it. Refused to go outside. Stand by the door and won't step out, even for treats.

When I do get them out they try and go back inside immediately.

The previous tenant had a large dog, I thought they might be able to smell him so paid a professional jet washer to do the whole garden.

Made no difference.

Now they're pissing and shitting inside all the time because they won't go outside!

They do business on walks but just before bed they won't go out so I'm finding accidents in the morning and in the daytime sometimes too they just piss in the hall when the backdoor is wide open?!

It's driving me insane.
Is there a dead body out there or something?! 😂😭

Do they have to cross the shingle to get to the poop area?

It could be hurting their paws.

if that’s not it , can you start by carrying them to the area you want them to use , so that it gains their scent?

There is no grass.

This. It's rocket science to understand.

I thought it would be fairly obvious but ok.

Take off your shoes and walk to the poop area in your bare feet.

No, thets in the far corner.

When we girts got here they ran outside, exploring, marking and playing but then they just decided they hated it.

Can you dig up the shingle patch and replace with soil and sow some grass seeds in?

The shingles are in a squares in the corner. They don't have to stand on it at all if they don't want to.

But when they DO poop outside that's where they choose to go, so it can't hurt their feet because they cross the paving (we had paving at old house too) and they choose to go on the rocky area.

That's your answer.

When you walk your dogs, do they shit on the pavement or on the grass verges?

Doesn’t sound a garden suited to your dogs, could you put in a small grassed area? Too make life a bit easier.

Plenty of dogs have paved gardens.

My mum and sister all do and when we visit they have no issue running around there.

They are used to paving stone as our previous garden was 25% paved.

It's never bothered them before.

Also they walk on paving stones every day on walks.

Its paving stones, not lava!

The pavement surprisingly. They always poop on the way to the park not when we are there.

They also stick to the path in the park rather than go on the grass. They're really odd little dogs.

If the grass is wet or damp they won't even look at it.

You're comparing my new garden to shitting in a hole because there's no grass laid down?

They're dogs 😂😂😂

They're not royalty. You do know dogs eat their own shit and roll in cow dung?

Haunted.

I think this is the most sensible answer so far.

People are so fucking horrible on here these days. Sorry you've had so many shitty responses op. Could you try giving a reward after they toilet in the new garden to give some positive reinforcement?

Maybe one of your neighbours has one of those high pitched cat scarers.

You've had some sensible (if bluntly or amusingly delivered) answers.

Toiletting is habit. If a dog has the habit of toileting in a certain kind of environment, they will not necessarily automatically switch to something different just because that's what's on offer.

For example, if the smell of grass was one of the things they used previously to determine where to toilet and there is no smell of grass now, that is one less clue that the new shingle garden is the right place to toilet.

So, you essentially have two dogs whose previous toilet training is no good to them here. You need to start again as if they were puppies. Likely, it won't take as long with grown dogs but the process is the same. No open doors and expecting them to take themseleves outside. Replace with structured toilet breaks at regular intervals in wwhich you take them outside (preferably one at a time) and encourage them to pee or whatever cue word you've used in the past (if you've used one) and praise them when they do. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

If they are going in the house, you aare not timing the toilet trips frequently enough or at the right time so review and change as appropriate.

Surely dogs prefer to live somewhere more natural with smells to sniff and a bit of nature, not a manmade bit of paving. That might be why they are unhappy. Can’t the garden be regrassed and some trees added? No they are not “royalty” but it is hardly a very natural environment. Hope you can make it so they settle, sounds hard.

No, it's rented and we're lucky we're not living in a park right now TBH. We were extremely lucky to find this property after last LL selling up

Though maybe some MNers would say that would be better and more natural for theml dogs, my kids would rather have a roof over their heads though.

Leave them outside and shut the door, they'll soon get used to it. One of my dogs refused to toilet on the paving and would only go on the grass. Ive had all new patio put down and extended it, put a fence up so they can't get on the grass anymore. She's got no choice now. They'll be fine just leave them out there.

I actually did that the other day whilst I got the kids breakfast sorted. When I let them back in they pooped in the hall.

I'm going to ask LL if I can put grass in the square but it's unlikely