Artificial grass….how to train dog not to toilet on it?

[NewMeNewUs]

We are having our garden renovated in a couple of weeks which included artificial grass being laid.
the gardener has advised me to train the dog (1 year old Labrador) not to toilet on the fake grass, she can do it on the patio instead.
my question is how do I teach this!? Many thanks

Honestly? Don’t cover your garden in plastic. It’s an environmental nightmare, it will heat to ridiculous temperatures in the summer and be dangerous to your dog and to humans who might walk barefoot on it. Keep the grass. It’s better off all round and will solve the problem of trying to get your dog to poo on your patio.

This.
Plastic grass needs to be banned

Don't get artificial grass.

Sorry another vote for just don't.
It's vile, toxic and an environmental disaster.

Agree. There are alternatives to grass if mowing is an issue. Ours is mostly moss and so low maintenance. But didn’t friendly and bees and butterflies

100% don’t get it if you have a dog. It honestly stinks as soon as they wee on it no matter how well it’s laid. Been there and done that. It’s impossible to stop them unless you fenced it off from the patio.

Real is much nicer for the environment. I’ve noticed a huge increase in birds and insects since we removed ours.

Thanks all but I didn’t ask your opinion on artificial grass.
i asked if you had any tips on how to train the dog

You can’t train dogs not to wee anywhere. I managed to train a previous dog (lab) to poo on command when we were by a poo bin, but weeing? No chance.

Artifical Grass is bloody hideous though, so get grass and just cut it once a week.

Probably just traditional training, rewarding when he doesn't, and guarding against him or her doing it.

Out of interest, what made you go for artificial grass?

Is your artificial grass the pet friendly one? It's a bit more expensive but from what I believe (I have it) it is more hard wearing to dog wee. I let my dog wee on mine but we hoover it and wash it.
I know it doesn't answer your question, but do you have to train him? I can imagine it would be difficult.

I think fencing it off is your only real option if having your dog never urinating on the fake grass is essential. Otherwise you'll never be able to relax with the dog in your garden, as he might always want to pee on the grass. For potty breaks in the day you could take him out to the front, so the issue isn't there.

Cant be done.

Try to teach her where you do want her to go rather than trying to stop her going on the outdoor carpet. If it was a male dog I’d suggest a pee post but I don’t know if they work so well on females. Take her out to toilet on the lead and lavish praise on her when she goes in the right place

The highlight of a dogs day is going out and sniffing around and finding a good place to do their business. You are going to deny them the chance to sniff at earth and grass and insects and flowers and replace it with plastic that they can't toilet on, can't walk on in the summer, and that smells revolting to them. Fence the plastic abomination off and actually take your dog out for 3-4 walks a day and let them have the chance to smell all the smells. They can toilet while out and about and your plastic stays looking like new plastic.

Otherwise do the descent thing and rehome the dog to somebody that has a garden they can actually use.

Our neighbours have it and have two dogs. They trained them but the dogs pee and poo on it regardless. It stinks and they are out there all the time washing it to get rid of the remnants. The run off often comes in our garden and is disgusting.
In summer it is sometimes too hot for the dogs to walk on.
Honestly, grass is so much better for animals.

The two go hand in hand though. Unless you fence off the grass the dog will pee on it. If you don't want the dog to pee on it and wont be fencing it off then don't have artificial grass. It's terrible for the environment and shit for your dog if you're only going to get annoyed at them doing something as completely natural as having a wee.

Fence it off. You will need to do this in any case if we get hot weather.

Errr Walk your dog so it doesn’t have to toilet on a patio.

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

I’d also add that artificial grass is toxic to many animals - dogs included - if digested (and given you have a lab…chances are pretty high)

Either fence it off so the dog can’t get to it or don’t let the dog outside unsupervised so you can keep them off it.

Honestly though, this is going to turn out to be an expensive mistake if you have a dog.

You’re going to have wee and poo covered plastic in your garden that heats up the wee and poo in summer and you’ll have to spend all your time trying to clean it. Lovely.

Unless you like very regular jet washing, I wouldn’t recommend trying to get your dog to go to the loo on your patio. It’s a right pain trying to get urine stains out. The jetwashing also releases the smell back into the air and makes it smell like a gents loos 🤢 Not nice for a place you want to relax!

If you want to remove all the natural surfaces from your “garden” then you’ll need to increase the walks, otherwise things will be smelling/looking pretty bad.

In theory it’s the same idea as housetraining, get her to go where you want, reward...even better if you can add a cue word.

in practise... she’ll probably still go on the artificial grass sometimes because it’s just not different enough to the patio, it’s not like inside and outside.

So it’s either fence, lead or get something she can go on if you want her using the garden.

You will have to fence it off, dogs are clean animals so will avoid weeing on patios etc so they don’t ens up stood in a pool of their own wee. Plus if you don’t fence it off you will have to frequently clean the plastic grass with jeyes fluid etc or it will smell very strong.

Ridiculous. It looks crap and cheap and your poor dog deserves real grass in the garden. Shameful.

Does your dog ever toilet on the patio? If she does it might be possible to capture it but neither of mine will toilet on a hard surface. Hard floors downstairs meant toilet training was a doddle but it means when we've been away where they've only had access to a patio area they need a walk for every wee.