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

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Guide dogs train their dogs from small pups to spend on gravel / a hard surface because it's easier for a blind person to pick up than grass.

However, some dogs just won't and absolutely hate it. So GD's backup option is astro turf, which all dogs seem to prefer if real grass isn't around. You can't control their bowel movements 100% and even if you teach them to go "on command" (which guide dogs do) it's a suggestion. One that you need to give often enough that to dog doesn't go where it shouldn't.

Our current dog is fab at spending on a hard surface, but as soon as he as the opportunity for grass, he's all over it.

I think you'll find it very hard to change your dog's spending behaviour if he's previously has free rein of the garden

Even if you succeed in making sure your dog doesn't pee etc on the grass you won't ever be able to stop any passing foxes and cats etc.

A colleague of mine hardly uses her garden in Summer now except to hoover and jet wash her fake lawn, because it smells. That's after she's picked off any shriveled up worms and other casualties.

My dog wees on ours and we just hose it off in the summer. He is a boy though, so tends to cock and it mostly goes in the borders. It came with the house and has been a gamechanger for me as I am disabled.

The only proper way would be to fence it off really

The only way to train your dog not to toilet on plastic grass is not to let the dog into the garden!
So for the next 6-12 months, just take DDog out for a walk. I would then re introduce the garden after walk for a few minutes slowly increasing the time.

Things to consider: dogs are a creature of habits so you need to break that.
Dogs often like to go toilet where they have been before- so eliminate any smells. All this will take a very long time.

Personally, I wouldn't want to loose the convenience of not having a garden for my dogs.

Its almost as if nature doesn't understand the abomination of fake plastic grass. Who'd a thought it?

Seriously though this issue encapsulates how completely warped our relationship with nature has become. Dogs are animals and however much you put them in clothes, call them your babies, give them ice cream & other human foods, they are still animals. I wish people would appreciate them for what they are and let them be, and only have them if they have a suitable environment for them.

And agree with everyone else poo & piss on the patio sounds absolutely gross.

This. My dogs have never "toileted" (how twee) in the garden.

I don't think I have ever known someone with a dog, whose dog doesn't wee in the garden. You don't need to take them for a walk everytime they need a wee!

Dogs like to pee on grass not patio.

A friend got fake grass. She was excited to get it, it's low maintenance apparently, you just have to hose it down and hoover it (🤦‍♀️😆). Her dog pisses on it, she goes out with the hose, it's not been damaged as far as I know.

I would call off the artificial grass if there is still time. It's appalling for the environment - and is a risk if you have or intend to have DC (source of microplastics entering the body)

If however you're stuck with it, then you have to start teaching the dog to pee/poo on command, so she can be directed to a convenient time/place. Start by teaching a word she'll associate with elimination and move on from there. You'll need to go out with her every single time until it is fully ingrained.

Astroturf can get too hot for dogs (worse than patios/pavements), So what will your dog do in hot weather if both pavement and patio/plastic garden are too hot but your dog still needs to go out (not just pee/poo but also mental wellbeing)

Never hoovered it in my life and hosing is very minimal. DP did it twice last year. The rain sorts it out for the vast majority of the year.

We've been here 4 years and the 'grass' is fine. I am pretty sure the old owners had it down a good few years with 3 pugs before we moved in too

Wee, yes, shit no.

That's another thing we've never had an issue with. The bit of decking we have gets hotter than the grass. Never had a problem being barefoot on it in the summer. I don't know if some are worse than others

OP you will regret the plastic grass. Save your money. It looks awful and everytime you look at it you will regret it. Our neighbours have a well trained collie who still shat on it and they couldn't use the garden with their kids as it was always a bit shitty.

Although tbh my goldie only does a bedtime wee in the garden.

I was assuming the OP meant pee.

Poo is easy to clean off plastic grass

I dont think OP will be back after the replies, but I would genuinely like to know the reason she wants artifical grass with a dog.

Sell the house with garden. Buy a flat. Re home the dog. (Only slightly kidding-fake grass shouldn’t be legal)

You'll probably have to deal with other people's cats' poo too. And possibly wildlife poo - certainly bird poo.

Well, unfortunately you've picked a surface that is going to cause you a lot of problems, and training is unlikely to solve any of them.

Unless you're planning on banning your dog from ever stepping foot on the artificial grass, it's going to be almost impossible to train them not to toilet on it. You'll either need fence it off and restrict her to the patio - or you only ever take her out on a lead so she can't get to the grass. Either way, it sounds like a pretty miserable existence for your dog - and you.

However, even if you do succeed in keeping them off the lawn, cleaning a patio when a dog has had diarrhoea or done loads of wees in the same place will be pretty time consuming - and it will smell awful in the summer if you don't keep on top of it.

I personally think it's unfair to deliberately make your garden so unfriendly to your dog - mine absolutely loves a good sniff and roll on the lawn, I can't imagine choosing to take that away from him.

OK then. I wouldn't fancy cleaning either up myself. Especially poo of the loose kind.

Well, we couldn't have got it ourselves as we couldn't afford. But it's been 100 times easier having fake grass than the mud pit we had at our old house.

I don't need to wipe muddy feet. The kids can play on it, with the dog all year with no fear to churning it up. Its easy to poo pick etc.

Like i said earlier, it came with the house, but we haven't seen any negatives from a practical pov

We have a very small garden with relatively large raised flowerbeds around three sides. Initially we had a lawn. Covering about 3x4 meters. It was a nightmare. Always brown, muddy patches, constantly trying to re-sow grass (and not walking on that patch for that time, which meant we couldn't use the garden at all)
Our realistic options were decking, tiling or artificial grass.

We went with the artificial grass and it's great. Have had it for about 10 years and it still looks lovely.
We also have a dog - he loves finding a sunny spot to sit on there. And he wees on it - and it's only ever once been smelly when we didn't have rain for weeks.
Apart from that we never smell it.

The flowerbeds around it attract plenty of animals - my neighbour texted me a few weeks ago saying that there were parrots in our banana trees (we are in London). There are other birds - and frogs (no idea where they come from).

Sometimes our dog goes crazy when there is a fox visiting.

Some of Mumsnet loves being snobby and paint a picture of lazy uneducated fools who have nothing better to do than ruin the environment with carpeting their back gardens with plastic. (While potentially driving SUVs and flying away on holiday)

For us artificial grass has worked very well.
For everybody else who hates it - enjoy your lovely gardens!

wtf am I reading? What horrible responses.

We got artificial grass 7 years ago BECAUSE we have dogs and it was an absolute bog previously. We also have a trampoline. Shock horror.

The grass was done with drainage so it's never been an issue. Wee drains away and poo is easy to pick up then hose if required.

It's been such a great addition to make our lives easier - we have a garden that's usable all the time.

It wouldn't occur to me to train the dogs not to go on it.