When Indoor Potty Training Is Right for Your Dog
I used to believe that cats use litter boxes and dogs do their business outside. Afterall, that’s the culture in which I was raised and what my friends, co-workers, volunteer compadres, dog trainers, and just about everyone on the internet promotes.
Foster dog Annie tilted my axis. She was a pink tongue in a sea of toasted marshmallow softness and a whole lot of happy. Her affection was charming. Her lack of housetraining skills, not. The stout Corgi-mix would gladly pad along with me mile after mile, nosing about in the weeds, her golden bottom wiggling like Winnie-the-Pooh. Rarely did she do her business outside, opting instead for the floors indoors.
We later learned Annie had been “house trained” to go in the house during her caregiver’s long bout with terminal illness.
Foster dog Lizzie spent her first eight years of life in the home of a show-dog breeder. She and a handful of dogs lived like the Kardashians in a posh room with a dog door connected to a lush, fenced yard. Eight years of going when her own nature called made it difficult to train Lizzie on my terms. Her adopter eventually adopted a newspaper-by-the-back-door system that relieved the stress for dog and human.
I’ve learned many things about house training after a decade of fostering dogs and cats.
There are many reasons why you may wish to train your dog to go indoors.
A variety of soil containment options exist to keep your home clean.
The internet is awash in information to help indoor train your dog.
Why Train Your Dog to Go Inside
Weather. I live in the Midwest where weather can be a four-letter word. We can have heat like the desert, humidity like the south, cold like the Yukon, and thunderstorms that rage. There are days when it just isn’t safe for human or dog to be outside.
Housing. Live in a high-rise building? Have an affordable home in a not so safe neighborhood? Lack of access to quick and easy walking shouldn’t keep you from enjoying the love of a pet.
Lifestyle and Work. Does your job and commute keep you away from home more than six hours a day? Do you like to travel but your house sitter is not willing or able to walk your dog on a fixed schedule? Reduce the stress your dog may feel when it needs to go but is unable to get outside. Sometimes it helps to monitor your own bathroom schedule to understand what your dog may need.
Personal Health, Mobility, and Age. Like Annie’s owner, maybe your own health and mobility limit your ability to walk a dog as much as a dog needs to be walked. Indoor training may enable you to enjoy the company of a dog.
Dog’s Health and Mobility. Any number of health factors and medications may increase the frequency at which your dog needs to pee or poop. Limited mobility may inhibit the ability of your pet to navigate stairs, doorways, or uneven surfaces.
Stress: Emotional discourse in your home, fireworks, thunderstorms, and gunshots are just some of the stressors dogs experience that often result in their increased need to pee and poop.
Play. Increased activity levels often stimulate a need to go.
Age. Young pups. Old dogs. Early and later life stages often result in the need to go more frequently.
Adopted Dog. Most rescued and surrendered dogs don’t come with a history sheet. You may have little knowledge of their past house training or the environment in which they lived.
Was he a puppy mill dog that lived his whole life in a cage?
Was she an outside dog tethered to a chain, free in a fenced yard, or free to roam?
Did he live in a house with a dog door where he could go when he needed to go?
Did she have a dedicated spot in the yard she was trained to use as her toilet?
Why butt heads with your dog or create undo stress in your relationship? There’s no judgment here if you choose to indoor train your dog.
Types of Indoor Potty Systems for Dogs
Newspapers are inexpensive and readily available. They’re absorptive but not moisture proof. Be sure to use on top of a surface that can contain excess liquids and is easy to clean. A friend made a dog litter box by lining the bottom of a shallow plastic storage container sized for her medium dog.
Plastic potty pads, wee wee pads, and pee pee pads – different name, similar products - are highly absorptive and moisture proof but can be costly when used on a regular basis. I’d recommend using them to line the bottom of a shallow plastic storage container in order to capture excess liquids and to make the system convenient to clean.
Got a puppy? Puppies often find plastic pads to be fun toys that shred and pull. Never leave a puppy alone with a plastic pad. They could end up ingesting the shredded material, resulting in costly veterinary bills.
Reusable potty pads, made of cloth and washable, may be a more cost-effective, environmentally-friendly option for indoor training. They are perfect for lining a litter box or storage system.
Cat litter in a container large enough for your dog is another alternative to newspaper and potty pads. Big box retailers and home and garden stores carry a myriad of container sizes to fit your dog and your home. Got a male dog? Choose a high-sided container and use a box cutter to create an opening for your dog to comfortably enter. (I do this for my cats, too!)
Dog litter boxes are similar to cat boxes but may come in a size more appropriate for your dog.
Artificial grass may help your dog adjust to indoor training by bringing the texture of grass inside.
Showers and bathtubs are also options. I’d never thought of either until a visitor to the People and Pets Together pet food shelf told me how his adopted dog came with that trained behavior. Once he understood what was going on, he stocked cleaning supplies by the toilet.
How-to Train Your Dog to Go Indoors
The internet hosts a variety of resources to teach you how to train your dog to use an indoor system. A few are listed below.
Indoor House Training is an Acceptable Option
There are many reasons why you may choose to train your dog to potty inside and many resources to help you to create a system that is easy to maintain and clean.
Smaller dogs are obviously more suited to indoor training, but big dogs may need the option, too.
One final consideration. If you choose an indoor potty system, remember to encourage exercise and play. Mental stimulation and physical exercise that accompany outside time will be diminished, but the need for both isn't.