# Should I use Potty Park for my new puppy?



## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

We chose not to use anything we were not willing to carry on with. We have friends with piddle pads all over the place, and we are just not the people who could cope with that... If you want to maintain a potty park, go for it. Otherwise, skip straight to the "run the pup outside every 15 minutes for a few weeks" stage....

edited to add that they can "hold it" for about an hour per month of age, up to a point (obviously your 48 month old dog should not try to hold it for 48 hours...) anything going in moves something out - so you've got about 15 mins after food/water/training treats and you need to be OUT...


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## Rusty (Jun 13, 2012)

I've seen the Potty Park thing in stores but never used it. Our spoo puppy was used to pee pads at the breeder's, but when we brought him home we didn't use any sort of indoor potty aid, and just worked hard to get him outside quite often and kept a really close eye on him. It was feasible to use this approach because I took 2.5 weeks of vacation when he came home, and afterwards had family helping let him out during the workday for several weeks.

I think in Ian Dunbar's Dog Star Daily, an alternative he recommends is putting a chunk of actual sod in a plastic tupperware container and placing that close to the door or at the far end of puppy's pen area. The puppy then gets used to the feel/smell of grass for his potty area when you're not around to let him outside, like the Potty Park aims to do, but is probably cheaper if you're just looking for a short-term training aid.


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## schnauzerpoodle (Apr 21, 2010)

We use a Potty Park but that's because I plan to use it as a daily routine. We live in a high-rise condo. I place it on the balcony where my mini does not have constant or free access to it. To me the balcony is like the yard and I was housebreaking my puppy as if I had a yard. Potty Park is very useful in that sense.

I think the PP is very useful if you want your dog to potty at one specific spot in your yard. But then you don't need the PP to achieve that purpose.

Decide what you want your dog to be doing when he's 3 years old. Then train him accordingly.


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## LegalEagle (Nov 8, 2012)

Do you have a yard? If so, I'd definitely recommend carrying your puppy outside to eliminate. It is such a pain in the neck to make the indoor/outdoor shift. On the flip side, if you are in an urban area where there are a lot of (potentially unvaccinated) dogs, you ought to consider a temporary indoor solution until your pup's immunity is up. With Laszlo, we were worried because we don't have a yard and our neighborhood is crowded with dogs, some of which aren't well taken care of. As a result, we used pee pads. I don't regret doing it, but it was tough for Laszlo to shift over from getting a reward for peeing on a pad to being expected to NEVER EVER pee in the house. So be aware of that. Of course, if your indoor solution involves grass, a la Potty Park or Dog Star Daily's method, that problem may be alleviated. Hope it goes well!


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## jphil77 (Jul 27, 2020)

Rusty said:


> I think in Ian Dunbar's Dog Star Daily, an alternative he recommends is putting a chunk of actual sod in a plastic tupperware container and placing that close to the door or at the far end of puppy's pen area. The puppy then gets used to the feel/smell of grass for his potty area


that sounds like a pretty smart ideto bring the smell of the outside to the puppy. I saw Ian Dunbars book recommended above as well. I’m gonna check it out 



LegalEagle said:


> If so, I'd definitely recommend carrying your puppy outside to eliminate.


normally this is what I wouldve preferred to do. But in the peak of winter when it’s -25 outside I’m worried I can’t just run outside as is without first putting on my jacket/shoes when the puppy is already midway peeing. That sounds like it’ll be too slow and he’ll probably allay finish before I’m ready to run outside 😄 but once the temperatures are better I’m sure I can start doing this. 



LegalEagle said:


> if you are in an urban area where there are a lot of (potentially unvaccinated) dogs, you ought to consider a temporary indoor solution until your pup's immunity is up.


This is another factor. My door opens to a quite busy sidewalk and while there’s little patch of ground with a tree right in front there’s lots of dogs that walks by that uses that spot for a potty break. So that’s another reason I was thinking of an indoor solution until he’s fully vaccinated


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