Posts Tagged ‘dog toilets’
Holistic alternatives to puppy pads
February 19th, 2010
Small dogs are notoriously difficult to housebreak compared to larger dogs. Puppies and small dogs have smaller bladders than big dogs and can’t hold it as long. While some dogs go only 3 times a day, I can’t imagine that it is good for the dogs’ urinary track/kidney health or the carpet. I strongly recommend teaching dogs to use the toilet out doors rather than on puppy pads unless there are compelling reasons not to. The grass would be the best solution but if not grass, some type of doggy toilet would then be needed if an owner works a full day and can’t take the dog out to the bathroom.
I will admit that I used puppy pads for my dogs as puppies and also still use them when I know I will be gone all day. Puppy pads are basically baby diapers. They hold poop and pee and are not biodegradable just like diapers. Not good for the environment at all! Even if there were biodegradable puppy pads, they wouldn’t degrade in the landfill where they would end up. Just like diapers, there is a large market for various products that provide convenient toilet options, while also being good for the environment.
Washable puppy pads
Similar to cloth diapers, dogs with toilet needs could be taught to use washable, cloth, puppy pads. These are also called or considered whelping pads. Usually they consist of a top cloth, an absorbent layer and a leakproof plastic layer. Washable pads are less expensive than a box of puppy pads and can easily be washed instead of thrown away. I’m sure many people will wonder if these are any more eco-friendly than disposable (just like the cloth v. disposable diaper debate) but this is a viable option for those with landfill guilt.
I bet my dog would want to sleep on it though.
If you are interested in washable puppy pads check out our store here!
Commercial dog toilets
I bought a Ugodog for my dogs a while ago but to be honest, I could never convince my dogs to use it. The Ugodog is a plastic tray covered by grating that allows for clean dog feet and collection of urine in the tray below. I wish I had known about this product when my dogs were small as retraining now is more time consuming than I care for. I would recommend this product to anyone who has a new puppy as it contains nasties and can be used with or without paper in the tray. It is also large enough that a larger dog/puppy could use it if needed.
There are also numerous dog toilets sold online and on tv that have artificial grass.
The only downside to these products in my opinion is that in terms of cleaning, they are no more pleasant that picking up used puppy pads. Some of them have trays that need to be emptied (possible spillage?) or have actual puppy pads/newspaper in them! In some of the deeper boxes, maybe cat litter (non-clumping/not clay) could be more convenient to remove dog messes.
Litter box train your dog
For some reason Emmala always wants to EAT litter not poop in it so I don’t feel like this is a viable option for my pups. Eating clumping litter is a real danger to a dog so don’t use it if you are going to litter box train your dog. Of all of the above options this is my favorite.
There are several biodegradable litters that could be used for a dog. Feline pine is made of.. pine. Clumping litters could cause obstructions so I wouldn’t recommend them. There are also actual litters designed for dogs available for purchase along with specially designed dog trays.
My ultimate goal was always to litter train my dogs and buy a cat genie!!!! But alas..
Always observe the dog carefully if using litter as it may be considered tasty not appealing for pooping.
Actual toilets
The human toilet may be an option for the novelty dog trainer. Just like cats a few special dogs have managed to learn to go in the human toilet. I don’t know if they flush too but it’s a start!
For those who are the most handy, or dedicated to dog toilet. You could actually make and install a urinal type dog toilet or buy a “pet potty”. As I can’t brandish my drill and hammer with any skill, I don’t have a dog toilet. :( It would be really cool though!
Holistically Cleaning up after your Dog
December 17th, 2009
Poop.
It is a natural part of having a dog or an infant. For those of us with little dogs (or babies) the issue of poop is well.. small. But for those of us dog owners with huge dogs.. well.. the poop problem is proportional.
Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought as to what are we supposed to do with poop as good citizens and dog owners? I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess that the majority of people opt for bagging and tossing the poop in the trash. But from the holistic view of dog ownership, that is not very environmentally friendly. It is in essence making a poop shrine to save for posterity. The great civilizations of the future will wonder why we decided to save all of our rubbish in giant heaps and why we buried women with silicon sacks on their chests.
Other possibilities:
Throwing it down the toilet, I hear, is not great for our sewage systems.
Leaving it to “disappear” in our yards is bad as it could leach poopy bacteria like E.coli into the water table.
Even burning dried out poops wouldn’t be carbon neutral. (And it’s stiinky!)
So what do we do?!
After a bit of research into the world of dog poop products, I have recently purchased a Doggy Dooley system to reduce the amount of Nala waste in the world. I swear she poops five big piles a day. Up till now, Nala poop and the other 2 dogs poops have gone into a huge trash can outside the house that really smells in the sun. The lid even needs to be left off since it starts to heat up during the day. This doggy dooley thingy is like a mini septic tank for dog poop. After processing, it is supposed to leach harmlessly into the ground. I’ll post updates as we see how it works.
My other dog poop plan is composting. The biggest problem with dog poop and composting is that, “I don’t want to put the dog poop on MY veggies”. Seriously though, it could present a problem with infectious agents making a nice home in the garden. And I’m not a composting wiz with enough skills to maintain a giant hot compost heap. Exothermic piles that heat up can be hot enough to kill bacteria but those also requires a respectable amount of work. I can’t be bothered with that so I found the Naturemill automatic composter on Amazon. It says it can handle dog poop which I am super excited about. I hope to purchase this one soon but it is on the expensive side so I’m holding out. Once I do purchase it, I’ll let you know about this one too. Mind you it is probably only suitable for small dogs.
My third idea was vermiculture. I’ve been working on my own small worm bin for a few months now and it is so cool. The worms eat all of my leftovers and all of my unwanted paper mail. I shred the newspaper, those stupid credit statements that you don’t want to throw up for fear of identity theft, old diary entries I’m to embarrassed to keep; I shred the leaflets left on my car by scientologist; I put my subway sandwich wrappers in there. I feel like I am reducing my paper waste and the act of shredding paper is so satisfying!
Any way, worms really, really, really love poop so making vemicompost out of dog poop is a great idea. It should be kept separate from your food compost and maybe away from the window. While there doesn’t seem to be much data or information about whether or not pathogens survive after worm digestion, I advise still treating it like its potentially dirty. Hand washing is highly advisable as is not using the dog poop compost for your food plants.
This is a problem I’ve been seriously thinking about for months now and maybe it’ll give others something to think about. As holistic dog owners, even poop is something we should consider when we are caring for our animals. What’s the point in feeding an awesome raw food diet and responsibly breeding dogs and caring for those who need homes when we don’t respect the communities we live in.