Monday, May 10, 2010

The Scoop on Indoor Poop! Urban Dog Help

If you have a dog and live in a high rise condo or apartment in the big city, this blog is for you! If you have a senior dog who just doesn’t have the control he used to have but you still keep those same long hours at work, this blog is for you too!


I’ve had many clients ask me if I thought it was okay for their dog to be trained to eliminate in the house as opposed to taking them out every time they needed to go do their business. Although I am an outdoor advocate for dogs since it is a dog’s natural element to be outdoors, I do have a soft spot in my heart for those poor little dogs that get so cold in winter months or that senior dog who has such a hard time making it up and down those stairs every day. We also have to consider those dogs that just don’t get to go outside as often as they should. Not everyone can afford dog walkers and doggy daycare. That can get expensive.

If you fit into any of these categories, there is a solution.

The Purina Secondnature housetraining solution provides highly absorbent, non-toxic, paper-based pellets which controlas odor and is made of a non-tracking material. Check out their link at http://bit.ly/9qgi2c
I know of many people who use newspapers but those tend to get smelly and messy very quickly. I had one client who told me of an instance where the urine trailed from the bathroom into the hallway seeping under the carpeting. They were unaware of it as when they came back home it had already dried up; but the smell just wouldn’t go away. Well, you guessed it…the carpet was eventually ripped up and that was an expense they could have done without.

Apparently, in the U.S., this product is amazingly popular, especially with the small breed dog guardians living in apartments and high-rise condominiums.

I’ve read of a minor complication with the pellets in that puppies like to chew and eat them at times. Purina has claimed that ingestion of the pellets itself is not harmful to the dogs since they are just compressed papers. This will apparently result in more feces production until the dogs can stop this habit and since the doggy litter is non-clumping, it won’t get stuck inside the dog’s digestive system unlike clumping cat litter.

Please note! It is considered unsafe to use clumping cat litter as a substitute for the Purina dog litter.

If you are considering using this for a senior dog or a larger dog, please note that they do not have pans that currently accommodate larger sizes. I would try a large under the bed type of container that can be purchased at The Container Store or similar such as: http://bit.ly/bo3C3M

Purina Second Nature has been launched in the U.S. only but that may change in the near future.

If you’d like some training tips on how to potty train your dog for indoor elimination, you can check out: http://bit.ly/9goG9F

1 comment:

  1. I use Purina Second Nature for my two lhasa apsos. At first, yes they did nibble on some pellets as puppies but they outgrew that fairly quickly.

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