19th
The things we do for our dogs! It’s a long haul out to the designated potty spot: out the door, down the hall, wait for the elevator, ride the elevator, through the door into the garage, walk the full length of the garage, out the door, down the drive, across the street, and, finally!, a place acceptable to do his business. Teddy’s been a good sport and been making the trek but with winter (and, according to Tempe, lots of snow in the forecast), I’ve been thinking about alternatives.
A number of articles I’ve read talked about people in high rise apartments training their dogs to use an artificial “potty patch” on their balcony. I bought one but the fake grass isn’t very realistic and Teddy is used to a lot more room to maneuver. So I created a mini-backyard on my patio:
It was a struggle of wills yesterday afternoon and evening before Teddy relented and peed in the grass. A quick reward of a tasty treat and he realized that it was an acceptable potty spot. (Why he was so resistant to this but found the carpet in my sewing room okay in a pinch, I have no idea.)
According to the guy at the nursery where I bought the sod (total expenditure: $19.43), other people have come up with this solution as well. He said my grass should be fine through the spring as long as I water it occasionally. I put a layer of plastic underneath but Teddy only pees a tablespoon or two so I’m not concerned about leaks. And, my downstairs neighbor just left for Florida and won’t be back until March. So no complaints from that quarter.
My plan is to very, very slowly reduce the amount of sod until I’ve got just one slab of it. If Teddy goes for it, I think it might be quite feasible to just buy one piece of sod every month or so to keep a potty spot right out the balcony door.
