Here in Miami, Florida we meet a lot of dogs and puppies who lives in high-rise condos. These “high-rise puppy” owners have a special challenge where house training is concerned because access to grass is not as easy as just opening the sliding glass door and having your dog run outside.
Instead it’s a 10 minutes trip from start to finish — leashing up your dog, getting out, locking up, down the elevator, out the back because dogs can’t walk through most lobbies, and finally getting away from the concrete jungle onto the grass.
If you have a small puppy (under 12 weeks), house training quickly becomes a logistical nightmare since puppy needs to go out almost every hour on the hour. So what’s the alternative? Potty Patch.
Potty Patch is a synthetic grass mat that can be placed on your outdoor balcony during house training. We don’t recommend having any dog learn to go exclusively on a potty patch or pee pee pad for that matter, since all dogs regardless of size do need time to walk, explore, and play in natural grace.
Yet, for the times when you just simply can’t get out of your high rise apartment fast enough the next best thing is fake grass “outside” on your patio. This way your dog still gets the experience of going outside into the fresh air to do his business. And you can make your dog’s house training a priority when you simply don’t have the time to find your shoes, keys, etc. When your dog has to go, he HAS to go, and it’s your job to get him to the appropriate SUBSTRATE as FAST as possible.
So if you’re making the transition from pads TO synthetic grass, our advice is to leave the pads inside so that when your dog starts walking towards his pee pad you can redirect him outside to the “grass.”
After several weeks you can remove your pee pee pad and your dog should have learned that the only available toilet is now outside on the patio.
And after several more weeks, when your dog alerts at your balcony door that it’s time to go out, why not leash him up and take him to the REAL grass!
You’ll have a fully house trained doggie in no time. Be patient, be consistent….house training is never hard but takes a diligent and patient owner. Be that for your dog!
We train dogs and puppies of all ages, all breeds, and all behavior problems along with different classes and services that fit any budget to work on your generalization. Contact our certified, professional, award-winning team of dog trainers and behavior professionals located in Miami and Broward.
We are AKC evaluators and active dog sport enthusiasts with our own dogs! Call us today at 786-529-7833, find us on Facebook, or message us on Instagram @ApplauseYourPaws @AYPBroward.
