Indoor dog toilet

Like a lot of people with dogs at home, I have a job that takes me away from home and my dog for a significant length of time each workday.  I had "crate trained" my dog to "hold it" while I was away from home, but there were days that I would get stuck at work or have after-work appointments that delayed my getting home.  I know how I would feel if I had to "hold it" until someone let me go to the bathroom, and really wasn't comfortable imposing that on my dog each day.

I had seen commercial indoor dog "potties" that consisted of some sort of tray/pan, with either some kind of mesh floor or artificial turf, that were designed to allow your dog to relieve himself indoors.  The mesh floor or artificial turf provides a pourous substrate to allows your pet to keep his/her feet dry, and the tray/pan collects the urine underneath.  However, most had significant (at least from my point of view) price tags, considering the simple technology behind such a product.  I knew I could duplicate this general idea, but for a much reduced price tag.

A shallow "underbed" sort of plastic storage tub was a logical urine collection system, but I thought for several weeks about what might make a good "top" that was pourous enough to allow urine to flow through, but with small enough "holes" that my dog could walk comfortably on top and not catch his feet/toes/claws.  I considered grid-like flourescent light diffusers that had approximately 3/4" square openings, but these seemed rather flimsy and lightweight for my nearly 20 pound dog.  I considered commercially-available plastic kennel flooring ( see http://www.petamenities.com/kennel-flooring.htm ) that was designed for this purpose, but would have involved paying for shipping to my home.

Then, one day in the bread section of the local grocery store, I saw a product that would work VERY well, was readily and locally available, and was both quite pourous and very strong: the sliding "trays" that fit into vertical wire "racks" that are used to transport bread and buns from the bakery to the grocery store.  These are made of the same kind and grade of plastic as are plastic milk crates, and are perforated with numerous small diamond shaped holes that are small enough to allow my dog to walk on the surface but allow urine to flow through into a plastic tub below.  Being made of plastic, such a tray would be easily trimmable to fit the size of my plastic tub below.  Such trays are standard sized to fit into the wire "racks" used on the bakery trucks and are approximately 24.5" X 24.5" square.

I went to my local bakery and simply asked if they had a damaged rack - they gave me one without further question (if it was damaged, I couldn't see it; but I noticed that it was from a different bakery company).

Step 1 Building the indoor dog toilet

This step is pretty simple.  You want to cover up the shallow plastic storage tub you use with as much of the plastic bread rack tray as you need.  You won't be needing the lid of the plastic storage tub.

Since bread rack trays (at least in this area) are 24.5" X 24.5" square, I was lucky enough to find a plastic storage tub (designed to slide under a bed) that was approximately 24" long by approximately 16 1/2" wide by 4" deep.

Since you don't want your dog to relieve him/herself on any part of the mesh rack except over the tub that will collect the urine underneath, you'll want to cut the plastic bread rack tray so that it fits over the plastic storage tub below.

Using a Dremel (rotary) cutter, I trimmed approximately 7" off one side of the bread rack tray so that it would slightly overhang the edge of the plastic storage tub.  The remainder of the bread rack tray fit perfectly over the plastic storage tub.

Comments

[ThamarBerber]

This is WONDERFUL!
I had heard about indoor toilets for dogs, but my (now deceased) Jack Russell was more an outdoor type, even in the winter.
My own (getting worse) health has been holding me back to take another dog home again, but maybe, with your idea... Who knows? Thank you!
Maybe it is also an idea to put some (fake) grass into the dogtoilet?

[Utahtabby]

our dog always looks like she is feeling vulnerable when she is defecating outside, looking around nervously, so maybe putting an old blanket or piece of cardboard over the top and against one side to make it seem more secluded would make the dogs feel better about using it. Also animals won't use a spot if it gets really dirty so remember to clean it often.

[crisatcafe]

that is really nifty! Now I need to find something a bit smaller for my toy chihuahua :) I will be testing this out though as I want to find alternatives to outside training

[weblar]

I hope this general idea works well for you. It is handy at times for both your dog AND for you to be able to let your dog relieve himself indoors.

[crisatcafe]

I went ahead and made my own using many different ideas then posted an instructable thank you for the ideas!

[weblar]

I'm glad you were able to find some ideas to design your own indoor dog toilet. What's most important is designing a device that your pet will actually use.

My concern for using flourescent light diffusers for grating was that I was concerned that they would not support the weight of my dog (about 18 pounds); and therefore I used the bread rack trays that are sturdier and span the shallow plastic storage tub without any support at all. Apparently it makes no difference to some dogs (mine included) whether or not the indoor dog toilet "looks" like the outdoors, so therefore I omitted the artificial turf over the grate.

Your expenditures ($41) are getting into the range of the cost of commercially available dog toilets.

[crisatcafe]

the comparable (sturdy not the cheapos) ones I priced were in the two hundred+ dollar range. I probably could have used the bread rack as well but I was in a bit of a time crunch.
On a side note I had a 35lb toddler stand on it (oiy) multiple times and it did not so much as creak. The 15 lb bichon was fine as well though thankfully he is outdoor trained! The usual customer will not get over 5 lbs so that will not be a concern of mine at all thank goodness.

As for the turf there were cheaper options I could have used but I was going for my own personal aesthetics :)

[weblar]

Its good to know that the florescent light diffusers are that sturdy - knowing that, I might use them for some future project.

I hear that some dogs absolutely won't urinate on anything other than grass, so I"m sure artificial turf is going to be a necessity for some pet/pet owners.

As cold as this winter has been in this area, the indoor dog toilet has provided a good alternative on some of the more frigid mornings.