Hi all

Getting our garden redone as a wedding present - yay.
It's currently a mud bath with holes all over from our resident hole digger. I swear my lab Bobby can poo for England. She gets two walks a day where she does her business but if we don't pick up what's in the garden for a few days it becomes land mine hell!
It's really disgusting and I don't want my 6 month old toddling in it when the time comes.

I just don't know where it all comes from in her?!

Our garden is small - simple rectangle shape, about 10 meters by 5 meters.

We're getting it mostly paved but with some turf in places.
Raised flower beds to keep the digger out too.

The company have suggested we make Bobby a small sand pit at the back of the garden, raised up a little and a place for her to do her business and dig. Good/bad idea?

Any suggestions on how you train a dog to poo in one place? I have a few ideas and have asked in the past but need a refresher.

If this was your garden, how would you redo it with the idea of wanting to stop landmines being dropped everywhere

TL

I think your gardener has made a good point with the raised sandpit, especially if you can perhaps add some of her urine to the sand to encourage her to keep going there. And if she wants to dig, then a sandpit can be ideal. BUT does she dig in the same places that she toilets? If not, then the digging pit & toiletting area in one may not be suitable, & do you really want soiled sand kicked over the rest of your garden if you have a young toddler around?

To encourage digging in one place, you can start by burying treats or toys & asking her to find them ~ most labs get the hang of this pretty quickly, especially if food is involved! You can also screen the sandpit with shrubs to make it less unsightly from the house & to prevent too much sand being dispersed over the rest of your garden.

For encouraging toiletting in the sandpit, then it may be a question of taking her out on the lead to the sand, waiting while she sniffs & wees/poos, then huge praise & treat when she does. Watch her in the rest of the garden closely for the first few times & as soon as you see her start to circle or whatever she does beforehand, move her to the sandpit. But I don't think you can guarantee "accidents" in the rest of the garden so you may have to be vigilant if your baby is around.

Another alternative could be to make an area dog-free by fencing/gate so that you could have peace of mind that Bobby can't get in & it would be clean for your toddler?

My dog doesn't poo in the garden at all. We walk him 3 times a day and he goes then. It's something that has just come naturally to him. Because he knows he'll get a walk, he holds it in.

Sound advice as always - thank you.

TL

I know how you feel and then I went and got a second dog lol! Our garden lawn has been demolished by my two demon diggers!

Consequently, we have just recently gated off a section of the garden where they can go and now have no access to the the rest of it. Its been a week and and they are getting used to it now. Alfie will always have his poos on walks and will only go in the garden if desperate! However, Lola doesnt give a crap where she goes!!

Don't tell me about diggers! Any more and mine will be digging his own grave. He poos in one place though, which is good. Well this one place is the entire right hand side of the lawn. We have no option but to gate off the grass this year, just to stop him ruining the lawn in the wet weather. It's good to know others are going through the same.

It's funny you should post this today because I have a lab too and I was going to post the exact same thing! Mine doesn't dig but he poos all over the garden despite 2 regular walks and sometimes 3 a day when he goes again! I was in Jollyes today and was looking at those pee posts and was wondering if anyone here knows if they work? My lawn is absolutely terrible and I really need him to just use a small area of soil in a corner somewhere.

Good luck anyway....let us know how you get on

Done this in our previous place as the garden wasnt very big, I just fenced an area off and used shingle, took my lab (he is an intelligent one thou) out to the area for a few times, gave him a treat and praise when he had been there and bobs your uncle, worked a treat with him. We had a smaller garden and children so was necessary. I even had a visit from the RSPCA ( due to a neighbour with a chip on her shoulder trying to stir things for me) and he was very impressed saying he wished that his spaniel would do that. We have since moved and got another lab, they have their own seperate garden so dont need to seperate an area, but if we did I may have a problem as my newer lab is chocolate !!!! And anyone who has a choc one will understand, lol.

Best of luck.

Thanks for thereplies.
Got our first quote in from a land scaping company yesterday - lets just say its about £1000 over our maximum budget.

Oh well, few more quotes to come.

I like the idea of a fenced off area for the resident pooper but there are times when we have to leave her at home for an hour or so. At these times she has full access to the garden so I prefer to work on getting her to "go" in one area, preferably at the back of the garden and out of site. Will be tricky to get her to do it but I will try hard to teach her.

She stole a bunch of bananas the other day (yes, a bunch!) and that did wonders for her bowels. She is such a thief!
Don't know how she peeled them but the skins wre on and the insides gone. I think she has a secret thumb hidden on her body.

But I love her to death

TL