Multiple Outdoor Potty Areas? Please help!
 

Hi there...if everything goes according to plan, I'll be bringing home a little guy puppy home this weekend. Obviously I'm excited but also starting to panic.

Is it possible to housetrain a dog and have 2 different outdoor potty areas? I live in NYC on the fifth floor, with no elevator. I also have access to the roof deck just a few steps up from my apartment. I'd like to be able to take the puppy out to use the bathroom both downstairs and also on the roof, depending on how much time I have, and also how urgent the situation is...

Does anyone think this is a recipe for disaster? Will it confuse him? Should I stick to only one area?

I haven't considered doing indoor potty training, mainly because my apartment isn't the biggest. Should I?

Thanks so much in advance for all your help...

-John

I live in a high rise tower on a military base in Japan and she goes outside. I tried to put a potty pad outside on the balcony hoping she would go but she didnt. If there is grass on the roof ( i am assuming no ) then it should not be a problem IMO. So all in all Marley either goes outside, or in the house by accident:tongue3:

I think you can do both, but it take longer for him to catch on. Why not just always take him to the roof?

If you're taking him for a walk and he happens to go, you can praise him for that as well. Thor was sort of trained to go outdoors when I got him, and I think generally he prefers to go outdoors. He only gets treats when he goes on his indoor pad, though.

Also, most puppies start getting trained indoors and then transition to outdoors. If you don't have much space, you might try cutting a normal sized pad down a little to make it fit better?

I'm all about the outside training personally :), and I think you'll be able to do it the way you have it planned. One thing I've noticed with my little boy Nikko is that it's more about the surface than it is a specific place (probably part of why indoor trained dogs can sometimes get confused between pee pads and rugs). Granted, Nikko has his favorite corner of the yard when it comes to pooping, but I think the main thing for him anyways was having gravel. We live in the desert, so our backyard is gravel not grass. I took him to a friend's house who has grass in their backyard, and gravel in their front... He didn't pee in their house, but he also wouldn't pee in the grass in the backyard either. Finally I took him to the front yard where there was gravel (even though it was a different sized gravel) and he peed right away for me.

So.... so long as both your pee/poo areas are under open sky and have a similar texture (be it grass or gravel or whatever), I don't think you'll be making it too much harder for your new boy. Of course it's probably best to have one place in the beginning to stick to for the majority of the time in the very beginning, but I wouldn't think it would cause too much of an issue honestly. Good luck... potty training is a TON of work, but sooooooo worth all the frustration and sacrifice of sanity it requires. :thumbup: It's good you're putting some thought into it upfront - your new boy is going to appreciate it.

Lauren & Nikko