Hi guys, I am looking at “creative” ways to teach Zulu to 1) use the doggy door to access the yard while we away and 2) go to the toilet outside on his own while we are away… We have a large secure yard. This yard can be accessed via the laundry door, which has a doggy door. Zulu often makes use of this door when we let him play outside and he wants to come inside… so he knows how to use it. While we at work, what I thought of doing is putting his crate on the inside of the doggy door, but not giving him access to the laundry. So basically, when he is outside and wants to come inside, he goes straight into his crate, which has toys, bedding, treats etc. When he needs to go to the toilet, he simple leaves his crate via the doggy door and does his business outside. I haven’t tried this yet BUT I think it might work really well as he ONLY has the comfort of his crate, bedding, food and toys when he is in the house BUT he also has access to the outside yard to stretch his legs or go to the toilet. At the moment Zulu has a tiled section in the house which has a newspapers and turf where he wee;s on (never makes poo’s inside), but in his mind, he is still going to the toiet “inside the house”, so probably not the best method long term. What do you guys think of the above? The other alternative is to keep him outdoors while we are not home BUT I prefer to give him the option of coming indoors (via the doggy door) which will give him access to his crate, bedding and toys etc. Cheers, Robbie
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door Don't see anything wrong with that idea As long as he can't get stuck coming in and out I think it could work well. I'd just trial it by calling him through the doggy door in both directions a few times.
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door Zulu knows VERY well how to use the doggy door.. it was actually minor problem as the doggy door was used by my kitten to access his food.. so whenever Zulu was outside and had a chance he would make a dash for the doggy door to get inside to the cats food! LOL
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door Sounds like a good plan Robbie. This way he can't access his previous "inside" toilet. Smart thinking.
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door Yup, its purely about stopping him going to the toilet indoors when im not home (even if it IS on the newspaper / turf) to avoid sending mixed signals. Its not a simple rule... toilet time is ONLY done outdoors.
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door By trialling it I more meant testing the mechanics of having the doggie door opening directly into the crate and not catching on anything
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door Indeed, it might require me to do some minor "modifications" to the crate
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door Yes no catching of the door on the crate but also no movement of the crate as this may then create a problem or get the door stuck etc.... Slightly random but we had an automated tape loader(computer tapes) and it was placed too close to the tape drive when it went to load the tape it pushed the tape drive backwards and as a result the range of movement didn't quite load a tape any more.....it got its knickers in a right old twist and that was just a machine. I'd want to be absolutely sure there was no risk in the system for my dog sounds like a plan though!
Re: Automated Toilet training using a crate and doggy door It definitley sounds like it would work in theory, and if you can get it to work in practice it would be great! Would love to know how it works out!
