Indoor Dog Potty Care and Maintenance

Proper care and regular maintenance of your indoor dog potty will definitely prolong its life. Consider it as your investment so you must know how to take care of it so that it will last a lifetime. Depending on the system you are using, the method of cleaning the potty varies.

Some types of potty, like the grate top potty, only requires you to wash the grate top regularly with warm water and soap. After scrubbing it thoroughly with a brush (be sure you wear rubber gloves), you may air-dry it.

You may also sun-dry it for some added disinfection of bacteria. Some synthetic grass-top potties are disposable. You usually replace the grass top after some months or years, depending on the manufacturer. You only need to cleanup the collection pan of the indoor dog potty.

Cleaning the collection pan also varies. Some potty systems come with a compatible cleaning agent or solution specially designed for the potty.

Meaning you cannot use your ordinary household detergent, disinfectant or soap to clean it. Only the compatible cleaning agent may be used. The collection pan that comes with disposable pads is easier to clean up and require less maintenance. Just throw away the soaked or soiled pads and clean pan, usually weekly; depending on the frequency of use, it may be cleaned less or more frequently.

The invention of the first indoor dog potty brought about several new brands of it, bringing along with them modifications to the original design and adding features which better address the individual needs of each dog owner. Nowadays you can find a wide selection of the different brands of dog potties, which come in various shapes, colors, sizes and features.

Some of the products that were developed to aid the dog potty system were disposable pads, cleaning and disinfecting agents, synthetic grass tops, as well as books on how to potty train your dog indoors.

First, the disposable pads, made from cotton or other absorbent material, are put on the collection pan of the potty to absorb the urine of the dog. When soaked, they are then discarded and a new one is placed. Disposable pads larger in area than your potty can be used to keep the paws of your dogs dry, especially when you are using the grass top indoor dog potty. The plus side of this is they are convenient and easy to clean up, but on the minus side, using them for long-term purposes will definitely hurt your budget, so a reusable/washable collection pan is advised in such cases.

Cleansing agents were also developed to compliment the potty system. They are specifically designed to clean the indoor potty system and rid of the smell of the dog’s urine on it. They are usually soap-based solutions with which you wash the potty with, or they can be spray-ons where you just spray the solution onto the indoor dog potty and leave it to dry as the solution does its job. Disinfecting agents on the other hand help kill the disease-causing microorganisms that reside in the potty. When not dealt with properly, your dog could get sick with such microorganisms, so regular cleaning is a must.

Synthetic grass tops were developed for dogs that were potty trained outdoors. The dog is trained to correctly urinate on the yard grass. In some cases, when you move to another house where there is no grass, using a synthetic grass top over your indoor dog potty can trick your dog into thinking that the potty is really your lawn, so you won’t have to retrain him to use an indoor potty. Besides, older dogs are harder to teach new tricks, as the saying goes. These synthetic grass tops are usually made out of plastic or similar materials and they could be either for short term use (disposable) or for long term use (reusable and washable).

Lastly, there are resources created by several dog trainers and owners who have much experience about indoor potty training and the effective use of a dog potty. Usually these books are written in simple terms which can be understood even by new dog owners. They also include tips and tricks to aid you in your potty training with your dog.