Establishing An Outside Potty Area

Question
Greetings! I saw an entry about training your dog to go potty in a certain area in the yard. This has been really frustrating for me. I have an 8 mth old female Golden Retriever and she just refuses to go potty in an established area. I'm a fanatic about my lawn and the urine spots are very annoying. Can you provide me with step-by-step instructions on correcting this issue or send me links to other sites where I can find the answer to this dilemma. Thank you for your time...

Craig

Answer
Keep track of when she needs to relieve herself (for most dogs, that's an hour after eating, or after they've been in the house for a period of several hours (varies with the dog) Take her out on leash to where you want her to go. Wait 5 minutes, if she doesn't go, crate and try again in five minutes until she does. You might want to get some dog litter for that area (contains an attractant) and a dog deterrant to other areas of the yard. If you see her relieve herself somewhere else, that means you weren't supervising - don't get angry - just hose it down good and there won't be damage. If you punish or fuss at your dog, what she may learn is not that she shouldn't pee in certain areas, but that it's not safe to urinate in front of a human, then she'll try to hold it until you aren't watching - which will make the process much more difficult. There are products on the market to help your damaged grass, but if you dilute the urine even within a day or so, you should avoid the yellow spots. Sandy Case MEd CPDT www.positivelycanine.com