The Industrial Strength Doggie Pee Pee Place

In my last entry I suggested building a special place for your dog to relieve itself. My brother-in-law read the article and got inspired.

First let me tell you about Rick.  He's kind of a cross between Hank Hill and Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. He has this thing about doing things "right".  Now I was thinking I'd knock together something out of drywall screws and one-by-sixes, but Rick had other ideas.

We bought:

• 1 two-by-twelve treated redwood board cut into four 3-foot long pieces by the good folk at Home Depot.  
• 8 quarter inch steel lag bolts - 5 inches long
• 2 Bags pine bark mulch
• Total cost - $30.03

Next, he got out the drill and drilled pilot holes for the two quarter inch bolts.  You can see in this picture how the ends went together.  The holes were drilled through the side of one board and into the end of the other to which it was to be joined at a 90 degree angle.  Then, he lag bolted the ends together to make a big open square. The finished box was laid down on the grass in a spot that looked about right and we dumped a bag and a half of wood chips into it. The high levels of nitrogen in dog urine will break down the wood chips and compost them over time.  All we have to do is add a little more every few months. Should be able to spread the compost over the yard or add it to a real compost pile to make garden soil.  In the meantime, if we can train the dog to use it, the box should reduce the burn marks on the lawn.

All together the finished box looks like this:

So far we've had trouble getting Daisy to use it. I think she is reluctant because the thing looks like a flowerbed and we don't let her poop in those. I've resorted to taking her out beside the road in the morning with a paper towel and Ziplock bag.  I soak up her urine, put it in the bag and then squeeze it out over the pee pee box to scent the box.  She's shown a wee bit more interest since I started doing that, but I'm a little afraid I'm going to have to start following the neighbor's pit bull around for a sample of his before she'll use it. Now she won't use the grass in the yard either, so I have to take her down the road to where there is unsodded soil before she will loosen up and urinate. Oh, well, it gives me one more blog entry in the on-going Dog Pee Burn saga. 

More to come....

Bet you can hardly wait.

Tom