Potty Patch A Doggie Potty For Inside By Pamela Myers on Jul 30, 2010 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

It is my opinion that if one is going to buy a Potty Patch for the sole purpose to save on pee pads, then it will be more work to clean up and one still has to use "something" to put in the bottom gray trays to soak up the pee !!~

One could use the Potty Patch without anything in the bottom gray trays, but unless you had it outside or next to the shower or tub, you would have to deal with how to get that pee out of the gray trays without spilling it anywhere. I suppose one could use newspapers also, but then to keep odor down, I would think you would have to wash the gray trays when you clean it, which I do not have to do as I use Pee Pads in them and just spray them with Lysol when I change and clean the rest of the Potty Patch.

I have a toy Poodle, but I purchased the large Potty Patch for larger dogs because I have a certain area I wanted to cover and the double one fits almost perfectly in the area. The large Potty Patch is just two regular size ones, with a snap on piece that goes over the top/center of the two trays to hold them together so no pee can get between the cracks where the two trays come together.

I then put a large pee pad in each gray tray and then place the green center trays with all the holes, on top of that. The larger Potty Patch comes with one piece of grass that covers the entire area. Because the green center trays with the holes, have tiny points on the bottom, (looks a lot like those on a plastic hairbrush), the points keep the green trays sitting high enough off the gray bottom trays to leave enough space, so the pee pads air dry in between use. Because of that, I have found that my little 7 lb Toy Poodle, Lil-Lea, can use it for 2 weeks or a bit longer before I need to change the pads and clean the grass. She only goes 2-3 times a day. I have also developed a no-drip method for transporting the grass to the bathroom, in case there might be a bit of liquid left in the grass, when I am ready to clean it. (BTW, that works out to be one pee pad per week) I use the big ones, which may one can buy or order from Sam's Club.

Each time Lil-Lea goes poop, I sit there, wait until she is done and then take toilet paper and pick it up and flush it right down the toilet~ Since the grass is plush and shiny/slippery, it is really easy to pick up solids and even take a wet paper towel, if need be, to wipe the grass a few times to remove residue. I had to do that a few times when Lil-lea's stool was a bit on the soft side. On the rare occasions she has had diarrhea, that was not difficult either. I picked up any solid parts, flushed them in the toilet and then, I went back and got the grass. I just roll it up, plop it upright, in the plastic container, to prevent any dripping, and take it into the bathroom garden tub like I normally do when I clean it. Because the grass is slippery, the sprayer I have attached to the tub, flushes the grass clean, down the drain.

I use a Lysol spray cleaner to spray the grass with, and then rinse well. Then I roll it and once again put in the container and take it out to my deck and throw it over the rail in the hot sun and let it dry! Then I clean the green trays and let them dry in the tub, change the pee pads, spray the gray trays with Lysol and I am done! If she does need to go pee, the pee pads are there until the grass is dry.

Negatives:

# - There is a very strong odor coming from the grass when it first arrives. However -- even though I read about consumers complaining that it did not go away, there were plenty of consumers that said it did go away. Mine went away, but then I wash it minimum of of every two weeks and in the beginning I washed it every week. Plus, I spray it with Lysol in the tub and then rinse well. So, that might be the discrepancy. Perhaps some are just hosing it down and not using something to counteract the original smell.

# -The gray trays are not very deep! So, although the manufacturer does advertise that the larger one is for larger breed dogs, I can not see how it would work well. The sides are barley high enough to keep the green trays in the gray bottom trays. I would think that the weight of a heavy dog would cause them to slip out, UNLESS you built a containment square around them with 2 X 4 or 2 X 2 wood, to keep them from slipping apart.

# - The Potty Patch only comes with one piece of grass, so I plan on purchasing another one, so when it is raining, and I can not hang the grass outside to dry, I can leave the one I washed, in the tub or out on the deck until the sun comes out, to dry it, and have a clean one to replace it with.

# - The carpet grass looks exactly like the backing of a real carpet. So, I am thinking that over time it may rot. However, the good side of that is that I am *pretty sure that one could purchase from a carpet store, a piece the right size, of the green indoor/outdoor carpet and I have a feeling it will work!~

I bought my "double - (large 27" X 34") Potty Patch from Petco on April 23, 2010. I paid $71.39 which included taxes and free shipping . It arrived very quickly. Overall, I am very pleased with it!