Customer Reviews

UGODOG Indoor Dog Potty

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I recently bought the ugodog from their own website and received it this Sat. We own a three year old German Shepherd mix. Obviously this is not a small dog by any means.

My first attempt failed miserably. Bee (dog's name) had no idea what to do with it. She didn't even want to step on top of it. I was really angry and thought about that review I read here (the only one star review). So, I physically picked up my dog and planted her on it. She did not like this very much. She sat on it and looked up at me like, "What do you want me to do now?" I told her, "Dai di, con." that's vnese for "Go pee pee". Still a vacant stare. She's obviously scared from me picking her up. So I tried again two hours later. I know for sure she REALLY has to pee this time. Of course she's no dummy and remembers me picking her up. She sat there in front of the bathroom and refused to go in. A little nudge (not too forceful) and raising my voice a little made her a little more obedient. Sure enough she went in and started sniffing around. I closed the door leaving a little gap to peek in and said, "Dai di, con." To my amazement, she sat down and relieved herself.

I hope my little story helps those that couldn't make this work for them. This is a godsend and has saved me $30/mo on the pads. This is DEFINITELY worth the money considering the $150 alternative that I was going to get. Please people, this is no substitute for a walk. S/he still needs the exercise. Have fun ppl.

Pros:
1. The two grates have 4 or 5 legs around the center to support heavier dogs.
2. Dog's feet will NOT get wet if s/he pees a lot. this happens often with the pads for us.
3. easy to clean. I just dump the urine in the toilet and spray some of that Simple Green product then rinse away.
4. for me, it's not too big to be an eye sore in the bathroom and not too small that the dog has difficulty planting herself.

cons:
1. $50? damn. The Chinese can probably have this made and sold for less than half this price for the exception of quality control. ;)
2. i don't see replacement grates. I might step on this by accident and break the grates.
3. Since it's a small company, the advertisement isn't ubiquitous. :) I wish I found this three years ago.

I have a ugodog that I purchased for my 12 week old shih-tzu puppy after weeks of less than positive experiences with newspapers, disastrous experiences with Purinas Second Nature puppy litter box and expensive pads. Mi-Joo is now 9 months old and has been successively using the UgoDog since the second day. I had great hopes for the puppy litter box but she spent far more time chewing on the side of the box and even the litter than I had ever anticipated. I promptly traded the expensive litter for newspaper but had the same misfortune. I then bought pads which seemed to work but still had glitches.

The entrance to the litter box was simply too high for a 5 pound puppy to get into on her own when she was racing against time. Plus, I would then be stuck cleaning soaking wet foot pads and legs. Disgusting. I have a beautiful yard that I have no intention of turning into a giant toilet so I knew I had to do something. Enter the UgoDog.

When Mi-Joo needs to go she simply walks over to the box, circles a couple of times, does her business, waits 2 seconds while I wipe her "whats-it" and then races me to the toilet to flush the tissue. Simple, clean, easy. No more wet paws or legs. The grate is fantastic for catching urine. For poop, well, that can be a nasty little mess. But I figured out a while ago that when she poops all I need to do is place a piece of kleenex down below her rear-end. Then when she is done I fold it and flush it and we're all done. It's all good!

For clean up I spray the entire thing down with a vinegar spray and wash with hot water. If I am in a real hurry I will cheat with Dow Scrubbing bubbles spray but either way, as long as you don't let poop get directly on it, it is super easy to clean.

Cons: 1) The sides are too low for a young pup and you will have to help them aim. 2) The box is both too shallow and too narrow (in width) to successfully use newspaper - besides then you have to pick up sopping wet newspaper, eeewwww. 3) The grates can allow poop to fall in and create a nasty cleaning event. 4) The box is simply not sized to fit any of the pee pads on the market so you will have to do a little creative fitting of the pads yourself... 5) $50 (including shipping) really does seem like a high price to me. I don't see why this product could not be sold for $20-$25 instead.


Pros: 1) The grate system allows for a completely non-messy urination experience, no dripping! 2) The grates are soft and easy on a puppy's sensitive feet, thereby encouraging her to get with the program. 3) The box itself is rather tough and stands up to even vigorous chewers (like mine). 4) The whole system is fairly light weight and super easy to take and go. You can move it to different rooms, even take it when you travel. 5) The system cleans easily. 6) UgoDog prevents even newspaper from leaking onto your floors/carpets. 7) The double grate system allows for quick disposal of even diarrhea (provided you place kleenex down first). 8) Fairly unobtrusive as well, no unsightly giant box to dominate whatever room it is in. Also, the fact that it is so easy to move allows you to easily train your pet to eventually go in the room of your choosing.

Bottom line, this is a great product and although I have a couple of tweaks I would wish for I still think this is the best thing on the market. Get it, you won't be disappointed.

BTW, Yes, I still use pads (clean go puppy pads are your best bet value wise, btw) but now I use less than half the number of pads I had before.

I got this for my small breed puppy. I was using puppy pads but wanted to save money and help the environment by trying this instead. After trying it for just over 2 months I really wouldn't recommend it.

First of all, it's 100% made of plastic, so I don't know why it's so expensive. I can get plastic litter pans with metal grids for my rabbits for $12 so I really don't know why one for my dog was $50. It's also very thin.

I tried using it with newspapers under the grid, but it made my bathroom smell horrably like dog pee, even when I replaced the paper after every time my puppy went. I tried it with litter, and the thing is so thin that I wasn't able to put a thick layer of litter. The pee just soaks the whole bottom of the tray and then the pee soaked litter sticks to the bottom of the tray so instead of just being able to scoop up the pee soaked areas, I had to empty and scrub the whole thing or else it would smell. So much for saving money. About the only thing that worked well for me to use to line the bottom of this thing was Puppy Pads, which was what I was trying to get away from in the first place!

It's such a pain to clean this thing too. If it's pee I can just rinse it but my puppy was sick for awhile and it was horrable cleaning his loose poo out from the cracks in the grid, gross!

Another thing is that this tray has no edges so a lot of the time my dog will accidently hang his back end off the end of it and miss the tray completly. And I don't know how my male dog would use this once he starts lifting his leg to pee?

Honnestly it was such a pain I went out and got another thing of Puppy Pads. I think I'm going to try a diffrent dog litter box - one with high sides and a deeper tray. I really wish I didn't spend so much money on this thing.

It's a great concept but too small for most dogs. I ended up using the idea to make my own LARGER potty box. I bought a dishwasher pan (about 30" by 30" from a building materials store) and then purchased some of those garage drain tiles (that allow liquid to drain through them) and made my own potty box. It works great and my dogs love the extra room cuz they had a hard time on this one cuz it was so small.

Love this for my pup. My puppy was trained to use a litterbox with pine pellets by the breeder, and after a few days of pine pellet explosion with digging fun by pup, I went in search of another indoor solution for when I'm at work and pup is inside too long to hold it. Definately didn't want to go with puppy pads -- too messy and get chewed and too much waste. After lots of research I decided on this item, mostly because I don't want her trained to use grass (one of the other alternatives) and I don't want bright blue for a dog accessory in my house (one of the other alternatives). I got this, put some pine pellets under the grids ("horse bedding" from feed store is cheapest, or identical Feline Pine is another convenient route, just more expensive for same thing) so I don't have a tray full of "liquid" to handle everyday as pellets absorb it, ...then I plopped it down next to the puppy's litterbox and showed her the new "thing." She immediately smelled it, climbed on and went! And she didn't use her litterbox again, so after a few days I removed the litterbox and just have out the Ugodog. The pellets helped I'm sure, since it smelled like her "go" place. Then for the outdoor training, I dump the used pine pellets (minus poop of course) outside in her designated "spot" and we're having effortless potty training both inside and outside. Highly recommended. Easy to clean, I pick up the poop with paper towels when I get home and toss in outside garbage; then I just dump pine pellets once a week or so (which never smell), spray Ugodog with disinfectant and wipe with paper towels, load more pellets and put back in place. Daily I spray the edges with disinfectant and the grid tops and then wipe, about a 15-second job. I could see some might skip that step, whatever your cleanliness standards are.... And pup stays clean too. Great item!

My very tiny 1.8 pound, 9 week old havanese puppy uses the Ugodog with no problem. What a smart, simple idea. I don't want to use piddle pads, which are expensive and environmentally ugly. Plain old newspaper is cheap, abundant, and works just fine. The Ugodog isn't exactly the same dimensions as the newspaper, but seriously-how much effort does it take to fold it to fit ? No more worrying about wet or soiled unsanitary newspaper on the floor (yuck), nothing shredded to pieces. Cleans up with very little effort. Well worth paying what they ask for the convenience and ease of use, and it pays for itself in a short time with the money saved on piddle pads.

4-23-10 Update-my little dog is almost two, and uses her UGD with ease. I've trained her to know that going outside is also fine, in fact it's in their nature to do so, so confusion has never been a problem. I actually have a system to clean the pottys-(a runny poo can be tough to completely clean). I purchased another,and rotate them when more than a daily cleaning is neccessary. I just put it in a large plastic bin with some hot water, dish soap and a little bleach, soak and rinse. It comes out immaculate and sanitary. The cost to buy another is well worth it. I love this product.

I have a mini long haired dachshund and I bought Ugodog for him about 4 mos ago. I tried the dog potties with the artificial grass on top and they smelled awful because part of the urine clings to the grass and my dog didn't want to use it (I don't blame him), and no matter how many times I washed the artificial grass with strong cleaning products and bleach, it still smelled like urine. I put the Ugodog out on the patio and my dog uses a sliding glass doggie door to go out. I put about 1 1/2 cups of pine pellets (I use Feline Pine) in the Ugodog tray which is lined with plastic--I buy the Glad OdorShield Tall 13 gal. trash bags and cut them in half because cat box liners didn't fit. Then the grates go on top. I change the pellets about once a week or every 5 days and the pine pellets completely covers the urine odor. It's easy to lift out the liner and fold up and dispose of the used pellets; solids are flushed immediately. I tried using papers instead of the pine pellets, but they smelled and were not absorbent like the pine pellets, which turn to sawdust when they get wet and absorb liquids really well.

My dog uses the Ugodog with no problem and I find the plastic grates very easy to clean. I just want to add though that dogs have to be trained to use a dog potty--most are not going to see it and go, oh there's the bathroom. So for those complaining their dogs won't use this, you have to do the work upfront first. It took time for me to train my dog and I started him out with a dog potty that had real soiless sod on top, which I had to order online and pay to have shipped. He was used to going outside on grass and I started saying "go pee" all the time so eventually he knew what that meant. When I got the Ugodog, I would remind him to go outside and "go pee," but now he does it on his own. Did he have the occasional accident in the house in the beginning--yes. But now that he has gotten the hang of using the Ugodog, there haven't been anymore accidents and we're both happier. Also, I know people use dog potties indoors, but I think it's a bad idea to encourage a dog to do his business in the house.

I highly recommend this product for people with small dogs. It's nice not having to grab the leash and take my dog out in the rain, or if it's just not convenient, plus he can go whenever he wants and doesn't have to hold it until I can take him out. I just placed an order for an extra set of the grates to switch them out between cleanings.
9/18/11 Update: My dog is still using Ugodog very successfully. I bought an extra set of grates. This is especially helpful when solids get stuck to the grates occasionally. Instead of trying to clean the grates with a Q-tip as some have mentioned, I just switch them out with the other pair of grates and soak the soiled ones overnight in a mixture of Pine-sol and water, then wash off with water.

I got this product for an apartment. My 3 month old puppy and I moved into an apartment with a large balcony. I have it setting outside, so my pup still realizes she needs to go outside to go wee. When I got it, I put it together and had her sit on it until she used it. I placed a small tissue with her urine on it, below the grate and she understood immediately. Just be careful when you take it apart to clean it. My dog doesnt understand and anytime she see's the grate she will hop on it and use it. Actually it can be any grate, a few weeks ago I had a baby gate laying on the ground in my living room and she hopped onto it and tinkled all over it. I realized later that she understands the grate is a place for her to wee... I couldn't get onto her for it.

I have a rambunctious French Bulldog who would make a mess and tear up his training pads that he had already soiled. SO GROSS. I did research and bought UGODOG. At first he didn't understand what it was. He wasn't interested in using it, even when I gave him the command to "go pee pee". So I placed a soiled training pad inside the tray. After that, he understood and continues to use his UGODOG. I am glad to come home now to a clean home and a clean puppy.

I have a small to mid size Boston terrier which can hold his own for the whole night and when he has to go, he has to really go. Let's do some background first on my experiance with indoor dog breeds, with people who have to work the entire day away from home and no yard for thier dog. That is me and I just don't have the capacity to take him out when he needs to go at different times in the day and do not want to crate train to prevent personality traits from forming on a bad level of becoming destructive or unsanitary. Initially I used pee pads on the floor which worked for a time and then ended up sliding on the floor which caused at least 2 daily clean up messes, which required mopping wiping, repeat. I then smartened up a little and got a holder which held the pee pads, which helped at first but ended up being amusement for my dog to tear at and rip upf leaving fluffy white stained paricles of debris everywhere in the home. I started using this device with a few squirts of spray to intice my puppy to go on it.
He went right away and got the idea.
Pros
1. No pee paw prints leaving the area of the UGODOG Indoor Dog Potty
2. It is big enough making it an easy target for a small to medium size dog
3. The gates are removable seperately, and not made of metal so no rusting worries.

Cons
1. It is a bucket type device and a little pee pools the entire bottom, so clean daily recommended or it will stink your room.
2. Fecal matter can get pushed down in the grate after a normal accident, which means when you clean it, the angles get fecal matter sprayed in different directions because of the cube cut outs.

Highly recommend using this device with pee pad inserts underneath the grate. Makes it so easy to just come home lift a grate, pull out a pad and replace and spray the top of the dirty grate and clean. Dog doesn't see the paper and won't tear. Poo is poo, so just be glad it wasn't on your floor or carpet. Don't get a grass top, New! Ingrass Puppy Potty Bigger & Deeper Now! Free Bottle of Puppy Attraction Aid Spray 20" X 30" Indoor Outdoor because this makes it extremely difficult to clean and urine dries on top and fecal has to be scrubbed off. Leave the grate top empty and free of any other junk. I wish the grates locked in the the tray, and was a little deeper, because I may have used some sort of kitty litter to avoid the smell of urine and clump up capability.