A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

I love my apartment and I love the view from my balcony. I also seriously need whatever exercise I can get, despite the pain in my lower back. But there have been times when my back was really too stiff to take the dogs, one at a time, downstairs to do their business. So my daughter got a "doggy potty" for them.

The unit consists of a big plastic tray, which holds four separators, on top of which go four doggie pee pads, and on top of that a fake grass pad goes. Smaller ones are available but because Ella is so big, we needed this size.

At first I put the thing together in my living room. But it turns out the pee pads that go inside have to be changed almost immediately or it starts smelling. And that, of course, defeats the purpose of letting me let the doggies go potty without having to walk them downstairs.

So I put it on the porch.

And once a day, I take out the pads and rinse the "grass" and the separators in the tub. This also turned out to be awkward to bring into my bathroom for rinsing, as the grass actually hangs on to some pee, which then drips on the floor during the trip.

And the pads aren't cheap, plus which, apparently, some time in the past someone must have bought pee pads that were already used!

Then it turned out that, while Ella would definitely pee on it, she refused to poop in the same spot. And Lilly wouldn't pee or poo on it (although, after Ella did, Lilly likes to lie down on it).

But, Ella is the one who has to pee more often than Lilly. So I'm using the unit to let Ella pee in between regular down-the-stairs walks.

Plus, I do need the exercise.