Dog-friendly home designs

[KurtNYC]

Got curious about dog-friendly home designs and did some research. Turns out there is very little out there. Some estimate that we have been living side by side for 100,000 years but deign wise we haven't made it all that far beyond the doggie-door.

Japan leads the way in dog designs. Japan.

http://www.inman.com/news/2012/01/6/a-house-thats-dogs

I may have the opportunity to have a house built to my specs soon and would love to incorporate my dogs into the design of the home. I have trained my dogs to pee on gravel and would have a patch of gravel between the dogs' door to the yard and the yard itself. I'm also thinking that there could be an outdoor area specifically designed to allow the dogs to cool themselves when they want. Usually my dogs will dig and the ground in a shady spot and put their bellies against the moist and cooler dirt but a friend made a self-heating cat bed (has a weight sensor so it goes on when the cat lays there) which got me thinking about possibly a fan or even small AC that could be motion or occupancy sensor triggered.

Any thoughts or wish list items for dog friendly design?

[bluedigger]

1. I need an indoor ball field.

Preferably with automatic tennis ball tosser.

[KurtNYC]

2. this guy has one

[bluedigger]

3. That's the ticket!

[Duer 157099]

7. Shit! What is that dog doing wasting his time playing fetch?

He should be working at a factory or something!!

That is an awesome video. I want to build one of those for my dog, any idea where the specs are?

[Phentex]

8. I can't decide if that's cute or sad.

Cute I guess!

[NJCher]

21. he's having the time of his life

Look at the way he wags his tail!

So cute.


Cher

[southernyankeebelle]

24. How cute. To think my husband takes the little dogs when he rides his bike. They go all the

way around the block with him. Although we kinda got worried yesterday when our hot dog didn't bring up the rear. We had to go looking for him in our car. When we got home and we got out we called his name and he came running. We were so happy to see him. My little BooBoo.

[pipi_k]

4. Very cool designs! This is what

we have at our house...







The doggy house is attached to the house with free access in and out to the fenced yard. The upper portion is pea gravel and is closed off from the lower grassy portion when it rains and overnight until the pups do their morning poo. Easier to pick it up in gravel than grass.

There is a "patio" area for outside lounging, and the inner area for a second pup. A small Red Maple provides shade in the summer. The windows have sliding plexiglas panels for wintertime. The ramps were put there for easy access for our older dogs, and when one of them started having balance problems, we put a railing on to keep him from falling off the ramp.

Inside, there is an empty space beneath the stairs to the second floor, and each of them has her own crate where they can sleep, or not, as they choose.

There is a motion-activated light on the side of the house, and another on the barn, 16 feet away, plus the fence is lined with little lights on an automatic timer (no streetlights out here!).

All in all, I would say they have it pretty good here!

[KurtNYC]

6. that is awesome

and reminds me to think about potential hip issues and how a flat layout would help. I was already thinking in terms of a ranch style house for myself as I get older and since my dogs are 90 lbs each, I should avoid having stairs be part of their path also.

Also, having a covered area for pee in the rain is a great idea.

[elleng]

10. FABULOUS!

[phantom power]

5. I admit that I've been thinking in terms of home-friendly dog designs

like, no-shed dogs. dogs whose urine doesn't make dead spots on the lawn. that sort of thing.

[elleng]

11. Bedlington Terrier

[phantom power]

12. yeah, but I don't especially like the curly haired breeds

The dogs with under-coats seem to shed the worst. Maybe I'll avoid those in the future.

[XemaSab]

34. Don't get a cattle dog

They're double-coated.

Right now Pip's hair is coming out in massive clumps.

[HopeHoops]

9. An indoor patch of grass.

[harmonicon]

13. I can't remember what they're called...

but there's a business in LA that makes (made?) sort of dog port-a-potties. It was like a two or three foot square patch of astroturfish stuff on some sort of base. They had them on the deck of the building in LA where they made them, and they had dog-friendly parties there.

[Honeycombe8]

14. I've made a facsimile of that, to test it before spending hte $.

I brought in outside grass onto a plastic tray covered with a bath mat. On top went a small patch of outside grass. I put a potted plant sitting in the corner (for the male, who likes to lift his leg against things). I even put a paper towel with some of his urine on it, for him to get the idea.

No go. Neither of my dogs had any interest in going near that thing. I moved its location a couple of times, and finally threw it out.

It would be such a great thing, if they'd use it! But I just couldn't get them to do it!

[harmonicon]

17. It definitely wasn't easy to get our dog to use it.

She eventually did, reluctantly. My friends have a loft in a place where they had these. It's in an industrial area, and there's no grass outside either; she had to go somewhere.

[Honeycombe8]

15. How did you train your dogs to go on gravel? nt

[KurtNYC]

18. I have raised them from puppies and created a trigger word

I would take them out to the gravel when I knew they had to go and at first would wait for them to start eliminating before saying the word(s) -- "better hurry." Then praise them and maybe treat them after they went. Next, I would take them to the spot and say "better hurry" before they go, praise them, etc. Now they will pee on command.

We also have a hand signal for better hurry which we created by doing the hand signal while saying the command. I had deaf dogs before and really got hooked on hand signals. They are very clear to the dogs, even hearing dogs, because dogs are more tuned to body language than sound. Dog's hearing is somewhat imprecise and many words sound the same to them. Plus I think they hear so much spoken language which is not directed at them that it becomes like background noise to be tuned out.

This is my favorite trainer and researcher, Dr Bonnie Bergin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Bergin

She mostly rejects wolf-pack and alpha dog theories and has pioneered a Zen approach to dog training. When she started training service dogs no one believed that people in wheel chairs could control a dog because all of the alpha dog stuff said that you have to dominate the dog physically. Bergin's practices use Zen, 5 modes of training and the emotional bond between dog and human.

Puppy training at Bergin University (includes "better hurry&quot :

[Honeycombe8]

28. Oh, I know how to train dogs to potty. I meant the gravel part. It's because they

were puppies, I guess, and not used to grass.

Yes, mine will potty (or poop) on command, and understand "hurry." But they won't go on anything other than grass, unless there is no grass around and they absolutely can't hold it.

I have a yard, so they were trained for grass. Now, they won't go on potty pads or in the garage or anything else, which is what I would like if there's a storm outside, or they have to go while I'm at work.

[KurtNYC]

30. the puppy part helped but I would try expanding the surface options

by having gravel with either the scent of their pee on it (paper towel under the gravel) or the urine of another dog.

Most dogs have a strong preference for dry surfaces and will avoid peeing on any surface that lets the urine pool up around their feet so that can be tough with pads or newspapers.

[Honeycombe8]

33. Ahhh. I get it. I'll give it a shot. nt

[DeschutesRiver]

25. I did same as KurtNYC with regard to "hurry"

My words were "hurry up", used them while eliminating (either when they were doing it or even slightly before when I could see them about to do so).

I adopted a 2 year old dog last month, who is getting what "hurry up" means; have taught two other older adoptees as well as all the pups I've raised over 30 years. It works and is a very handy command!

[emmadoggy]

26. We just got a puppy two weeks ago.

I have been using, "Get busy" for the same purpose. I think it is starting to work!

It is really nice, since there are many times when this puppy just wants to go out and lie in the cool grass, eat leaves or anything else he can find in the grass etc. I THINK he is starting to connect the "get busy" command, which is really starting to save some time on his potty outings! As you said, it is VERY handy!

[DeschutesRiver]

27. Congrats on the new puppy - I do miss "puppy breath":) nt.

...

[KurtNYC]

32. I found one thing that helps with this is doing at least one other activity

with the dog outside between the peeing and going in. Some dogs learn that as soon as they eliminate they get put back in the house immediately and you leave, so they hold it as long as they can when outdoors. Problem is, often we really do need to leave right away but something as brief as brushing their fur, tossing a ball or training on one command will break that connection. It can be as short as 60 seconds or so.

[Honeycombe8]

29. It's the gravel part I was really asking about. Mine won't go on anything but grass, since that's

what they were trained on. I should say that they will go on something else, if there's no grass around and they can't hold it. Otherwise, they're grass trained.

[TuxedoKat]

16. Well actually

we're getting ready to do some major renovations to our home and planning a room/areas/etc., for the pets is a major priority. Thanks for posting this -- ,aybe it will help me with some design ideas.

[progressivebydesign]

19. We almost bought a house that had it's own dog bath/shower stall in the laundry room.

Thought it was the coolest thing ever. Plan to add one to a house eventually.

[KurtNYC]

31. I like that -- maybe just a tiled corner of the mud room that has a shower handset

for a quick washing on the way into the house.

[Smilo]

20. Our dogs own our house

........ we are just the humans who are around to feed and give the occasional back scratch.

[linux80386]

22. nice designs

[tru]

23. na na na na na

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[XemaSab]

35. I would like some kind of built in vacuum system

to deal with cleaning up the dog hair.

There's JUST. SO. MUCH.

[Major Nikon]

36. Fans don't do much for dogs

Fans work great for humans because we cool ourselves by sweating and airflow cools us by sweat evaporation. Dogs mainly cool themselves by panting, so fans aren't effective for them. However if you have water spraying on the fan you effectively have an evaporative cooler which would work if the dog would stay in front of it. A piece of smooth granite in the shade might be good too.