As most of us are in the grips of one cold and snowy winter, it was brought to my attention that many of us dog owners are having the same issues. How to get the dogs to do their business outside and not in the house. My solution came to me as a half ass gift many years ago. I was working with another rescue in early 2000's. One of the members had a hospital donate all there mattress covers to the rescue and they bought all new. Now the member is sitting on a trailer load of these things and she decided she could unload them at an annual get together in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. As the camp ground hosted most of us she pulled that trail up and as we came in she started to unload. I had no idea what I would do with them but she kept heaping them into my van till I really had to protest that I was not there for fun I was on dog transport and I was dropping and picking up dogs and moving on. So as I moved on the transport I dropped off some of these mattress covers and ended up with a dozen or so after all was said and done. At that point in my rescue life I was not having an issue with this as long as I did not leave things on the floor like a throw rug or a pair of sock I had no problems. As time progress my problem did the same, dogs came and went and then I found belly bands was my new savior. I learned that traveling was a huge problem so we broke out the pee pads, as we now call them. One of my own dogs had a case of separation anxiety that I was not aware of. She never pee or pooed in the house or car as long as we were there. At home she had a doggy door and she went outside to look for us and left her trail of pee and poo. but let us leave the van and she hit every square inch of the van. She would wind herself up and let it go. We covered all the seats and pillows everything with the pads and it saved us from a head ace that almost cause me to kennel this dog for life. I may add that she is around 10 now and no long does this. She has around 10,000 miles of travel in her life with me and now it is no big deal and she is very happy to just sit and bark at the cars and people passing bye. 6 years ago I moved into this house and it had carpet and still does. I am not rich and therefore must keep the stuff till I hit the lotto. I realized early how important the pee pad were becoming to me. I yelled at the kids when I found them using them as paint drop cloths, almost had a heart attack. I have no idea how to get more. I bleached the hell out of them and washed them daily to keep up with the ever growing movement of dogs coming and going. Mine are now aging and so their house broke state is now broken. I started asking everyone I could about working or knowing someone who worked in a hospital. Trying to get that donation of use mattress protectors, as a few of the pads where starting to fall apart this was a huge stresser for me.
Now as I am not one to just think outside the box on my own I usually need a board upside the head to get my brain unstuck. So one day at work I am whining about poor me what the hell was I going to do when the pads just disintegrated. My co-work said just Google it. Where do hospitals get their bed protectors? Duhhh. Well I have not looked at all the sites as I am sure there must be many but in Alphabetical order Allegro Medical was the first thing I hit and I never left. Desperation has no price attached. They had just what I needed and I looked no further. Now what I have learned over the past few years is the size does count. I bought the little ones 24x36 and then started to sew them together to get the size I needed as they seemed so cheap I could buy a million and sew. Then my hall way became the pissing spot of choice and I just could not get the sides covered so I started to look at bigger sizes. I now buy two of the 44x52 sew two together and Ta Dah I have a hall runner that gets the job done.
Now I have found that the markers in the bunch like to piss on kennel doors so I put the small ones under the front of the kennels in the living room as these are the ones that they can get too. Back room is off limits so no worries as long as door is kept shut. Now as the dogs come and go I have to change the rooms that get blocked and change the pee pad locations to keep up with the Damn dogs. So I found the next size down is the 34x52 are great to just through around in corners and other spots that they seem to think is a great substitution for the back yard when temps dip below O degrees and snow starts to pile up.
Now I know that there are many folks that love their homes and just would not put up with this. So I am sure this blog is not for you. But for those of us that love our dogs just not there potty habits I hope this helps you save just a small piece of your sanity. I will not tell you how many rug cleaners or vacuums I have went through in the last 6 years I don't want you to faint or have me committed. I am not supporting Allegro as there are many, you will find the one that has what you need.
They wash up great and you can bleach the hell out of them. Throw them in the dryer and it makes life just a little better so we can love our four legged pissers.
