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.
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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, eeew 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.
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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 horribly like dog pee, even when I replaced the paper after every time my puppy went. I tried it with a few different types of litter, including pine pellets, but the thing is so thin that I wasn't able to put a thick enough 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 horrible 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 accidentally hang his back end off the end of it and miss the tray completely. And I don't know how my male dog would use this once he starts lifting his leg to pee?
Honestly it was such a pain I went out and got another thing of Puppy Pads. I think I'm going to try a different dog litter box one with high sides and a deeper tray. I really wish I didn't spend so much money on this thing.
Honest reviews on UGODOG Indoor Dog Potty
The official ugodog website had a promo on this Dog Potty and I decided to bite. Our Chihuahua hates to go outside when it's cold and we live in Minnesota, so it's cold quite often. Since ugodog.net threw in some free stuff, I took the plunge.
It does work, in that my dog does his business on this thing. BUT the design and everything else about it is simply horrible.
This entire thing is made of plastic. Why does it cost $50? There is maybe around $10 bucks worth of materials here.
There are no safety edges around the tray. My dog raises his leg to pee and shoots all over the bathroom because of this. The best part is that he will often back up to one of the sides to poop, right onto the bathroom floor. Seriously, why no edges for something like this?
The plastic grates (the ones that cover the pan) often let small pieces of poop fall into the messy catch pan. Even covering the basin with newspapers or pads ended up making clean up despicable. To make matters worse, the grates seem to be designed to catch poop inside them! Cleaning this thing is an absolute chore and you have to wash stuck dog crap out of the grates.
My dog loved clawing at the grates and trying to chew on them as well.
So yes, he would do his business on this thing, but would often miss it entirely, defecating on the bathroom floor instead.
I came up with a solution though and gave this piece of junk away to my neighbor. He read some reviews on it and wanted to try it out for himself. Shortly after he returned the ugodog potty to me saying that it's simply not designed for his dog (or mine for that matter).
So here is my solution, and it cost me a whopping $19.74 (that's after tax).
I went to my local hardware store and did some shopping.
I bought a 6 pack of interlocking drain tile.
I bought a plastic bin. I made sure it measured wide enough to fit my tiles.
Now the magic happens, and this is a tough one! (Not really, it's super easy).
I cut an entrance into this bin, just large enough to allow my dog an easy entry and exit. I also cut off a bit of the bin because it was simply too tall.
I placed my interlocking drain tiles inside it.
I have been using this "system" for almost three weeks now and thought I should finally review the ugodog sham.
For under $20 I made a much better (although not as aesthetically pleasing) litter pan. It has sides so my dog no longer goes all over the bathroom or misses his mark, and the mesh on the tile is so small that nothing but urine goes through. Cleaning is a breeze, and all I do is wash out the bin and tiles every day.
The only problem I have now is that my Chi is used to getting a treat after he does his business in the bin. So he will usually stand by it after finishing and bark at me until I give him a Greenie.
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I was absolutely desperate. My Maltese puppy got into the habit of tearing the pee pads right out of their holder and shredding them. I'd walk in to find poo, pee, and shredded pads all over the kitchen floor. Worst of all, I didnt know what to do; she shreds the pads, and dog litter is too messy.
So I was excited to find the UGODOG Indoor Dog Potty. My puppy had no problem learning to eliminate on its plastic grating, instead of the usual pee pads. I thought my problem was solved.
Then I discovered that she could LIFT UP THE GRATING with her teeth! Within 24 hours, she had learned to lift the grating and gain accesss to the pad below it, which she shred into 100 pieces.
Depression set in.
I didn't know what to do. So I got an idea on how to modify the UGODOG. I went the hardware store with my son, Kevin, and together we created a modification that solved the problem. Now, it's impossible for my pup to lift of the grating. You can see the modified UGODOG by clicking my Video Review here. The pee pad stays safe beneath the grating, and I am ONE VERY HAPPY DOG OWNER!
Email me at kevlut77@yahoo.com and I'll tell you how to modify your UGODOG so you too can be a happy dog owner.
