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UPDATE: Still working perfectly after 1 year+ of use! We recently bought this after having a PetSafe Pet Loo for years on our patio. We have a very small patio and even spraying it every few days with odor eliminator, we could still smell the urine unless we rinsed it with water daily. That meant emptying the urine collector pan frequently and we got tired of the tiny spills we often had doing that. We switched to the Porch Potty and love having a flushable dog toilet. Ours is next to a hose, so it's easy for us to spray it off. Watering can works great as well. If you're willing to give it a quick rinse with water daily and have a place to direct the urine drainage tube, this is ideal. For us, it is worth the extra cost to not have to empty the urine collector pan again. But if you're not going to rinse it often, the Pet Loo may be a better option since its collection tray design is more angled and allows for better drainage into the urine collector pan. PetSafe Pet Loo -Less expensive and great value for the money -Collection tray has a sharper downward angle allowing complete urine drainage -Sturdy & durable enough to last several years on a covered patio, but not as sturdy as Porch Potty -Urine collector pan is not large making it less practical to rinse daily with water. To use a larger pan, you'd need cut the plastic underneath. -Lighter and easier to move around than Porch Potty -We found we had the least mess when we lined the urine pan with a small trash bag and filedl it 2/3 full of kitty litter. Changing it is as easy as tying the bag. But if you forget and it overflows, it becomes even worse when you slide out the pan and the mess goes everywhere. -Unless we used kitty litter, we often had some spillage when sliding out the urine pan regardless of how full it was. Porch Potty -Heavier and appears more durable than Pet Loo. If you're planning to use this in uncovered area, this is a better choice than Pet Loo. -Nicer appearance than Pet Loo with the wicker sides -As shown in the video, the collection tray has a minimal angle, so some urine will remain in the tray and stink unless rinsed daily with water. -The drainage tube is slightly larger than 1/4" width, and we needed a smaller one to fit through an opening in our mosquito screen. Replacing the drain attachment and tube was an easy and inexpensive fix at the hardware store. -Ideal if you have a place to direct the tube drainage and plan to rinse daily. You'll still need to spray it with odor spray as well.

UPDATE: We found the artificial grass needed to be replaced a couple of times per because it wore (smelled) out even with cleaning.After investigating real grass I decided our weather and the need to replace it fairly often ruled it out as the best option. Quite by accident I hit on the idea of using Rubberific Rubber Mulch. The mulch is from recycled tires. It is soft, bouncy, non-water absorbing, gives a bit when you walk on it and best of all you can hose it down with water and even soap (I use a dilution of vinegar and water every once in while. The material is used for children's playgrounds as well as for garden mulch. One of the nice things is that it does move around a little so my dog can find "purchase" for her feet making her business easier. ORIGINAL REVIEW I am leading off with my interpretation of the wildly disparate ratings on different potty solutions for dogs. I think that all potty options are totally dog-owner dependent. They are like leashes. You have to keep trying until you find one that works for you. Problem is, leashes are not as expensive as dog potties. Before the Porch Potty, I had one that was expensive, one that was cheap and one I made with heavy cardboard and an old rug pad. Because we don't have close neighbors and it was frozen in the winter, the cardboard one actually worked very well. When spring came I had to make a decision whether or not to replace the cardboard box. My dog and I agree that the Porch Potty works for us. It took a little bit of effort to move from the beloved frozen card-board box to the Porch Potty but the transition was made. I left both in place and gradually my dog began to use the Porch Potty. I was helped along but a few well-timed snow storms that covered both the box and the Porch Potty but even without that she would have made the transition. As she increased the frequency of using it, I (gingerly) removed the frozen cardboard box. I think her initial reticence to use the Porch Potty is that it flexes. Dogs go on hard ground. The ground does not flex. This does. There is also a cant toward the drain. Because of the slight flex, if your dog faces out to do its business it is possible that the floor of the potty will flex enough to cause balance problems. For my dog it caused a bit of consternation and made it harder for her to do her serious business. She has gotten used to the flex pretty well but it is still hard to get her to do the big business but she is happy, happy to use it for her regular business. I would recommend putting two together for larger dogs. My dog is a medium size and it is a bit of a challenge for her to march around as much as she would like. Her strategy is to march around the outside of the box and then hop in. That may be important when you are considering placement size. I like how easy it is to keep clean. The drain hose is just great. I don't imagine the catch basin would be perfect but if you could not use the drain hose it would be a reasonable solution. I did not get the training grass, largely because of the weather but also because I wanted her to learn to use the box in less than her picky-perfect way. The artificial grass is quite nice although really not exactly like grass as some have said. In a perfect world it would cost less to make a product like this. In the real world, this is a well made, attractive potty that seems like it will last a good long while. Honestly, I was surprised that she used it and I was surprised at how easy it is to maintain. Three cheers for Porch Potty!

This was a HUGE disappointment. Externally, it looks very nice and the frame is solid. Functionally, a COMPLETE failure. If you just want a place for your pet to go and don't mind urine getting on your patio then this will work for you. If you don't want urine on your patio don't buy this product, it leaks no matter what you do. They offer two modes of operation -- with a hose, or with a collection pan underneath - both methods leak no matter what you do. I REALLY wanted this to work and did everything possible to make it work but it is impossible. First, with the hose. The poor quality of the hose, drainage pan and connecting adaptors guarantees leakage. The connection of the hose to the pan is with a plastic connector that does not tighten enough to prevent leakage. It tightens to some point and then screws through the tight spot and goes around again. You can tighten forever. Further, the hole in the pan does not match the hose so leakage is again guaranteed. The hose is of course round, but the hole in the drainage pan is oval - poor quality control in the pan. So even if the washer/connector tightened enough it would leak where the oval hole exceeds the parameters of the round hose. Plus, the hose is a small thin plastic hose of poor quality that would crack pretty quickly in the heat where I am -- southern Arizona -- or in brittle cold winter weather. I was so determined to make it work that I took the whole assembly - hose, drain pan and washer/connector to a plumbing supply house to get help. Three old guys, with 40 years experience each, looked at it, tried to troubleshoot it, etc. and the end result was that "it can't be done." They even thought about rounding out the oval hole and getting a slightly larger hose, but the way the pan is designed this won't work. There are a couple of step-downs in the pan going to the hole. Enlarging the hole will take away too much of the plastic so that there's no way to then attach the hose. Can't be done. Second, with the collection pan. Not what I wanted but there was no other choice. Well, this doesn't work either. It works fine until you try to empty the collection pan. The DRAINAGE pan is grooved to direct the urine toward the hole and into the collection pan. The problem is that the urine doesn't drain completely when the pet pees. So, to be able to reach under the frame and pull out the COLLECTION pan, you have to lift the frame the height of your pan, and then lower it back to the ground while you go empty the collection pan. You have to do this again to put the collection pan back in place. When you do all this lifting and lowering, the urine left in the grooves of the drainage pan is disturbed and will then flow out -- leaking onto the patio. Great idea but doesn't work. Design of the functional aspects needs improvement. The quality of the functional pieces needs a lot of improvement. If I was OK with urine on my patio I would not have bought this. With NO WAY TO MAKE IT WORK I wasn't about to let them keep my money so back it went. Save yourself the aggravation, keep looking.

Kind of ridiculous that you have to make so many upgrades to what is an already expensive product to avoid dog waste trauma, but it ultimately gets you to where you need to be and it has dramatically improved our lives in its current modified form. Some notes: - There do seem to be QC issues (one of our legs was short, and another reviewer had an uneven drilled hole), so make sure to inspect it when you get it, and pour some clean water into it before use to make sure everything is working properly. - You can get other 2' x 4' artificial turfs, but the native one is quite nicer than the cheaper ones we've used before. It is low pile and easier to clean solid waste off of, meaning you don't have to scrub dog waste off of what is effectively an artificial shag carpet. - It is kind of small for our huge labrador, but this is remedied with training, and if it were any bigger it would really restrict the use of our balcony. There have been no weight issues with him being on it, and he isn't distressed by it in any way. The comments on Amazon were super helpful in making this a more usable product for our apartment situation, so to pass it forward, here are the upgrades we made: 1. Tank -- CHAPIN 78005 LOW PROFILE 12 QUART OIL DRAIN PAN The most important upgrade (props to the reviewer who suggested this). This is by far the least heinous way to collect waste, especially if you do not have anywhere to run the hose off. There are two limitations with the porch potty when it comes to the type of oil change pan you can use. One, there are horizontal steel beams as support, meaning you need to fit the pan only in the center (smaller than the full length of the porch potty). Second, you need something low profile or you will need to add risers, making it higher for your dog and a little more unsightly. Also remember that liquid can be heavy, so the 12 qt worked out to be a great size to address these three issues. 12 quarts lasts us about 1-2 weeks with our 60+ lbs labrador, and the oil change pan is super easy to empty. You have two plugs that you put over the center drain hole and the corner vent, and then you can carry it to the bathroom and use the top to empty it. There are handles on the top and one on the bottom for tilting it. The oil drain pan also has little indents on top to store the plugs when it is collecting waste and an angled center to catch drips in case the porch potty leaks (which it does). 2. Drain -- SILICONE TAPE, WASHER, BARB (added to native hose) The 1/2" hose's diameter is a bit too big to go straight into the oil change pan hole, so I stuck an EASYEAH 1/2" 5/16" ID Silicone Rubber Grommet into the end of it, along with a 8mm brass hose barb. There was also leaking at the joint of the hose, so I wrapped it with self-sticking silicone tape, which seemed to address that issue. 3. Prop -- LISLE 45900 HOOD PROP This makes it so you don't have to hold the lid up while you empty the tank, which is nice because the lid can be quite heavy. 4. Floor -- POTTY PADS AND 36"x48" CHAIR MAT (optional) We put this under the porch potty more as an insurance than anything. It really hasn't needed to come into use, but it is a nice way to avoid frustration in case of any failures. 5. Odor Control -- CAMCO TST PRO RV TOILET TREATMENT, PURENESS F6 ZEOLITE AIR FILTER We dump the RV toilet treatment into the tank to help keep it smell nice when in use during the week and be less gross when emptying. We then put the little packets of Zeolite over the vent holes so that it can still vent but the Zeolite absorbs any ammonium that might leak out into the air (note, this is not pictured in photo of setup so you can see the hose connection). 6. Routine Cleaning -- WATERING CAN (rinse), PORTABLE BIDET (pressure wash), NATURE'S MIRACLE (enzyme cleaner), REScue Wipes (disinfectant) For more routine and spot cleaning, we have a Qilebi 2 gallon watering can. It has a nice spray feature and a good capacity. You can use it to rinse the potty during the week, which can help prevent smells in the summer. If you need higher pressure (e.g., for diarrhea), you can use something like the Bidet Buddy CubeJet, which I use as a tiny power washer. We also use a hand spray enzyme cleaner on top of the turf as needed (Nature's Miracle), followed by REScue disinfectant (good for killing Giardia), and a water rinse. We don't want the disinfectant to kill the enzyme cleaner, so we always use it in that sequence. REScue offers both liquid and wipe formats. 7. Deep Cleaning -- ECO STRONG OUTDOOR ODOR ELIMINATOR (gallon with sprayer), REScue DISINFECTANT Once a week I empty the pan into the toilet and do a deeper clean. Here are the steps I take: a) Tilt tray side to side -- This makes sure everything drains into the tank (hole is small so sometimes it does it slowly or sometimes there's not enough liquid for it to drain completely). If you don't do it, it might spill off the side. b) Empty pan -- Lift tray, seal oil change pan, and empty tank into toilet. Reconnect empty pan to hosing for cleaning. c) Deodorize grass -- I use the Eco Strong enzyme cleaner, which has a sprayer to attach to a garden hose. If you have an aerator faucet, you can install a garden hose adapter and an expanding hose to the sprayer. If you do not, they have this pour bottle you can use. d) Sanitize system -- I use liquid REScue on the top and wipes for the outside of the oil change pan and the tubing (and any other hard surface that could use it). e) Water Rinse -- I give everything a thorough rinse with water using our hose or the watering can, depending on my mood. f) Reset -- Empty tank again of cleaning fluids and reassemble. Pour in the RV fluid and place the Zeolite packets on top for another week. It does sound like a lot of steps, but I am pretty OCD (so you could probably get away with less), and it actually is quite quick, because most of this is dumping liquids. Hope this helps others! It definitely is a much better and hygienic option than the ones that have a tray with potty pads. Those would take us multiple trash bags to clean up, and was exceptionally gross and unwieldy. Our solution now is a dramatic improvement.

We used plumbing tape before tightening to avoid leaks. The tube hangs off the boat. Hot water gets rid of any poop residue so we haven't had to lift and clean the grass yet. The sprinklers go crazy. Almost pointless even, but we still use them on low. It has only been a couple days. Let's see how this holds up after a few weeks. ** Update **. It has been almost 4 weeks and we still love it. I haven't had to take it apart once. Not even to clean it. No leaks, no stoppages. We scoop the poop and use hot water or just hose down the remains. If it stays hosed off every couple of days there is no smell. If you neglect it, then it will stink. This thing has saved us from years of messy boat poop cleanups. Clean at least once a day unless your dog poops a lot like mine. Then be prepared to clean it multiple times a day. Most dogs won't step on it after 2 or 3 poops so it cannot sit for days untouched. The last picture is the grass still clean and fresh after multiple hose downs this month. For us it was well worth the money.

This allowed our dog to relieve himself without needing to get his gear on and go downstairs. MAKE sure to routinely hose the unit with water prevent the grass from smelling the urine from building up under the grass. Good quality ! It was able to hold the weight of a 60 lb golden retriever.

This mostly works for astethics but it isn't $300 worth of engineering... its barely $20 worth of parts. A commercial or residential pop-up sprinkler head, not like the one sold in this set and subsequently shown in the video, allows for the nozzle to be changed out. This is important because different nozzles have different limitations such as angles and stream suppression. Because these heads do not allow for either they basically spray everywhere but the grass your dog uses to do their business. So the sprinkler system is basically useless. You can see all this in the video. I tried to lessen the water supply at the end and you can see the pop up heads don't get enough pressure and shut off before the streams hit the grass. I had no problems with the drain other than it likes to literally pop off the bottom whenever it feels like it. This might need glue if I don't replace like another user did. It has no feet to level it on uneven ground for proper and complete drainage. If I could just order the pan, grass, and outer rattan like shell for <$100 then this would be worth it. As it is, this thing is almost a joke. I'll look at replacing all the drainage parts this summer when I have time most likely.

Game changer! I had spinal surgery last October and had a setup for my dogs that was the standard turf on potty pads - it was still quite a bit of work frequently changing out the pads. This setup is pricy but SO very worth it with the built in drainage! I had to have another spine surgery and this go around cleanup is a breeze!

This product is awesome! Reduces odours because it drains well, and is easy to clean Mine didnt come with a fire hydrant though so my boy dog has nowhere to aim and ends up peeing off the edge half the time

Absolute game changer. But. Expensive. We have artificial grass out the front and didn’t want it stinking to high heaven in the summer and we have no grass in our back yard. So we brought this. With in two minutes Nala was on and using it. She is a Labrador and it is just the right size at the moment. She’s 25kg and 16 months old. It would benefit from being a bit bigger. Solidly made and very sturdy. Easy to clean.

I’m really pleased with the Dog Porch Potty—it’s been a fantastic solution for our home. It works perfectly for multiple dogs, and we’ve successfully retrained them to use the porch potty instead of the concrete, which has made a huge difference. We also set up the pipe to run straight into the drain, so all the urine is directed into the drainage system. Since doing this, the smell of dog urine has reduced significantly. As a result, we’re spending much less on cleaning chemicals and deodorising products. Overall, it’s a great product—practical, effective, and a big improvement for both cleanliness and convenience. Highly recommended!

Would be fantastic if the hose that connects actually was threaded properly. Very lose and let’s you screw twice before stripping and just leaks creating a mess.

Wish I had got this sooner