Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My 7-year old daughter wants to know if it is possible to make an indoor toilet on the floor that she could train a dog to use so that we don’t have to go outside or pick up after our dog.

With training, you could train your dog to use an indoor solution. (You and your daughter should do research to determine if this is appropriate for your dog's breed.)

Many dogs are trained to use "pee pads." Some dogs are trained to use a litter box, similar to the way cats do.

If your daughter is interested in dog/animal behavior and training and looking for a science project, there are a number of options. There are also projects where different items can be compared (like different toys or foods). She could design and test her own indoor solution.


Projects:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... n-your-pet
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... taste-test
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... hment-toys

Picking up or cleaning up would still be required.

It might be worth talking about what the downsides might be, too.

Amy
Science Buddies

Thanks for the response and the projects. They are great. We know setting up a dog toilet with actual plumbing would be complicated and expensive, but we had an idea for a low- profile toilet that the dog would stand on and then step on a button to flush when they were done! If you can train a dog to use a pee pad, we don’t see why you couldn’t train the dog to use a toilet. Hasn’t anybody ever tried that before?