I have a small indoor dog who is very picky about wanting a clean puppy pad. So I thought this product would be the answer to my prayers, offering my dog a clean, dry place to go while relieving me of the burden of changing his pad several times a day and eliminating accidents caused by me not getting the pad changed often enough to suit his royal dogginess. I bought my Pet Loo from Gulf Coast Pet Products here at Amazon, and it arrived in good condition, although the grass was very flattened and I've never been able to get it to stand up properly. Still, not a big issue.
It took quite a while to train my dog to the Pet Loo mainly because he HATES anything that shifts underneath his feet, and doesn't like unlevel flooring. But I finally won out, thanks to a snowstorm, and was able to get rid of the pads at last. Or so I thought.
I followed the company's instructions carefully. I made sure to rinse it with hot water every night, and put it in the tub for a good, thorough cleaning once a week. The company assured consumers on it's website that, if these instructions were followed, odor would not become a problem. Boy, were they wrong. After a couple of weeks of constant use by my 10 lb. dog, it began to seriously stink of urine. I've tried flushing it out twice a day instead of once (which didn't help at all), and even tried adding bleach to the water the last time I cleaned it. The bleach worked, for a couple of days then it was right back where it was before its weekly cleaning. This is a serious issue, as the unit is in my bedroom and the smell spreads all through the back half of our house.
I've examined it to try to figure out what is going wrong, and my best guess is that the holes drilled into the grass to allow the urine to drain aren't spaced closely enough together. In some areas, they're two or three (or more) inches apart, and I suspect that's what is causing the issue, as the holes on my grass look nothing like the holes in their photos of how the underside of the grass is supposed to look.
I doubt I'm the only one who has had this problem. When I purchased the product, almost a year ago, the company website claimed that nothing more than a daily rinse and weekly wash was necessary to control odor. I recently visited the site to find that they had begun recommending a spray 2-3x/week of an enzymatic cleaner they produce in order to get effective odor control. Since the bottles are about $15/16oz (including shipping) this means that the cost benefit of not having to buy puppy pads has been erased. When I checked the website the other day, the frequency recommendation for the cleaner had been removed, although the product itself was still being sold.
Since I've already invested a great deal of time and money into this product, I will try the recommended cleaner to see if there's any improvement. If anything astonishingly effective occurs, I'll add onto this review to let everyone know. However, at this point, I'm frustrated with the product and feel sufficiently mislead that I suggest that new puppy owners look into the grassy puppy pad holders Walmart has to offer for $40, rather than spending three times that amount on this product.
EDITED TO ADD:
The reason I gave the Pet Loo two stars is twofold. First, if it weren't for the smell, it'd be a truly great product. Even with the odor issue it's more convenient than using puppy pads. Secondly, if the product were to be used outdoors, it would probably work really well. I don't believe the odor is strong enough to make it unpleasant outdoors on a patio or balcony. Taken together, I believe that earns the two star rating. If it had been advertised as a "suitable for outdoor use only" product, I would have rated it even higher.
I agree with the other reviewers that state the factory hole spacing in the grass mat doesn't provide adequate drainage.
THE PROBLEM: the grass mat doesn't have the special pass-through mesh backing like some other specialized puppy grass products use Pet Loo uses the standard solid-sheet-of-rubber-mat-backing you find at the neighborhood hardware superstore. The holes look like they're burnt through the rubber grass backing with a hot wire, are very irregularly spaced (mine had several 3"x4" areas with NO holes at all, looks like they missed large patches when making the holes), and some aren't cleanly perforated. Basically, the urine needs to flow sideways several inches before draining (coating the grass blades, the backing, and sometimes the dog's foot in the process).1
MY MODIFICATION: I used an X-acto and added my own holes every couple of inches. It took a while, and I must've added 50 or more holes to fill in all the factory gaps, but the Pet Loo works now like it should have out of the box. Urine drains well, and only simple maintenance needed to prevent severe stinkness!!!
ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTION: you can buy a 23"x23" replacement grass from one of those companies that make the e-z drain mesh backing type. I ordered three mats from a company called k9grass that makes mats to custom sizes (I have no conflict of interest, and am not trying to endorse their products for any personal gain...), but they're kind of expensive.
PROS: the base is light, made out of very sturdy plastic (has a plus-brace for rigidity). It holds my little potato (13# Jack Russell) with ease. It might even hold my weight (about 155#). The urine collection cup slides out easily and holds plenty of liquid, no spills yet for me. After modifications and weekly cleaning (hose down in the shower, hand rub both sides with gentle soap.
CONS: poorly executed grass mat as above. for the price, there's no excuse for faulty design / shoddy craftmanship, should work out of the box without modification.
Overall, being a tinkerer at heart, I actually had fun slicing and dicing with the rubber mat. I'd have to say I like my Pet Loo. My dog didn't take too long to get used to it, and now she pees on her own time, doesn't have to sit around waiting for a walk.
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have a new yorkie puppy and was looking for alternatives to expensive puppy pads. researched this product on-line on several sites and read great reviews for it so decided it was worth the money. found best price at amazon so placed our order. we have had the product for a few weeks only and have been very disappointed. our puppy had no issues using once we got him used to it and we thought it would be great but then we began to notice a bad smell coming from the grass. despite cleaning the grass daily per the instructions provided, the odor did not go away. more problematic was the fact that when we gave the grass a thorough weekly cleaning, as instructed, the underside began to completely disintegrate and the grass began to unravel. the product claims the grass should not need to be replaced EVER but after a month, we couldn't use it anymore. even though we bought an extra grass so we would have one to use while we cleaned the other, both have had the same problems. now we are back to the puppy pads and hoping to find more economical and eco-friendly alternative!
did want to say that despite being extremely disappointed with pet loo product, we were VERY satisfied with customer service from Amazon. they responded to our issues very quickly and were happy to refund our money so we don't feel like we lost out too much. have been an amazon shopper for several years and have always been happy, now even more so!
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We live downtown on the eighth floor with slow elevators that break down a lot so potty training a puppy was too hard without finding an indoor solution. We started with PupHead grass which was working ok for us the first 10 months of potty training until our bulldog outgrew it and stared relieving himself on the sides of the grass, spilling onto the floor.
We purchased this product hoping that it would be easier to clean & use by our bulldog. In theory the Pet Loo being raised was the solution since he'd have to hop on. However once he jumped off for the first time the grass went flying & freaked him out to the point he would only use the grass if we placed him on & took him off. We ended up using screws to keep the grass from moving but he'd still be shaking in fear every time we put him on it. We left it out for him for about a month to see if he'd warm up to it himself, meanwhile taking him on his daily walks 3x a day. He never did warm up to it but he did end up holding his bowels while we where at work.
Cons:
Poor design grass has rubber backing which takes days to dry fully & still slips under the weight of heavy dogs
Horrible smell I rinsed every time I'd place him on it with water & clean in twice a week in the tub and it still smelled worse than the Puphead grass
Eye sore other potty grass on the market don't look as cheap as this one
Pros:
SInce our dog was petrified of the thing it actually ended up potty training him. We now just take him out 3-4 times a day & he's doing fine not having a place to go in the loft anymore.
If I had to do it all over again I'd buy the larger version of the pup grass we had before which was a bit more expensive. We ended up tossing the Pet Loo this weekend.... I guess you get what you pay for.
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I've tested many dog potties and this one is my favorite. I like the sizes it comes in and the way it drains. The drawer pulls out so you can easily carry the urine to the toilet for disposal. The grass is a little course, but my dog doesn't mind it. I keep mine on my deck so I don't notice any problem odor as long as I rinse it fairly regularly. I do like to have an extra piece of grass so I can have one clean one when I rinse the other.
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I purchased these "puppy" pads for my handicapped, incontinent kitten for diaper changes and to line his bed with. The size was perfect for both jobs and the absorbency was better than I expected. These pads are better and much less expensive than the ones I bought at WalMart.
