Hi everyone. I really need some help with this. We have a 13 month old golden who is very obedient, wants to please and never refuses what we ask - except in this current situation. He was trained to go potty on an area out back that we made before we got him. It is about 7 feet by 6 feet and laid with about 4 inches of small river gravel. He was housetrained on this area and never seemed to have a problem with it. He would ask to out and run out there and go. Over the the last month however, he is refusing to go out there. If you say, 'come on, let's go out', he will lay down and refuse to move. Taking him out on a leash and commanding him to go (which he does go on command), does not work. He will just sit down and look up at you. Bribes with treats does not work.

We are at a loss here. We can not think of anything bad that happened out there at all. We just got back from vacation and he went out everyday there with no problem - it was grass. I don't see how it could be that the gravel hurts or something, because he used it for 10 or 11 months before refusing.

Does anyone have any ideas on what we could do? We just laid new sod last year and do not want him to use the yard - it will just kill it. HELP!

Thank you for any ideas.
Lori Hall
So. Cal

Could it be that this late in the year the gravel is getting hotter and he doesn't want to walk on it? JMO

Is he refusing to go outside at all, or just refusing to go on the gravel? Where is he relieving himself now? You might try watering down the gravel. I'm not sure why this works, but it has worked for my dog (at times). Maybe it's a cleanliness thing, who knows

This may or may not help, but my cat used regular clay kitty litter for 11 years. Then he had to stay with my parents for 8 months when I had to live somewhere that didn't allow pets. My mom liked clumping cat litter. When I moved out of that place and took my cat back, he refused to defecate in his old kind of litter. He would go on the floor outside the box rather than in the old kind of litter. I had him checked at the vet and he was medically fine. From then on he only would poop in his litter box if I used clumping cat litter.

The moral of the story is that my cat was introduced to something he liked better, and refused to go back to the old way. I suspect your Golden liked using grass while on vacation, and has decided he liked it better than the gravel.

If it is practical, maybe you could try a different substrate - such as sand or earth, that he may like better than the gravel. Other than that, the other experts can maybe help you better. Good luck!

I think first you should make sure he does not have a urinary infection, If he does he could associate your chosen potty place with pain and unpleasantness.

As to the texture thing, that could be it too. I have had cats that refuse to use certain textures of litter also. Not as much experience with dogs, but my current dog did not like walking on wet grass in the morning so it was a breeze to get him to learn to go in the sandy area of my yard. Possibly your dog just learned that the grass is so much more comfortable for him. I agree to maybe try sand in your spot and see if this helps.

Another thing, you mentioned your Golden is 13 months...maybe he's wanting to claim more territory

At just under a year old, my male started moving from the gravel to the lawn, different places along the lawn at the borders of the backyard. Like I said, I watered down the gravel area really well, and he started going there again for a short time, then moved back to the lawn. And yes, the gravel gets absolutely burning hot here, and that's definitely a consideration. So I just let him pee on the edge of the lawn and he's stuck to peeing along the edges and not in the middle of the lawn (for the most part). Some battles aren't worth it to me