The area is filled with D.G. and drains better than the grass. It is my opionion that it it new to him because he never experienced rain. Bark and rocks are items to chew and I would rather rinse the grass than have bark and rocks chewed. I was not clear in the begining I tucked his tail when he was in house training now I just point to his spot and when he goes there I reward him with praise. If I give him grass to pee on how does he decipher his grass from the rest of the grass to me it would give him full run over the entire grass area. It is easier to clean or replace the D.G. than keep the grass from smelling.

And now for your very juvenile moment of the day:

Pee gravel.



That is all.

 Quote: Steve Hedquist

The area is filled with D.G. and drains better than the grass. It is my opionion that it it new to him because he never experienced rain. Bark and rocks are items to chew and I would rather rinse the grass than have bark and rocks chewed. I was not clear in the begining I tucked his tail when he was in house training now I just point to his spot and when he goes there I reward him with praise. If I give him grass to pee on how does he decipher his grass from the rest of the grass to me it would give him full run over the entire grass area. It is easier to clean or replace the D.G. than keep the grass from smelling.

I think if it's in the same area, he'll be okay.

Case in point- I thought I had my dog trained to go to her crate on command. Every time I gave the command, she happily went into her crate.

I moved the crate this past weekend to make room for the Christmas tree. Every time I tell her to go to her crate, she goes to the old spot and looks at me.
I have to walk her around the couch to the new spot (whereupon she happily goes in).

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Pee gravel.

Near the bed of peeonies.

And yeah, I too think that it's the area that the dog goes to that's the top trigger.

Yet another thought-
I would be MORE worried about him ONLY peeing on dirt.
What happens when it snows? I'd focus on the boundaries of the area, rather than the ground cover.

It has never snowed in Sunny San Diego. It does not rain much either.I agree it is the boundaries and not the ground cover.But in his mind when it rains he is confused at times. Once again the decomposed granite has no puddles and is dryer than the wet grass.We are talking about a couple of times. Last night he stood in the rain and did his business. He could be trying to get attention? FYI he gets more attention than I get.
Steve

He may just be testing boundaries a little, seeing what he can get away with.

He may have picked up on your reluctance to walk out in the rain, LOL. Dogs have a funny way of noticing when you're least likely to be able to enforce rules and commands.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Yet another thought-
I would be MORE worried about him ONLY peeing on dirt.
What happens when it snows?

He would most definitely pop like those new fur covered, pee-filled water balloons they sell at Wal-mart.

Made in china, contains lead, do not eat.

I love my pea gravel. It's cheap too, a bucketful (the back of a pick-up truck) was about $18.00. It never has to be cleaned or thrown away like straw and cedar chips. I have tried straw and it got wet and smelly. Then when you have to pick it up to throw it away, it is a real pain in the butt.

I tried cedar shavings as well and they were a big, sloppy mess.

3 of my dogs don't eat the gravel. My malamute takes his raw meat out of this bowl, puts it on the ground and sometimes the pea gravel sticks to the meat.

My two cents… As has been mentioned, he likely does not like the sensation of walking on the wet DG. Hell, I don’t like wet DG. With the rain that this storm brought in, there IS puddles and muck on the DG.

I would not worry about it too much; like you said it does not rain too much… If the dog is displaying the behavior only when raining, and then goes back to acceptable behavior after, then I’d be fine. Also, I doubt that it is attention seeking behavior, just aversion behavior.


A great product that I use for the designated potty area is Dry Stall . I have it four inches deep over a three inch base of DG. Drains VERY well, and is easier to turn over than DG as well. And for those that like mulch, they also sell this stuff mixed 5/50 with a shredded cedar( Cedar Dry ). No chunks to pick up and eat. Almost like shavings, but even more shredded. It has a light cedar smell that repels fleas and hides the doggy smell. I use this in the summer, and the straight Dry Stall in the winter. (FYI, they will send free sample to the feed store of your choice so you can see if you will like it before buying a bunch of it.)