This is a new behaviour for our 12 year old dog. He started out going in the ivy. Great. Then he moved to the side yard. Not so good, but ok. Now it is on the lawn. Any suggestions. Pepper on the spot, maybe?
If you want him to use the ivy, it is possible it is harder for him to maintain his balance there now that he is older. Watch how he gets around the house and check with your vet.
Still, isn't it easier to pick the poop up off the lawn than from among the ivy plants?
The ivy was great because it would just decompose and no one walked or played in the ivy. We have a large yard. For most of his life he have never pooped on the lawn. But, you could be absolutely right about his balance. That has changed tremendously. The main problem with pooping on the lawn is that there are young children that play on the lawn and sometimes the poop goes undetected. Until it is too late. Thanks so much for the reply. I think we will try the pepper and see what happens. Jen
If it is a balance problem, you might also try cutting a swath into the ivy so he can walk in without tripping. I've used ivy too -- the lazy man's (OK, woman's!) way of caring for poop. Unfortunately, my current yard has no ivy and I really don't want any, so I'm back into clean-up mode.
Since it sounds like your guy needs to pick a new spot to do his duty, perhaps you could consider spot training him. It'll take a little work on your part at first but at least you'll know all the poops will be in the same place. The way I do it is pick a spot and take the dog there on leash and give the "potty" command. If they don't go I walk around and go back to the spot and do it all over again. Then I give them lots of praise and a reward. You do have to make sure to keep the spot picked up though because even a spot trained dog will want to go potty in a clean area. If you don't, they'll expand their spot which is what you don't want.
p.s. I've also heard of putting up a flag of some sort on the potty spot as a guide for the dog. I've not done it that way but it makes sense.
