People often ask me the difference between the design of our box and
the design of some of our competitors' boxes, who use a drain and/or a
tray underneath to collect the urine.
I must first say, that I have learned so much more about the
differences, since I began to offer a guarantee that covers our
competitors' boxes. If anyone, for
any reason, is dissatisfied with a box they have purchased from one of
our competitors, they can trade it in for a FREE Pooch Potty box in
exchange for trying out our weekly sod for ninety days.
As you can probably figure out, this isn't exactly the most savvy
financial decision on our part - we actually just break even at the end
of the ninety days. However, what we hope for, is to have begun a
lifelong relationship with a customer who appreciates that we are
honest and up front about how to properly use and care for their dog's
potty box. We really just want everyone to have a positive and
successful experience and more importantly, we want everyone's dog to
have a safe and sanitary place to go potty.
This type of product is the very reason we began to stand behind our competitors' products.
I am beginning to see a pattern that the most popular box that keeps
getting traded in to us is one that has been designed with a tray
underneath. The theory behind this
makes sense. However, in practical usage - the customers keep
telling me the same thing that I've heard from other customers who have
tried a planter box with a drain.
We call this kind of product "good on paper".
The theory is that you don't have to replace the sod weekly if you
water the sod to "rinse out" the urine. What ends up happening, is the
sod gets very muddy and truly, if you want to do a thorough rinsing of
the urine & the bacteria, you would have to water it and water it,
then walk on it to squeeze the urine out of the sod.
Sod retains moisture, silly!
Picture a sponge that is filled with urine, running water through it
will drain some of it, but squeezing the sponge is really the only way
to get it clean. Who wants to do that with a piece of urinated on
sod? This competitor recommends that you water the sod 2-3
times a week, so that the urine will "flow" down to the tray. We
have tried this, and what a mess it was. The water turned the
urine and sod into stinky pee pee mud! Yuck!
Okay . . . just for kicks, let's say you decide you will squeeze the urine out with your hands or by walking on it.
At that point, you have to then worry about removing the tray of
urine/water and wondering where you are going to pour it out.
People in apartments have told me they often can't pour it off their
balcony or it will splash their neighbors underneath. One woman
told me the hilarious story about how she tried to carry the tray from
her balcony, through her apartment to the bathroom where she intended
to pour it in her shower - but what happened along the way when she
bumped the wall turning the corner to go down her hallway . . . well,
you can imagine! Not only was she wearing her dog's urine, but
now it was all over her carpeting. (okay, so maybe that wasn't so
funny for her, but the story certainly made me chuckle)
I had one customer tell me that the box leaked although in
personally looking at the product, I'm not sure where the leaking would
be coming from (maybe if the tray isn't changed often
enough?). Overall, the other complaints have been
overwhelmingly similar - just poor functionality.
Rarely do people want to go through all of this in order to reuse the same piece of sod.
But this competitor says you can reuse the same piece of sod for between 4 to 24 weeks?
Yes, they do say that in their marketing
materials. Ask them
if they stand behind their promise. If indeed, the same piece of
sod can be used for that long, then they should have no problem
guaranteeing that it will. The truth of the matter is that their
return policy is only within 14 days of purchase, and if you read the
fine print, you only get fifty percent of a refund after 14 days.
(in fact, their return policy is very well hidden, you have to be a
sleuth to find it on their website)
But hey - your boxes are non-refundable!
We are very honest and up front with our customers, we make sure they
understand the weekly maintenance involved in using a dog potty in the
proper sanitary way. We don't hide the fact that our boxes are
indeed non-refundable, however we have been known to talk many a
customer out of purchasing one of our boxes if we felt they weren't
going to be able to maintain the box. We only want to see our
customers set up for success, even if it costs us a sale.
Your
product promotes changing the sod weekly & cleaning the box out
thoroughly once a week - why does this company not promote that?
They are trying to sell you what they call a
"concept" (actually just a fancy word for a gimmick). We've been around since 1994, we tested how to use a dog potty box
every which way we could possibly think of. A tray with a drain
was something we figured out wouldn't work way back in the 90's!
Bacteria gone Wild!
In addition to a tray/drainage system just not having good
function ability, we realized that no matter how many times the sod is
watered and "flushed" . . . there is no way around it. Bacteria
is a living growing organism and a piece of urinated on sod that is
two, three, four weeks old - is like a big old party of Bacteria. We will save you the scary stories of how
this can not only put your dog's health at risk, but also anyone
residing in your household.
Oh, and by the way, did we mention that the urine is going to kill
the sod anyway? If you don't believe us, here is an article about "The Effects of Dog Urine on Lawn" written by a super smart
doctor guy.
The What about the company that says their box has an "irrigation system"
There is another company who sells boxes that are
a cheap imitation of ours - it is actually just an open tray that you
lay the piece of sod on (our box is designed with a lip around it
so that the sod gets securely tucked in and also our box is made of
very sturdy thick plastic that doesn't break). Their gimmick is that
the box
comes with a fire hydrant and picket fence - but actually, when you see
the box in person, it is just a cut-out of a fire hydrant (not three
dimensional) and it needs to be assembled and very thin plastic
materials
are used. (little known fact: this company came on the scene back
when we used to be known as Puppy Park, which may tell you something
about what inspired them to name their own company)
The ideal potty situation for your dog is a combination of two things:
1) Having a potty container that is functional - doesn't leak, holds
the grass snuggly in place, and has a surface that won't rot and can be
easily cleaned (to prevent bacteria buildup)
2) Using disposable sod that can be easily replaced on a weekly basis.
Exposing your dog to soiled sod for much longer (especially when the
urine is in such a concentrated area) can pose a health hazard.
Warning: This product has been known to cause wagging tails!