Synthetic Sod
The idea of Synthetic sod (or astroturf) is something we looked into years ago, when we were trying to figure out how to supply to our nationwide customers.
There are many types of Synthetic sod on the market, SynLawn is one and Waterless grass is another. (if you see dog synthetic sod for sale online, it is just repackaged versions of this that are renamed and marked way up) These products have really advanced in the last few years and manufacturers have worked on making it feel a lot less like plastic than it used to. However, for the purposes of use in a dog potty box here is what happened:
Many of our customer dogs wouldn't even use it (they knew it wasn't real grass, how smart!) We figured out that if you trained a puppy to use it right from the start, you might have some success.
There is a second and much bigger problem we came across.
Since synthetic sod is plastic, there is no place to absorb the urine. Although most of these products do have some holes in them, there are not enough pours for the urine to really go anywhere.
What ends up happening is that the urine sits there and your dog steps in it and then gets pee pee paw tracks all over your house. The only solution we found to this is to immediately blot up the urine with paper towels. (so you may want to restrict access by your dog unless you are supervising)
For odor control, you will have to rinse it off DAILY in your shower or bathtub. Be careful when removing the sod from your potty box, as the urine has been known to roll right off of the plastic and onto you or your floor. Keep in mind, that there will be a lingering odor on the synthetic sod unless you also use cleaning agents on it (water alone won't get rid of the odor). Please be careful what cleaning agents you use, as some dogs will have allergic reactions to regular cleaning products. (we recommend any pet friendly product that uses enzymes for removing odors)
If you would still like to give synthetic sod a try, it is more economical for you to buy it yourself at a local home & garden store rather than online. It will be a lot less expensive and you can actually inspect the synthetic sod in person and see what the porous capabilities are.
If it doesn't work out, you can always call us for fresh sod - and our weekly prices include S&H, the best deal you will find anywhere!
Call us Toll Free: 866-265-5826
Warning: This product has been known to cause wagging tails!