Have you ever heard of 'grate training' a dog?

Posted by EscapedSmoggy@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 18 comments

I have a dog and my mum recently walked her on her own, obviously resulting in my mum having to pick up dog poo. She tells me it is the first time she's ever picked up dog poo. This confused me because she had a family dog in her late teens-late 20s, in the late 80s-late 90s. I questioned how she could have never been pick up dog poo, and she claims everyone 'grate trained' their dogs then. Apparently this is when you train your dog to go to the toilet on a grate, so you don't have to pick it up. I'm not sure if this is: a) a few people she knew who did it and she thought everyone did it and it was the norm. b) an actual phenomenon I've never heard of because I'm too young. or c) she's completely having me on. Was this a thing?

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18 Comments

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LoveAGlassOfWine@reddit

Nope. Had dogs since the 70s. TBH most people just didn't pick up their dog poo. I can't remember when fines came in, maybe the 90s? Most dog poos are too big just to go down a grate surely, unless you poke it down with a stick.

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PeggyNoNotThatOne@reddit

I remember signs saying 'Dogs must not foul the footway. Penalty £10' and that was in the 60s, in London.

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TC_FPV@reddit

That would have been a local council byelaw rather than national legislation which happened in 1991 https://www.mylawyer.co.uk/dog-fouling-a-A76076D76944/#:~:text=Dog%20Control%20Orders%20made%20dog,into%20force%20continue%20in%20effect.

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PeggyNoNotThatOne@reddit

London County Council, that will have been. Always ahead of their time!

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DoIKnowYouHuman@reddit

Train the dog to poke it down with a stick? Or give the dog it’s own poop knife?

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PeggyNoNotThatOne@reddit

Guide dogs used to be trained to do this. They stopped because some dogs were getting injured by cars. I met a guide dog trainer because my workplace raised a lot of money (over 9k) when Guide Dogs was our charity for over a year. I learned loads of obscure guide dog facts that day!

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Clever_Username_467@reddit

I doubt that most dogs have the cognitive capacity to understand training that specific. I don't think this is a thing.

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kwakimaki@reddit

Not grates but our dog was kinda trained to go in the gutter. But then he decided that this meant the middle of the road, so every time he needed to shit he would drag you to the middle of the road, traffic be damned. This was before the fines.

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BeccasBump@reddit

Honestly I don't think there was much social pressure to pick it up 30 years ago. To be fair I have never owned dogs, so I may be way off, but I have the impression it's a newer piece of etiquette.

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Basic_Memory_4233@reddit

Dog poop shouldn't enter the sewage works as the water treatment may not kill off the bacteria etc in dog poop. Just pick it up like everyone else.

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EscapedSmoggy@reddit (OP)

I'm not suggesting I'm going to do it. My dog barely grasps 'sit', I'd never be able to train her to go to the toilet in a specific place. I just asked was it a thing people did 30+ years ago, like my mother claims.

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Psychological_Bar870@reddit

Only heard of "crate training"

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Basic_Memory_4233@reddit

Yeah I thought this was a typo 😂😂

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Whole_Glass7255@reddit

You can train dogs to only go to the toilet on command, so theoretically I suppose you could do that and then tell them to do it when they're over a grate.

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Affectionate-Post289@reddit

This I had a golden retriever who pooped on command when we went for walks. He would poop in drains.

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Ethicsgradien7@reddit

Common in guide dogs, train it to the grate and it's left somewhere that is going to be washed away by rain or drop down the grate on its own.

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LittleSadRufus@reddit

Not grates particularly, but my godmother always trained her dogs to go on the road next to the kerb, so as not to foul the path, in the 70s and 80s. These days the roads are much busier and it's less acceptable to leave poo even in the road, so she just bags it up like any other normal resident of the 21st century.

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EscapedSmoggy@reddit (OP)

Mine literally just did a poo today right in the middle of a busy road. Sometimes I think she wants to kill me and make it look like an accident.