Dog laying in litter box

[rad65]

I've had my 4-year-old mini aussie for about 5 months. First 3 months she was separated from my two cats by a baby gate 24/7 so they each got half of the apartment. Last 2 months I've been letting them all mingle during the day, baby gate at night. The cats hiss and whine sometimes when she walks by and generally aren't amused by her high energy, but things have reached the "stay away from us and we'll try not to resent you too much" phase.

For the last two weeks, she has developed a habit of laying in the litter box that I keep in the hall closet. She's not eating poop, she's just hanging out in there. It's a rubbermaid tote with the lid on and a big entry hole cut in the side because my cats are too lazy to jump into an unaltered tote and like having a roof. I've caught her in there 4 or 5 times, usually when I hear the cats whining in the hallway. I don't know what prompted this behavior, there haven't been any changes in the environment lately. She has a crate that she loves and should fulfill the cozy den instinct. She does like rolling in strong smelling things, she can't pass by fresh mulch without going for a nice roll (don't worry, I make sure to put the mulch back in place afterward ). She's not really rolling in the box, just laying down in there. I gave her a bath today before trimming her fur and caught her in the box two times since then.

I'm concerned that this habit will lead to the cats avoiding that box altogether, and they only have one other box. It's also not the most sanitary thing and I want to stop it ASAP. Any ideas?

 

[Furballsmom]

Can you raise the box off the floor? A more "direct" approach would be to install a catflap door into it or into a clear poly box that works off their microchips. Being she's the type of dog that does this naturally, this might be your only option.

Can you give the cats a third box somewhere until this gets sorted out? Pet stores have disposable ones.

 

[rad65]

I can't raise the box. I tried that in the past for other reasons and the cats stopped using it. I left it that way for months and they never came around. Plus, the dog can jump almost as high as my lazier cat. Unfortunately I don't have space for a third box anywhere. I might look into a door of some kind to see if that's an option. I'd still rather correct the behavior than simply circumvent it.

 

[neely]

Please do not allow the pup to get into the litter box. I'm concerned this could cause more problems down the road. We used a covered litter box and it worked out well for both our cat and dog. Another idea would be to set up a second baby gate to the room where the litter box is located. You can place the gate slightly off the ground so the cats have enough room to go under the gate but not enough room for the pup to crawl under it.

BTW, I love Aussies, minis too. They are a very intelligent working breed.

 

[Furballsmom]

Plus, the dog can jump almost as high as my lazier cat.

I thought that might be the case. You may need to look into dog training guidelines, I'm thinking, although I like neely 's idea of a slightly lifted babygate, if that works for you.

Let me see if I can find an example of the catflap setup;