Spoiler! You can!
Question: Can I use a litter box long term?
Answer: Perhaps you want to continue to use a litter box for your puppy forever.There are some great reasons to continue litter box use in the home.
1. If you live in a high rise apartment and know that transit time from your flat to the nearest potty station will exceed your puppy’s abilities.
2. You have a very small dog and so maintaining an indoor toilet would be easier and safer than outside.
3. You live in an area where extreme weather conditions might make it difficult to potty your dog outside during certain times of the year.
4. You have a schedule such that your dog would need to hold it for a long span of time.
Whatever the reason, teaching your puppy to use a litter box is much the same as teaching it to use an outdoor toilet area.
If your puppy was litter box trained at the breeder or foster this process should be fast and easy. You will use the same protocol as for training outdoors, just substitute an indoor toilet area for most of your potty breaks. If you want your puppy to learn to void outdoors on walks and etc you WILL need to take the puppy outdoors to void at least half of the time.
Size:The biggest reason for litter box dissatisfaction is the dog “missing” the litter box. The solution is to ensure the litter box is big enough. A good rule of thumb is your litter box should be one and a half times the length of your dogs body. So if your dog is 12 inches from nose tip to tail tip, your litter box should be no smaller than 18 inches square. If your dog is 24 inches from nose tip to tail tip, your box should be a 36 inches square. It’s important that your dog can fit comfortably entirely in it’s litter box, including having room to turn around and position itself. Always err on the side of larger.
Substrate: If your dog is a “dual” toilet dog, meaning you want them to void outside on grass, and inside too, then the ideal substrate for your litter box is grass sod. Sod toilets can be purchased online as a subscription product.
Second would be synthetic grass systems.
My third choice would be pellet litter.
My last choice is any type of fabric, including disposable potty pads because continual use of fabric as a toilet can lead to dogs who seek out and relieve themselves on fabrics.
Set up: Ensure your litter box area is extremely “distinctive” so your dog does not wonder if other areas are also toilets. This means that pads on the floor are not an ideal indoor toilet. I like litter trays, such as those made for dogs, or even better for their larger size, rabbit hutch pans or miniature pig litter boxes. Inside you can put your square of sod, litter pellets, or shavings depending on your preference. Further, if you put a “surround” of x pen panels on three sides you will make the area more distinctive and decrease the chance the puppy will learn to potty “half in and half out” of the toilet. I use X Pen panels around 3 sides of mine and I can close the front to close the puppy onto the toilet if needed. You could use any type of little fence, or plastic panels.
For male dogs (especially adults) you can put a brick, stone, or PVC pipe in the middle of the litter box for male dogs who would like to mark. To ensure they don’t lift their leg and pee outside the box. Again, it’s important the litter pan is large enough for a male dog to lift it’s leg and urinate on your center post.
Training: You will train your dog to use the litter box in the same manner used to teach them the outside potty zone. Simply substitute “litter box” for “potty zone” in all instructions. The litter box is open to the puppy all the time, so you don’t need to teach the potty bells step. You can put your puppy on leash, or, if you use an x pen to surround your litter box you will simply place the puppy in the litter box, close the gate, and stand their and wait for the puppy to relieve itself. Yes, you DO need to take your puppy to the litter box on schedule. Yes, you DO need to stand their and watch the puppy! Yes, you DO need to teach your puppy to void on cue, and click/treat for every successful potty.I find that people often skip the steps of teaching a puppy how to use an indoor toilet, they think they can just let the puppy run all around and figure things out. But the problem with that is that since the toilet is inside the house, it’s actually less clear for the puppy, and many poorly trained litter box dogs are just not really house trained at all. Don’t make that mistake, it’s actually more work to both house train, and litter box train a puppy, and if it’s not done properly the puppy may forever be confused about where it should relieve itself.Remember, puppies who learn to use an indoor toilet still need to learn to void outside, on leash, and in novel environments to prepare them for life. They also need to learn that ONLY the toilet is for toileting, they need to learn how to find the toilet area, and how to use it when asked. WE also need to know when a puppy has relieved itself and when it has not, for our own house training planning.