Potty Training Dogs in Apartments «12...Next Go

floridameerkat

How do dogs that live in apartments go to the bathroom? The family I'm playing has a dog and every time I ask her to go to the bathroom while she's in the apartment, she gets the thought bubble that means there's something in the way and she just continues to stand by the door. Are dogs not able to go downstairs by themselves? Is this something that will stop once she's housebroken (if she ever is)?

Floshee

I also got the same issue with my dog living in apartment. I simply have to make my sim go downstairs with him.

Ladybug889

Unfortunately my dog went out onto the balcony which I really don’t like. Hopefully she saves up enough soon to move into a house of her own.

poeticnebula

I'm not playing an apartment but my guess would be that pets can't push the elevator buttons. You may have to take your dog for walks if you live in an apartment.

floridameerkat

I usually take the dog for a walk and use the "encourage to do business" interaction or just Ieash them and do the same thing. I also tried sending a sim outside of the apartment building to see if they could call the dog down, and they could. So it seems that dogs can use the elevators the same as human sims. I think the family's cat did as well once, too, so I'm not sure why the "ask to go potty" interaction doesn't work when the dog is in the apartment.

I've also encountered an issue where I can't seem to actually potty train the dog. I take her out at least twice a day and have been for weeks in-game, but it still hasn't told me she's officially learned to do her business outside like it has with other dogs I've played. Unless this is a glitch, they don't seem to have thought through the whole housebreaking dogs in apartments situation.

AmySims09

I had a dog living in an apartment and the dog just went down the elevator and outside and did her business outside the apartment building.

floridameerkat

AmySims09 wrote: »

I had a dog living in an apartment and the dog just went down the elevator and outside and did her business outside the apartment building.

I saw someone else post in a different thread about not having issues with this until they moved apartments. Maybe I should try moving them out and back in or try resetting the dog?

poeticnebula

I'm glad to hear they can use the elevators.

Zeldaboy180

When apartment life came out for sims 2 we actually got stuff for the apartment I think? Been forever since I played.


I know there's a newspaper rug,they should make it functionable if it's not.

Sadly, it's a reality that most dogs and apartments don't mix well. You need to give them extra attention if they live in an apartment.

cmmeeks18

What I'm wanting to know is why my dogs continue to poo in the house even after they've been trained to go outside, and why are they 'doing their business' on the porches. I have a house.

fadingaudio

Dont know about dogs, but i saw videos where cats went out on their own. So it seems like something went wrong there with your dog.

JimG72

cmmeeks18 wrote: »

What I'm wanting to know is why my dogs continue to poo in the house even after they've been trained to go outside, and why are they 'doing their business' on the porches. I have a house.

I think they were set up to use porches when they go outside because the roomba covers the porches too.

Rae357

floridameerkat wrote: »

How do dogs that live in apartments go to the bathroom? The family I'm playing has a dog and every time I ask her to go to the bathroom while she's in the apartment, she gets the thought bubble that means there's something in the way and she just continues to stand by the door. Are dogs not able to go downstairs by themselves? Is this something that will stop once she's housebroken (if she ever is)?

You might have to actually take them on a short walk. When walking there is an option to click on the ground and encourage them to go.

Feet46

I think you have to walk them. Or you can set down the training paper and instruct them to "potty here".

orkhid22

i'm playing in SM. i have the sim leash the dog and click on a spot outside and select the encourage option. or i have the sim go downstairs and call the dog down. living in the apartment with a puppy was the pits. but that's the beauty of child sims. he always took the puppy out. i consider it's him doing chores

SageRainWillow

If your dog is outside, ask them to potty. If they are on a leash, then encourage them to go. You know they are learning when they get this symbol over their head:

SageRainWillow

Oh, and their traits matter. The stubborn trait may make them next to impossible to potty train. Smart dogs will potty train quickly. Troublemaker trait may make them do it on purpose.

SavannaSiara

> @Feet46 said:
> I think you have to walk them. Or you can set down the training paper and instruct them to "potty here".

What is the training paper? Where is it?

notetoself00x

My sims live in San Myshuno in an apartment and they have a puppy who goes outside completely by himself, goes to the bathroom right on the sidewalk and comes back up

Chazzzy

SavannaSiara wrote: »

> @Feet46 said:
> I think you have to walk them. Or you can set down the training paper and instruct them to "potty here".

What is the training paper? Where is it?

Feet46 wrote: »

I think you have to walk them. Or you can set down the training paper and instruct them to "potty here".

There is no training paper.

My dog goes to pee/poop on the balcony. I didn't know they could use elevators.

poeticnebula

SavannaSiara wrote: »

> @Feet46 said:
> I think you have to walk them. Or you can set down the training paper and instruct them to "potty here".

What is the training paper? Where is it?

I honestly don't know if this will help train or not, but the description makes it sound like it will:

Cynna

That's just a rug. If you look at some of the swatches, they have artfully added "stains" to make it look as if pets have used it, but they don't. (Not intentionally, anyway.)

Feet46

@Chazzzy

@Cynna

@poeticnebula

You guys are right. It is a rug. But if you leash your dog, you can click on the training paper and select "encourage to do business here". The dog should use it. It's not just a "pretty" decoration.

Chazzzy

Feet46 wrote: »

@Chazzzy

@Cynna

@poeticnebula

You guys are right. It is a rug. But if you leash your dog, you can click on the training paper and select "encourage to do business here". The dog should use it. It's not just a "pretty" decoration.

Interesting! And that will work inside the house? I wonder if they will remember and go on that specific spot automatically or if you have to keep telling them.

Cynna

Feet46 wrote: »

@Chazzzy

@Cynna

@poeticnebula

You guys are right. It is a rug. But if you leash your dog, you can click on the training paper and select "encourage to do business here". The dog should use it. It's not just a "pretty" decoration.

It is just another pretty decoration which you've decided to use as a pet toilet. However, it is no different than any of the other rugs in the rug section. It has no interaction that's built in that tells the pet, "Here, this is your place. Use it."

If that's what you like, fair enough. I would have preferred an object that attracted puppies and kittens to use it and, along with training, they would use it autonomously until they were old enough to start going on walks. That is my problem with TS4 and always has been. They give items the appearance of functionality. However, the functionality itself is usually left up to the imagination of the player. Hence, the urine-stain swatches. I imagine that's a whole lot easier than programming a functional object.

Chazzzy

Cynna wrote: »

Feet46 wrote: »

@Chazzzy

@Cynna

@poeticnebula

You guys are right. It is a rug. But if you leash your dog, you can click on the training paper and select "encourage to do business here". The dog should use it. It's not just a "pretty" decoration.

It is just another pretty decoration which you've decided to use as a pet toilet. However, it is no different than any of the other rugs in the rug section. It has no interaction that's built in that tells the pet, "Here, this is your place. Use it."

If that's what you like, fair enough. I would have preferred an object that attracted puppies and kittens to use it and, along with training, they would use it autonomously until they were old enough to start going on walks. That is my problem with TS4 and always has been. They give items the appearance of functionality. However, the functionality itself is usually left up to the imagination of the player. Hence, the urine-stain swatches. I imagine that's a whole lot easier than programming a functional object.

Object descriptions can be very confusing and sometimes it’s hard to tell if an item is functional or just decoration.