Dog house training - I don't understand

I can confirm that after some testing, this appears to be either a bug/"feature" for dogs with the Smart trait. They're not that smart after all. :D I'm not sure if there are other conditions that cause this to happen. I have only observed that Smart dogs cannot learn to potty outside for some reason.

"Tomatplante;c-16161577" wrote:

"JimG72;c-16159908" wrote:

"simstr0ng;c-16159873" wrote:
I got the pop-up and the dog went outside...and potty'd on the deck. The dog should know to go to grass or some other terrain - right? So what now - do I just let the dog direct himself to potty? Who cleans up the potty? Will the gardener or the maid do that?

I think they use the deck because the roomba covers the deck...so I think they were set up that way. Also, if it's a puppy, they can't go down stairs on their own. The puddles will evaporate on their own...although you may get a pet trying to drink from or play in them before they disappear if you don't clean them up. The poo you'll need to clean up...haven't tried it with a maid but seems like that's something they would clean up as they mop up messes in the yards caused by kids. The dog should know to go outside to go potty by himself but it seems buggy as most people are saying they still have to tell the dog to go potty....and that's how it's been for me too.

That doesn't sound right - not every household has a roomba. And if they are supposed to go on the porch, what's the point of having them go outside at all? Then they could just pee inside the house and the "roomba would clean it up"... I hope this is an oversight that they will change in a patch later, so dogs will know the difference between a porch and the terrain.

People who have a dog door train their dogs to use a certain spot in the yard etc. Maxis must have not remembered this or didn't know this about dog owners who don't want the whole yard covered in poo. I agree there should have been another step in training to teach them to poo and pee in a particular spot in the yard.

Maybe the dog doesn't have enough room to turn around on a one square porch. Move the dog door. Or remove stairs and foundation etc. (if there is one). Like when Sims have to go out to greet the Sim knocking on the door, usually due to a porch too small in my game. But sometimes, not.

@Chazzzy - that worked - locking the Sim size doors for all pets made the dog use the dog-door which opened on to a one square deck so the dog went downstairs to terrain. THANKS!

I don't know how to train the dog to potty - - there is not a train command for that. Is it just "go potty" that trains them to go on their own?

Disregard me. Super tired this morning.

I've found that if dogs are still waiting by the door to go out to potty, despite already having gotten the notification that they can go on their own, if you place a doggie door they will start using that. That's in my experience anyway.

"tegteg87;c-16161550" wrote:
I've found that if dogs are still waiting by the door to go out to potty, despite already having gotten the notification that they can go on their own, if you place a doggie door they will start using that. That's in my experience anyway.

I've got the pet door and the puppy still waits by the front door even long after I got the pop-up saying he now knows to go outside on his own. It's definitely buggy.

"Tomatplante;c-16161577" wrote:


That doesn't sound right - not every household has a roomba. And if they are supposed to go on the porch, what's the point of having them go outside at all? Then they could just pee inside the house and the "roomba would clean it up"... I hope this is an oversight that they will change in a patch later, so dogs will know the difference between a porch and the terrain.

The more I have played, I think they just go near the door. I have a backyard with no porch and the puppy generally goes right near the door. So I think they just go a certain distance from the door, regardless of whether it's a porch or grass....don't think they know anything about the particular terrain. Now this is for an adult dog....puppies can't go down stairs so they'll never get off the porch on their own anyway.

Thanks for all the tips. I gave it a rest for a day but I will try again to figure out how to have a pet without a lot of hassle.

Yes - I am also seeing some progress over time. Mine is going outdoors - but on the patio.