DIY No-Drain Puppy patch for Apartments

Shameless i'm in love with my dog plug->; 
Besides the normal adorableness of simply being a puppy, shes silly, smart, and learning all sorts of new things. But she's not yappy at all! I'm serious...she almost never barks, is good with other dogs, people and even children. No food or toy aggression except when she forgets your hand is not part of her toy collection. Really, Boyfriend Jon and I have a wonderful dog and she has really become part of our family.

Probably the most impressive feat is her bowel control. She not only never messes her crate, but figured out the pee pads in a few weeks, and now at 5 months only has accidents where she's slightly off the pee pad. But we started noticing a slight problem. She's SO good at holding her pee, she won't go when she's out for a walk. We have to stay out there and wait for her ability to hold it to run out. Otherwise, she makes a mad dash for the pee pads when we get back home. We've tried rewarding and praising her whenever she does go outside but the message doesn't seem to be sticking. The obvious solution would be to make the grass her exclusive potty. But we live on the 3rd floor and I'm not walking down 3 flights of stairs first thing at 6:00am in winter in the northwest. Not happening. Period. Exclamation point!

So Boyfriend Jon and I started brainstorming solutions to this problem.

The obvious solution seemed to be get a potty patch, porch potty, patio potty, piddle patch, deck dumping ground. whatever you want to call it.

But what i came to realize is that those things are either too small or outrageously expensive!

AS SEEN ON TV!
I don't know about you, but almost all of those items i've seen on tv are cheap, fall apart or less than functional when used in real world situations. It's a great idea in concept, but i doubt it will work well in real life. Also, i don't really want to have to deal with a resivoir of pee.
CUSTOM BUILT FANCY VERSION
300$ for a potty that has built in sprinklers to help keep the odor down? I personally don't have that kind of money to flush.
SOD OPTION!
I've seen lots of diy mini sod gardens. Great idea! But in order to not create a sespool of fermenting pee-mud, you need to drain them. Which i'm pretty sure my downstairs neighbor wouldn't appreciate.
ASTRO-TURF
Similar to the sod garden, this idea uses astro-turf in place of the sod. While great idea in theory, you run into the same problem as sod...you need to have a drain of some kind  Also...it's nearly impossible to find a rug size piece of astro-turf. You either have to buy enough to cover your entire living room, or several tiny squares which makes it cost-ineffective.

I took all the great ideas the internet had to offer and refined them to suit my apartment where i can't drain it off the side. I think a lot of people have this problem. Probably the best idea i saw belongs to some fellow Seattlites. So if you're looking for one with a drain...here's their concept. So i'm going to take a lot of their idea and tweak it.

So, being a prolific do it yourself-er, here's my plan to get around gimmicks, sespools, cost, and having to walk downstairs at 6am to wait out my dog's ability to hold it. Please forgive my pencil sketching being hard to see but the concept is this:

Basic concept is a layered box.

• Layer 1: Wooden Tray 
• with sides to contain the leaks This should be about 2-3 inches tall. It's just to create a frame for the whole thing. Since my grid is all one piece, i'm considering putting small chunks in the corners and center to help keep the second tray up and away from the kitty litter. I'm also going to put some small feet on the bottom to prevent rain water from getting trapped under it
• Layer 2: Heavy duty plastic 
• to protect the wood
• Layer 3: Kitty litter! 
• the idea of having to clean out a liquid resivoir doesn't appeal to me. This was totally Boyfriend Jon's idea and it was quite brilliant. 
• Layer 4: A grid- 
• I found a discarded soda crate bottom for support and to create a barrier between my curious pup and the toxic kitty litter. I plan on fitting this inside of the tray with just the handles showing. The point of this is to keep the sod up and away from the kitty litter so the litter doesn't suck moisture out of the sod.
• Layer 5: Screening 
• Run of the mill screen from an old screen door my dad has had lurking in the back yard since i was....10? Maybe this is unnecessary but i figure it will help keep the sod and kitty litter separate.  
• Layer 6: Either sod or astro-turf. 
• I plan on experimenting with both and seeing which is better but since my dad has an abundance of moss infested lawn, he's generously offered to let me take whatever i want for free. So free sod? yes please.

Although I'm a sworn dog person, i must say that cat people have found a superior way to manage a cat's urine. Clumping and odor neutralizing technology (in theory) is a great way to maintain this design without running a drain onto my neighbor's patio.

I was able to scavenge a wood pallet for the wooden tray, the soda crate, the plastic, and the screening. I know i can purloin the sod from my dad, but home depot sells a 2x4 foot section for just $3.50. So really, even without scavenging too hard, this design can be made for less than any of the internet options. And it can be sized to any breed.

(Helpful hit for new DIYers - major hardware stores will cut their wood to size for you usually at little to no cost. so you can make it long and narrow, square...whatever works for your living space)

I realize this is just the design, my next post will include pictures and dimensions for those that need a little more detail.