Can you teach a dog to have an "accident" in a designated place?

[billsharp]

Liesl sleeps indoors downstairs free at night. She is very good about staying on her pillow and doesn't tear up pillows, dumpster dive, etc.

However, a month ago or so she was sick and threw up on the rug. We cleaned it up, was a p.i.t.a. but no big deal. But it got me to thinking:

When a dog who is inside is signaling that it needs to "go", it sniffs around, just like it does outside, looking for the scent that tells it "this is an appropriate place, go for it."

Is it possible to keep, say, an old piece of carpet in a corner at night, with "scent" on it, so that if the urge hits she is more likely to deposit her business there than somewhere else? Has anyone done something like this successfully?

[Neko]

The training pads are scented to attract dogs to them, but it did not work for us, he would attack and rip them apart. Have you tried them?

[jessac]

I opened this thread expecting it to be about teaching them to go in a specific place outside, which is definitely do-able. My pup has a little spot in the side yard so there aren't any land mines in the big back yard. I assume that if you can teach a dog to go in one spot in the outdoors, you can inside too, but I would think that it would be more difficult since I'd guess if they can't make it outside in time, they might not make it to the place inside either. Sounds tricky. Good luck.

[Mooch]

I don't know how you would teach to just use that spot in an emergency. if you make it ok to pee inside then it's always ok to pee inside.
As for Vomiting I don't think they think clearly enough to look for a spot when they throw up.
I did teach my cat to run to the kitchen when he had to throw up (he used to do that a lot) Pretty much as soon as we heard him retching we'd pick him up and throw him into the kitchen (lino floor much easier clean up) but even that wasn't 100%

[elisabeth_00117]

For some reason, both my dogs when sick will run to their crates or the tile floor. Not something I have taught really, but I guess I kind of usher them to that spot if I think they may throw up (I live in an apartment so I can't 'shoo' them outside).

[billsharp]

Thanks for the replies, that's kinda what I thought. How do you teach "You can't poop inside, but if you feel that it's urgent, then you can go to this room and do it here!" Dog will just look at me like I'm crazy.