Doggie Dooley 3500 Standard Leach-Bed-Style Toilet

The Doggie Dooley is a miniature septic tank. Environmentally, it is probably the best choice to get rid of your dog’s waste. If you are willing to spend some time setting it up and follow the enclosed directions EXACTLY, the Doggie Dooley works extremely well. This is a small project so plan on several days (or one entire day) to get everything set up. For sure, digging the hole for the unit is the most difficult part. I bought the 3500 Model, which came with a starter packet of digester tablets.DRAINAGE - Your soil has to drain in order for this system to work. If your soil does not drain within 24-48 hours, the Dooley will not work. Before purchasing, you should first test your soil by digging a small hole in your yard and filling it with water. If it doesn’t completely drain in 2 days, you have to find a different spot in your yard where it will drain. Consider the climate in your area. If you live in a very wet climate, this may not work anywhere in your yard. I used to live in North Carolina and our soil there sometimes took a week to drain. Here in Northern California, it drains pretty quickly.ASSEMBLY - The unit is made of fairly hard plastic and the assembly was pretty easy. It took maybe 15 minutes to put it together. It came with 4 sides, screws and nuts, the green flip lid, and a square ring that snaps inside to help reinforce the top.DIGGING - Digging the hole took me about 3 days total - in 100 degree heat and working on it a little bit at a time. The 3500 requires a hole of least 20” by 20” wide and 14” deep. That does not sound like a big hole, but it is after you start digging. My soil has a lot of rocks, so it was no small task. I used two shovels, a wheelbarrow, and a small pick axe to dig the hole. Using a little water to soften the ground helped a lot in the digging. Be careful where you dig - if you are unsure, use a utility locator to identify pipes or conduit in the ground. A lot of reviews complain about the sides collapsing when filling in the dirt around the unit. Mine only did this slightly. When you fill in the sides around the unit, you have to be gentle and do it very slowly, alternating the sides (the enclosed instructions say this). I used a garden trowel to fill in the sides and took my time. Do not step on the soil to pack it down, as this will certainly make the walls collapse. There is a rigid reinforcement ring that fits inside the unit, just underneath the lid to help keep the shape. If this piece were made of stronger material (maybe metal), I feel that the shape would be less likely to distort after filling in the dirt and the lid-closing problem would not be an issue. After you fill it in, you need to make sure that the lid closes properly before committing to starting up the Dooley. Spray water around the area with a hose and make sure everything is settled. Refill the area around it, afterwards if any settling occurs. The lid needs to close completely to keep flies out and the smell in!ENZYMES - You can use either the Dooley tablets  Doggie Dooley 36 Waste Tablets, White  or the powder  Doggie Dooley 3116 Waste Terminator, 1-Year Supply  (which you mix with water first). I have also read that you can use Rid-X. I prefer the Dooley tablets because they are easier to use. The enzymes help to feed the bacteria which break down the stools and turn the solid into liquid. You add the enzymes once per week. The solids will eventually break down into a semi-liquid state (sludge) and then drain away into the soil. In general, the warmer it is outside, the faster the breakdown will occur.WATER! - Just like a house septic system, you have to keep putting water into the unit weekly (or even daily) in order to keep the soil-leaching process going. You cannot let the unit dry out completely. If you do, you will get flies and you will have to restart the digester all over again. The more water you use, the more leaching will occur. It’s best to install the unit someplace where you can easily put water into it (near a hose, etc.). I just fill up a bucket and it is a short walk to the Dooley. Keeping the system wet will minimize fly problems.Follow the instructions and this WILL work! Also, it is made in the USA (Ohio)!

Out of the box, we were surprised at how flimsy and poorly constructed the materials were. For instance, the holes for the bolts on the lid hinge did not line up (and it was not as simple as drilling new ones, either). We found the plastic so flimsy that no matter how careful we were about filling in around it, the walls buckled a little under the weight of the dirt and now the lid will not line up with the base. We are using a rock to keep it closed. We followed directions for starting use, including adding feces, so we aren't going to dig it up right away. In the meantime, we are certainly disappointed. We are thinking of just using a 5-gal. bucket with the bottom cut out and then buying just enzymes -- at least the bucket is strong enough plastic to hold up and capacity is similar. The other problem we have is that the water does not stay in the system long enough to do its job, so the feces isn't really getting taken care of. Before we started, we filled it and it seemed to be draining slowly (it took at least overnight). That was when it had been raining, though, and the ground must have been saturated. Since we put it into use, it now only takes about two hours for the whole thing to drain. Getting this all out is going to be a messy proposition, so we are still working on finding a solution, but I really wish we had never bought it in the first place.

A friends of mine that works at a pet store told me about this product for my two dogs. I have a corgi mix and a toy Aussie. We lived in FL at the time and my husband installed in pretty quick. (He is not very handy either) AMAZING! Just get a long handled pooper scooper and drop the land mines in the bucket. Use some rid-ex every now and again and fill it with water. VIOLA! No poop in your yard and a small green lid in your yard is the only change. I ended up placing some pavers around it and filling it in with some mulch close to the lid just to make sure the mower never got close. I added a couple of very low growing ground covers too to make it more visually pleasing. We are military and had to move to MO. When we sold our house I honestly was amazed at what a selling feature the Doogie Dooley was! The new owners got a dog right after moving in and are loving having it as well. I am ordering a new one now for the new house.

When we moved into our house, there was one of these in the backyard that likely hadn't been used in 15 years as the previous owners didn't have a dog. The plastic lid was not in great condition but the overall design was great and it worked perfectly for our medium sized dog. The location was not the best (right behind the house where we grill) and the smell was not the best so we decided to move it. In the process, the lid which was already cracked broke completely. We bought this new one to replace it and move it to the other side of the yard. Installation was easy. Just dig a hole big enough. We also put in some drainage gravel.When we first started using it, we didn't realize that we needed to add moisture on a daily basis and we had a little back up. But once we started adding water on drier days, we were back in business. We love not having to plastic bag dog poop everyday!

We really wanted this to work for us. Our soil is very rocky and hard, so there was not good drainage for this to work. Unfortunately we had to fill it in. We still scoop our poo and put it in plastic bags for the poor garbage man to pick up!!On another note....we did use this system at our old house in a different county and it worked great! So...I should give it 5 stars...just depends on your ground I suppose.

We've had a doggie doolie in the past and it worked great. This product is made so flimsy and cheap it's ridiculous. It is made of super cheap plastic and as soon as you put it in the hole in the ground and start to fill dirt around it the whole thing collapses. I would never recommend this to any one

Installed about two months ago good so far

Great way to keep the yard clean and easy to use

It’s does what you expect just. It is not very well constructed. It is cheap plastic but it will do a job were there are very few alternatives. Mine did not fit together particularly well and it looks like the injection moulds are rough. The lid is not a great design as it need to be pushed down by you foot 3 or 4 inches below the top so it needs to be proud of the surface.

Never got around to using it, as too much faff, and no-one to dig a large hole for it. Would be great for town households with a modest garden. Anyone want one, unused?

Disappointed with the way it disperses with dog waste even after putting in tablets and powder and following all the instructions

Took a while to dig out & bury this but very happy I bought this rather than throwing in bin & it stinkingI have a cavapoo ,so doesnt produce that much but loaded an entire week today with pills & working ok & its cold

Great product! Saves on plastic bags. I bought a poopa scooper aswell! Needs quite a lot of digging down to put in! Our garden is clay so hard work. Big garden probably is better for this product.