In 1998 a happy little tail-waggin’ Pekinese named Sugar made a scary trip in a plane from Seattle to Los Angeles. The loud roar of the plane traumatized her. Upon landing she anxiously got into an automobile. Sugar always liked going for a ride; she sat in the car on her owner, Joni MacLaine’s lap, with her little head hanging out the window. She was panting and grinning. Aaah, it felt so good after that horrible plane ride. When they reached their new home, inside an apartment building, Sugar stood eagerly at the door to go out. After the long trip, certainly Joni would take her to her new yard. Finally she was taken down some stairs to a sidewalk outside, where she was able to relieve herself. There was no grass to do her "business." It just wasn’t the same. Sugar had never been in an area without a lawn.

Sugar waited for hours every day for Joni to arrive home from work, and take her out for relief. She was unable to "hold it," consequently the carpet suffered. When Joni would come home, instead of running eagerly to meet her, Sugar would put her head down and look up at her with sad eyes of guilt. She knew she had done something wrong, but she couldn’t help herself. Days went by and Sugar was chastised again and again for wetting on the carpet. The carpet was being destroyed. The apartment manager suggested she might have to put Sugar to sleep. Joni was beside herself as to what to do. The thought of putting little Sugar to sleep started tears rolling down Joni’s cheeks.

Frantically, Joni called home … "Mother, what am I going to do? Sugar is ruining the carpet. I can’t bear to put her to sleep, or give her away, she is part of our family … but I just can’t afford to pay for new carpeting!"

Mother (Joanne MacLaine) answered, "Let's call a dog trainer."

So that is what was done. The dog trainer suggested putting a piece of grass sod on plastic and putting it on the deck. The sod had to be watered to keep it fresh. When the sod was watered from the top, it would go through and make mud, which in turn was tracked into the house. It also leaked onto the deck below. Joni and Joanne both looked high and low for a container to hold the grass sod. There just wasn’t one that could be found that was even close to the right size. Joni felt that if this was such a problem for little Sugar, it must be a problem for other pets also.

Squeezing little Sugar on her lap, and with new enthusiasm and hope in her voice she called home again, and poured out her IDEA: "We could have a tray designed and manufactured that would be self-watering (a dog potty). I have done some research, and, we could use irrigation strips to absorb the water as needed, from reservoirs on each end. In this way it would only use the water as it was required, and it would never be too wet. There has never been a dog potty … but I feel other people must need a dog potty also..."

So, we started thinking more about the dog potty concept. We thought that since male dogs were going to use the dog potty also, we should have a backdrop for it, ... so a sky blue backdrop and picket fence were added. The male dog needed a target, and a fire hydrant was perfect to set off the new innovation. Joni came up with a name for the product: "Patio Park." Joanne thought it was cute and clever, and "Patio Park" was born.

Sugar loves the grass in her new dog potty. Of course she doesn’t know it, but the Patio Park Dog Potty may have saved her life.

A great deal of investment was needed for design, molds, patents, manufacturing, etc. Joanne MacLaine invested time and money hoping the new dog potty product would be as valuable to others as it was to Joni.

It all began to save little Sugar’s life. We just loved her too much to let her go!

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