Does this sound like a bad idea? doggy litter box

so, I have a 5 month old puppy, and he is fully housebroken but we let him out quite often still. the longest he has ever been alone without a bathroom break is 4 hours.

now, me and my bf might have days that we both work and he will have to be alone for like 8-9 hours, and I dont want to make him have to hold it the entire time. I already tried one of those puppy pad things but he obviously didnt understand it, and I think it may just confuse him that it is ok to pee in the house.

so here is my idea... make a "doggy litter box" type thing, with real grass on it. it will be at least 2 square feet, maybe like 2 by 3 feet or somthing. this is how I invision it being made:

first I will make a square frame out of 2x4's, and then like half way down the 2x4's I will attach chicken wire across it. this is where the sod will be layed. then, under this, I will lay a skinny metal tray to catch the drippings. If he starts to chew/rip up the sod I may have to make a wooden lip all the way around it so its tightly stuck in there. Im not sure how often I will have to change the sod, I will obviously scoop off any poop, and I was thinking I could "water" the sod with a watering can (it will also be caught in the drip tray) to rinse it do it doesnt start to smell

how does this sound? I dont think it will be too confusing to my dog, since it will be real grass, so he will learn that you pee on grass only... I have been also teaching him to go to the bathroom on command so hopefully that will make it easier to teach him to use it...

feedback? does anyone get what Im talking about when I explained it? or think it will work?

I did this for Simba when he was a puppy (we live in a condo). He stopped using it around 6-8 months old when his bladder got stronger, but I have attached a picture of what we did (it had newspaper/puppy pads on it ~ we recently just tossed it).

They do sell contraptions like the one you are describing but I've heard mixed things. 8-9 hours is quite long for a dog at 5 months. How many days per week do you both work that long? Any option for a dog walker?

I dont know how to get him to start using a puppy pad though, since he probably has a mental block against peeing in the house.. I think if it were real grass it would be alot less confusing to him


and yeah I know 8-9 hours is alot... it will probably be 2, max 3 days a week, but not yet i dont even have a job right now I have just been looking

how many hours would you say is resonable for a dog his age?

and yeah, maybe I should consider a dog walker, do you have any idea what the going rate is?

Have you thought about doing what you want to build and then putting a layer of puppy pads under it so at the very least it's easier to clean?
Sometimes it's hard when you are away all day. It's a necessary evil these days. We have to make enough money to live. What area are you in? Maybe if the doggie people know that they can help you with finding dog walkers. Or look in your yellow pages or kijiji or your free paper.