Extremely Important Porthos Question!

This struck me today while watching Enterprise. How exactly do you house train a dog living on a starship? It's not like you can let it outside to do its business?! If Cpt. Archer left Porthos shut up in his quarters all day while he was on the bridge, it must have stunk in there by the time he got back at the end of his shift. Maybe his quarters were equipped with their own minitransporter system to beam any dog crap directly into space once Porthos has deposited it.

Any other ideas?!

 

No doubt Phlox feeds it to one of his sickbay creatures.

 

That is a very distinct (or diSTINKed, hee-hee) that Dr. Phlox did this; another possibility is they recycled it someway, because didn't Trip one time state that's what they did with the human waste?

 

thats what they do on all starships from every age; they're all equipped with waste reclaimators.

As to where Pothos would do his business...that's a good question. Perhaps there is some sort of hydroponics bay where Chef grows vegetables. Maybe Porthos is walked there twice a day and Chef uses what is left behind as fertilizer.

 

or phlox collects it for medicinal use

 

I think Phlox did more "unusual" things with Porthos' poo.

Hence the creeper smile . . .

 

of that I have no doubt. Phlox and Porthos was one of the most intriguing 'ships of the series.

 

Maybe he was trained to a litterbox.

 

There was never any indication of a litter box but then again, how often did we see bathrooms with toilets in them?

 

Clearly human waste was easily processed in the sewerage system, but could Porthos have been trained to use a special doggy toilet? Maybe he had an area of the quarters with a rinsable floor.

 

A poop question?!

I agree with other posters, the only reasonable answer is Phlox manhandles it and feeds it to Most Important Sickbay Creature of the Week. How does it get there? Nobody knows.

 

Anyone who has owned a dog can tell you: indoor dogs don't want to sit around in their own filth all day either. They would rather go elsewhere.

Porthos was obviously trained in many facets; it would be a simple matter to train him to go in a certain spot or a certain room, but I don't see it being on the floor, anywhere. My guess would be some kind of accommodation would be made on a starship for a variety of animals, perhaps in a pull-out facility in a cargo bay or other unused space. How about a pull-out gated area over a grated floor that opens to waste reclamation, and scrubbed with automatic washers. Porthos could just hang out their until he was finished. Granted, dogs like to run around marking territory, but he'd quickly learn it's there or nowhere. Also, he was so small, there wouldn't be much.

Or just let him loose and then hit it with a phaser. Easy peasy!

 

Well didn't Trip say something about how waste recycling is used to make boots and stuff when the crew were being asked questions by that teacher's grade school class?

So maybe Porthos' poop is used to make boots.

 

As Trip explained in "Breaking the Ice" it goes into the recyclers and is resequenced into boots. What are you walking in?

 

My guess is that either Phlox or a ship's porter/crewman was assigned to make semi-regular stops by Archer's quarters to clean up any messes. I can't imagine Archer coming back after a duty shift to find nuggets everywhere.

 

No wonder that Klingon in the pilot episode was complaining about "stinky boots"!

 

There is no honor and glory in treading in nuggets full of cheddar. Klaang's family would have bore the brunt of dishonor for the next four generations.