25. The 7-month-old Miniature Schnauzer must cope with change management
Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore
"The urine odour removal I bought from the pet shop is ineffective," the lady owner of the 7-month-old male black Miniature Schnauzer commented when I enquired how she toilet-trained this rare coloured Miniature Schnauzer. In Singapore, there are around 1 Black to 10 Salt & Pepper Miniature Schnauzers seen in 2005. The latest colour is chocolate brown while white has had been the favourite last year.
The owners had shifted to a new apartment. The Schnauzer is free to roam the whole apartment. He uses the guest room as his toilet leaving the other rooms free of his urine. He pees outside the newspapers when they are soiled. He poops on the newspapers as he had been paper-trained in the old apartment. In the old apartment, the newspapers are placed on top of a plastic sheet. The edges were taped onto the floor to prevent paper shredding. 2 big pieces of newspapers were satisfactory for paper-training in the old apartment.
Now, there is a problem.
Somehow, the owner could not find the original brand of odour removal and complained that the new brand is ineffective as the Schnauzer still pees on the floor of the guest room.
What is the solution? "Try vinegar:water 1 part to 3 to neutralise the ammonia smell of the dog's urine," I said.
As I write this, I think that the difficulty in paper training this Schnauzer onto paper in the new apartment may be due to the lack of time to train him and the hormones now present in his body as he matures into an adolescent dog.
It is easiest to train puppies when they are 3 months old. Now, he is 7 months old and the male hormones will make him want to mark the guest room as his territory. So he pees on the floor. The odour removal for the floor tiles might not be ineffective because the male dog's instinct is to mark his terrority. I did not explain this to the owner as I did not think of this possibility. I thought it was a new apartment which is also stressful to the dog.
In addition, the owner might have (in my opinion) purchased a plastic pee tray from the pet shop in Bedok North. They called it a rack. I have no idea what they meant by a rack. I checked the Webster dictionary and the likely definition is as follows:
A rack is a "framework, stand or grating on or in which articles are placed."
I can visualise the following 2nd definition as "a triangular frame used to set up balls in a pool game."
A 3rd definition is "a frame placed in a stream to stop fish and floating or suspended matter." I have seen such racks in drains to stop leaves from flowing into bigger drains.
So, what is the rack for this Schnauzer that the owner is using? From my observations in a large pet shop, what they say may be a plastic pee tray with wire flooring. I must go to the shop to check it out.
Does it confuse the poor fellow? I think so.
The young lady owner said of the rack, "The dog poops on top and pees below." This is a bit of a mystery to me. I just can't visualise how the dog does his business.
Will have to do more research. It seems to me that the dog has been confused by a change of toilet management practices. Like people, dogs are creatures of habit and do not appreciate changes. Changes are a constant in Singaporean working lives as globalisation brings in intense competition. But changes like a new apartment, a new device such as arack and the hormones kicking in during adolescence make it difficult for this 7-month-old dog to be paper-trained.
I did not think of the hormonal changes affecting a 7-month-old dog during consultation as there were others clients waiting impatiently. Each case is so much different and sometimes there is a need to reflect on the solutions to different situations when I am free. Writing down this case history makes me think of the challenges, the problems and the possible solutions. By that time, I think I have the possible solutions, the owner is gone. I do not follow up because the solutions may or may not work with the rack and lack of time for paper-training. But I hope readers may be able to offer their real life experiences with me. E-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com your solutions.
SHARING YOUR INSIGHTS:
READERS e-mail to me your problems or solutions. Your queries may be included in the book to help all puppy owners all over the world. E-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com
SPONSORS NEEDED:
Advertisers and sponsors for this book and another book HOW YOUR PUPPY CAN LIVE LONGER?, please e-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com for more info or tel: +65 9668-6468.
"The urine odour removal I bought from the pet shop is ineffective," the lady owner of the 7-month-old male black Miniature Schnauzer commented when I enquired how she toilet-trained this rare coloured Miniature Schnauzer. In Singapore, there are around 1 Black to 10 Salt & Pepper Miniature Schnauzers seen in 2005. The latest colour is chocolate brown while white has had been the favourite last year.
The owners had shifted to a new apartment. The Schnauzer is free to roam the whole apartment. He uses the guest room as his toilet leaving the other rooms free of his urine. He pees outside the newspapers when they are soiled. He poops on the newspapers as he had been paper-trained in the old apartment. In the old apartment, the newspapers are placed on top of a plastic sheet. The edges were taped onto the floor to prevent paper shredding. 2 big pieces of newspapers were satisfactory for paper-training in the old apartment.
Now, there is a problem.
Somehow, the owner could not find the original brand of odour removal and complained that the new brand is ineffective as the Schnauzer still pees on the floor of the guest room.
What is the solution? "Try vinegar:water 1 part to 3 to neutralise the ammonia smell of the dog's urine," I said.
As I write this, I think that the difficulty in paper training this Schnauzer onto paper in the new apartment may be due to the lack of time to train him and the hormones now present in his body as he matures into an adolescent dog.
It is easiest to train puppies when they are 3 months old. Now, he is 7 months old and the male hormones will make him want to mark the guest room as his territory. So he pees on the floor. The odour removal for the floor tiles might not be ineffective because the male dog's instinct is to mark his terrority. I did not explain this to the owner as I did not think of this possibility. I thought it was a new apartment which is also stressful to the dog.
In addition, the owner might have (in my opinion) purchased a plastic pee tray from the pet shop in Bedok North. They called it a rack. I have no idea what they meant by a rack. I checked the Webster dictionary and the likely definition is as follows:
A rack is a "framework, stand or grating on or in which articles are placed."
I can visualise the following 2nd definition as "a triangular frame used to set up balls in a pool game."
A 3rd definition is "a frame placed in a stream to stop fish and floating or suspended matter." I have seen such racks in drains to stop leaves from flowing into bigger drains.
So, what is the rack for this Schnauzer that the owner is using? From my observations in a large pet shop, what they say may be a plastic pee tray with wire flooring. I must go to the shop to check it out.
Does it confuse the poor fellow? I think so.
The young lady owner said of the rack, "The dog poops on top and pees below." This is a bit of a mystery to me. I just can't visualise how the dog does his business.
Will have to do more research. It seems to me that the dog has been confused by a change of toilet management practices. Like people, dogs are creatures of habit and do not appreciate changes. Changes are a constant in Singaporean working lives as globalisation brings in intense competition. But changes like a new apartment, a new device such as arack and the hormones kicking in during adolescence make it difficult for this 7-month-old dog to be paper-trained.
I did not think of the hormonal changes affecting a 7-month-old dog during consultation as there were others clients waiting impatiently. Each case is so much different and sometimes there is a need to reflect on the solutions to different situations when I am free. Writing down this case history makes me think of the challenges, the problems and the possible solutions. By that time, I think I have the possible solutions, the owner is gone. I do not follow up because the solutions may or may not work with the rack and lack of time for paper-training. But I hope readers may be able to offer their real life experiences with me. E-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com your solutions.
SHARING YOUR INSIGHTS:
READERS e-mail to me your problems or solutions. Your queries may be included in the book to help all puppy owners all over the world. E-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com
SPONSORS NEEDED:
Advertisers and sponsors for this book and another book HOW YOUR PUPPY CAN LIVE LONGER?, please e-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com for more info or tel: +65 9668-6468.
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