40. A RZ (restricted zone) for a new Miniature Pinscher

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Written: Sep 9, 2005

"Barricade the new puppy in the backyard," the owner of a pretty daughter drew a floor plan when I asked how she paper-trained a new puppy when she has an older one for over a year. "Shut the sliding door to the kitchen."

The backyard was rectangular. At one end, there is the washing machine cum dryer. 2 dog's beds were placed side by side across the width of the backyard in front of the washing machine.

The other end of the backyard - put newspapers to cover 80% of the floor. Around 20% is taken up by the 2 dog beds and washing machine cum dryer.

Take the urine-stained newspapers of the new puppy and put them on the floor. It took 3 weeks before the Miniature Pinscher became paper-trained.



Now, the puppy is 4 months old. He learnt paper-training from the older dog. However, the owner mentioned, "Still pees on the floor tiles 1-2 x per day."

So, was paper-training 100% successful? The owner was satisfied. In this case, the floor tiles must have the strong urine smell or the puppy was distracted. A commercial urine odour removal or vinegar:water 1:3 sprayed onto the floor tiles and wiped off may neutralise the strong attractive smell and resolve her problem.

The secret of success is a restricted zone. In this case, the lady owner was experienced with keeping dogs. I was thinking that pet shop operators would go out of business if she did not buy any playpens for the new puppies. She did have dog beds with cushions. Some business for the pet shop operators I hope.



This owner's toilet-training procedures somehow reminded of Singapore's Restricted Zones for motorists. Under the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) Scheme, certain areas are defined as Restricted Zones (RZ). Motorists pay a toll electronically everytime they drive into the RZ. The purpose was to prevent traffic jams. Now, there are more ERP toll gates to tax the motorists going home from the central business districts as well. In the central business districts near the Cathay cinemas, a new ERP toll gate has been built just within a 30 seconds' drive from another one at the Istana (Presidential Palace).

Fortunately, no bureaucrats have thought of a restricted zone and ERP toll gates for new puppies to prevent them from peeing elsewhere in the residence.



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