42. A 6-week-old Cocker Spaniel loves biting

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

E-MAIL FROM SEOUL
I found your toilet training blog on technorati and I was wondering if
I could ask your advice. I am living in a 5th floor appartment in Seoul. Two days ago we got a month and a half old male cocker spaniel from a family home. Their dogs had had puppies and they were giving them away. We are told that the daughter of the family was very fond of the dog and played with him everyday after school.

Picture of a Singapore Cocker Spaniel Puppy


We have a litter tray but he has only used it once for a pee and once
for excrement. He has several favourite spots for going to the toilet like
in front of the tv, in front of the front door, outside our bedroom door.
He runs freely around the flat but I have stopped him going in the
bedrooms because he also went to the toilet in there. I know nothing about dogs
at all. The people I know here favour giving the dog a slap when he has
gone to the toilet in the wrong place and then putting him on the litter tray.
He growls at me when I try this method. What should we do? You mentioned
some kind of urine neutraliser on your blog.

Secondly, he has the habit of grabbing onto trouser legs, skirts and
dressing gowns and then refusing to let go. I find myself walking
around with a dog attached to my leg. I have tried distracting him with other
toys but it doesn't work. Do you think it's just a sign that he needs more
exercise? Yesterday he was very good in the day but by the evening he
became very excitable and snappy. He's got to be trained out of that because
strangers won't like it.

Any advice will be very much appreciated! Thank you.


REPLY

Advices may or may not be suitable for your dog as each situation varies.

TOILET TRAINING

1. 6-week-old Cocker Spaniel. Best time to train him as he is very receptive to training compared to a 26-week-old puppy.

2. It is an advantage to know his feeding and toilet-training schedule at the home breeder but it may not be possible to get the information.

3. If your apartment is small, confine the puppy in a playpen or small room.

In Singapore, the playpen is made up of 4 fences, 3 feet x3 feet. Newspapers are placed 100% on the floor. In your case, it is litter. The puppy is put in till it is paper trained if the owner has no time to supervise or train it. If you have no time to train him, using praises, rewards and commands, it will take much longer. There are 41 cases in the toilet research training blog at http://www.toapayohvets.com. Case No. 41 may be applicable to your situation if you have space and money.

4. Crate training is the alternative method. The puppy is housed in the crate with sufficient space to sit and stand only. Every hour, on the hour, take the puppy to the playpen with newspapers and say "pee here."

5. Spanking the puppy as part of toilet-training is a common advice in Singapore too. The younger couples believe in positive reinforcement (command, praise and treats) rather than making the puppy frightened of the owner through physical punishment. There are successes in both methods.


BITING PEOPLE.
You will be surprised that this is a common complaint amongst first-time puppy owners in Singapore.

Basically, the puppy wants to communicate with people and they mouth people instead of shaking hands like human beings. The previous owner's child must have played tug-of-war games (chew ropes, for example) with this puppy encouraging aggression through fun play. The puppy is also teething and needs to chew on things to relieve its itchy gums. Some cocker spaniel puppies are more aggressive than other breeds. Yours may be a dominant type and not afraid of you. Some puppies growl when they dislike being handled. It is up to the owners to assert the human top-dog relationship by being firm and training well to elimiinate misbehaviour.

If you have a exercise cum feeding schedule, it will be great for this puppy as it likes fixed times. Some owners just can't stick to schedules because they work or can't get up in the morning or night. All puppies need exercise but at this age, not to be more than 10 minutes per hour. Also, avoid dog areas as this puppy has not been protected by 2 or 3 vaccinations against the killer parvovirus.

QUESTIONS.
1. Please let us know how you find this blog.
2. Follow-up on your success. You have 41 cases to see what the other Singaporeans are doing in the blog.
3. How many times you feed this puppy and is it at fixed times?
4. What type of litter you are using? Can you e-mail a picture of the litter (in a litter tray) to judy@toapayohvets.com? This will be much appreciated for our case studies.

5. Neutralise all urine smells using commercial products from the pet shops. Or use vinegar:water 1 part to 3 parts. Put in a spray bottle. Spray tiles to neutralise the ammonia smell of urine which greatly attracts the puppy. Then clean with water. I presume you do not have carpets as these will require different ways of cleaning.


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

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