148. Shredding papers & soiling Maltese wanted attention?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"How to communicate with him?" the exasperated fourty-something lady asked me. "Every morning, the playpen is full of shredded newspapers and the Maltese would be soiled with his stools and urine."



"It is common for the puppy to step on his stools for the first week," I said, based on my research on toilet training with over 100 puppy owners.

"But the Maltese is with me for 3 weeks," the lady said. "Overnight, the newspapers would be ripped and he would be messy. I had to bathe him."

"Maybe a wire crate would be better," I said. "But it is hard to paper-train him."

The lady said the Maltese had been paper-trained. She repeated, "The Maltese would go to pee and poop on the newspapers when he is out of the playpen."

Well, this was good news.

"The solution may lie in confining this Maltese in a room at night.. He had no space inside his playpen. Or he could be bored. Put newspapers at one end and his food and water at the other end. A bed for him. Do you have a spare room?"

The lady shook her head. But her teenaged daughter said, "Use the kitchen." The mother was not in favour of this idea.

"In addition, give him a regular feeding schedule." I advised. "What are your feeding times?"

"6 a.m, 12 noon and 8 p.m" The feed bowl was removed after 10 minutes. That was good. There was a water bottle and a water bowl to make sure that the puppy had sufficient water.

"The puppy usually poops within an hour after eating. To solve this problem, you may have to give the last feed at 5 p.m and no more water after 8 p.m."

"My daughter is worried that the puppy will be hungry, so she gives him supper at 8 p.m."

"It is best to feed the less than 4-month-old small breeds like the mini-Maltese, chihuahua, pomeranian and yorkshire terriers 3 times a day." I said. "They have low blood sugar levels and some do faint or go into fits. In Singapore, many pet shop operator selling the puppies will recommend 2 times a day."

"Will the puppy be dehydrated if water is taken away after 8 p.m?" the daughter asked.

"No."

So, would the mother permit the use of the kitchen? She frowned at the thought of a soiled kitchen floor overnight. "My daughter is grown up and now I have to clean up a puppy." It is usually the mother who bears the burden of cleaning up and this may be stressful to some mums.

What can be done?

An idea flashed.

"Maybe the puppy is seeking attention from you. You are bound to scold him for messing up and being scolded is better than no reaction from you. You do shout at him every time?"

The mother nodded.

"So, he messed up again overnight and gets the attention from you. Some puppies bark a lot for attention. This Maltese become soiled to get attention. If you do not give any reaction, he would stop."

The mother disbelieved my hypothesis. Well, the kitchen might be a better solution now. It had been 3 stressful weeks for her. But a soiled kitchen would take a much longer time to clean up. So, what would she do?

I do not know.