toilet training, house training puppies

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Location: Singapore

A veterinary surgeon at www.toapayohvets.com and founder of a licensed housing agency for expatriate rentals and sales at www.asiahomes.com

Saturday, December 31, 2005

227. Dry cough 19th day after purchase - leash & cane basket

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The White Miniature Schnauzer was not eating for 1 day and had lost appetite 2 days earlier. She had no fever. The complaint wa a cough with "phelgm" seen in the mouth. Bit there was o coughing when I palpated her throat and pressed the voice box area. So, what was the problem?

After 10 minutes, the puppy gave a series of hoarse "huh huh huh" cough. So, there was really cough. But what was the problem as the puppy was not eating even when offered minced meat from the can. Most puppies cannot resist canned food.

Unusual behaviour or really sick? Mum was worried that the kennel cough had returned although the pupppy had recovered sometime, after medication.
Kennel cough can last 1 month sometimes.




Most likely the causes are:
1. The leash irritating the throat. Change to body harness.
2. Chewing the basket bed. Trying to swallow the pieces, irritating the throat.
3. Puppy had a go at the cactus plant. So, plant bits might irritate the throat.
4. Insecticide sprayed on the floor and the puppy licked it. Possible.

I asked for a picture of the puppy. The quiet boy did not want his face to be photographed. As it was difficult not to include his face, I asked whether his sister would oblige. The sister was very happy to do so. The puppy was struggling as the sister tried to push the puppy's head down.

Fortunately, the boy did not mind as he could hold the puppy. Only this picture out of 8 was good enough. One can take hundreds on pictures and only one would be good enough. I was lucky in this case. I could not take hundreds as the children and the puppy would not be restless!

The boy and his brother love to read and illustrate. They do submit stories to contest. The brother carried a book every where, even at dinner time.

"I only know one child, my god daughter who did that," I said to the mum. "She became a lawyer."

Writing and illustration are a rare gift in Singapore's children because the culture is not there. Too many distractions, television and online chat and gaming and lack of support. I was thus pleasantly surprised to discover child writers and illustrators in one family. The parents are not writers, but the father is a great photographer.

If they have a teacher and parents who support them, these 2 boys will grow up to be great authors and illustrators. Most successful authors and illustrators write and draw from a young age.

Their mum had to buy books for them. "May have to borrow books from the National Library," she said.

"If I have such children, I will buy all the books they want to read," I replied. "My children at this age did not even read one book (other than school text books) per year. Reading opens up the mind, make them wiser and give them a very good command of the vocabulary. When the vocabulary is strong, the child excels in other subjects too , especially English language."

In other words, the child who reads a lot can do above average in academic studies. At least better than a child who does not read and write. The problem is that parents with such children do not have a support group of children writers in Singapore or know how to encourage by praises the little achievements of the child. Publishing their works will encourage writing. The National Library, Singapore may have such groups and there is a company publishing children's writings but I do not know how successful it is.

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