32. The Chihuahua keeps the sleeping area clean

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The young lady has the Chihuahua for only one week. In the playpen, she puts a cushion on one side and newspapers on the remaining side. The water bowl will be nearer the sleeping area near the cushion. Lots of chew toys. The chihuahua shreds the newspapers. But she will never soil the sleeping area even when the cushion has been removed for washing. She eats all food in less than 1 minute. Fed twice per day.

"Should she be beaten if she does not behave, as recommended by my friends?"



"Beating makes the puppy frightened of you," I said. "You need to spend time to toilet-train her." I hope she has time as she seems to be a very busy young lady.

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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31. Is this a case of submissive urination or lower urinary tract infection?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

She was leash-trained so that she would be restricted to a small kitchen area with newspapers. Her leash would be tied to the window grill. Spanking was used to train her, I believed although I did not go into details.

8/10 times the adopted puppy from Jurong Island would go to the newspapers in the kitchen to do her business. But she would pass stools in her two favoured spots - between the living room and dining room and the bathroom.



The owners were not complaining. I forgot to ask them whether they thought of neutralising the smell on the favoured spots with vinegar:water 1:3 or some commercial urine odour removal from the pet shop.

Spanking is frowned upon by dog lovers as they believe that the puppy will develop undesirable behaviours like aggression, biting owners or be frightened of the owners. Well, light spanking seemed to have worked for this puppy that is well loved by the owners. Usually, cross breds don't get adopted nor do they get vaccinated. So far, this is about the rare one I encounter in my Surgery.

It seems that cross-breds are an extinct species in a highly urbanised Singapore in 2005. I have been trying to find one for a friend who just wants a cross breed as she believes they make excellent guard dogs. I scour the industrial parks and can't believe that they are so few of them and they number probably a handful at any one time.

So, it was a pleasure to see this family looking after her very well. As for drinking urine, she did have a vaginal infection. Yellow thick pus clogged her vulva area. As for dribbling urine on greeting the owner coming home from work the past few days, this could be due to excitement or submissive urination. I advised the owner not to let her greet them on coming home. Otherwise, this "inability to control urine" would persist.

I wonder whether this is a case of submissive urination since the puppy did receive some spanking as part of toilet training?

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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31. The Cairn Terrier owner has ESP?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"Paper-trained in 3 days?" I repeated my question. The American expatriate who bought a Cairn Terrier from the pet shop confirmed patiently. "Just put her in a small room bigger than your consultation room and put newspapers at one corner."

"Did you use the toilet-training spray onto the newspapers?" I asked.

The owner laughed, "I used it but the Cairn Terrier ignored it and went to another corner of the room to do her business. She chose her own spot. I put newspapers at her favoured spot and she is paper-trained in 3 days."

This was surprising as most Singapore owners have had great difficulty paper-training the puppies in 3 weeks.

"I have 4 other dogs before." the expatriate testified. "They chose their own toilet area. One of them chose the kitchen drainage cover and that was much easy to wash."

That was not exactly paper-training but he made his point that puppies naturally chose their bathroom area if kept in a small room. But most Singapore apartment owners don't have the luxury of a small room. They do have balconies and kitchens to house the puppy, but somehow, the puppy pees everywhere and messes up the whole room.

In this case, he purposely chose the timid Cairn Terrier over the other and had no children to distract the puppy at home. "The puppy followed me around for week 1 but now, she is independent. She sleeps alone without barking in the utility room."



So, are Cairn Terriers smarter or has he some flair for connecting with puppies? A sort of extra sensory perception(ESP)with puppies? "You should be a dog trainer," I said. He must have ESP with the canine species.

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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29. Wiping the puppy's backside in toilet-training

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The basic instinct of all puppies is to be clean. In this case, the bachelor wipes the mini-Maltese's backside after peeing and pooping with a tissue. Also, restrict her to 100% newspapers in the small bedroom. She sleeps outside the cage. Cage has water bottle attached. Dual nozzle so that the 600-gram mini-Maltese has access to water. Feed twice a day.

Seems to be very satisfied with her progress. Thin. Asked to feed more than the 30 pellets advised by seller. Feed according to body weight gain. Feel the sharp spinal bones on back. If these are felt, most likely the puppy needs to gain more weight.

Puppy's instinct to keep clean. Lick owner to wake him up to go to the papers after midnight. Sometimes twice. If owner oversleeps, barks. If not, just had to pee on the bed if she sleeps on the owner's bed.



Sleeping with the puppy and observing her toilet habits led to fast paper-training. But how many owners have the time and patience. Do this for the first week. Must take leave and be focused. Consistency, feed twice a day, free water or restrict water after 8 p.m. These are the secrets of success.

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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28. The wood shavings toilet-area for the Shih Tzu

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Shih Tzu, female, gold/white with light brown eyes.
Play pen with 4 pieces of fences + aluminium tray + newspaper placed in the balcony as the kitchen is too small. A curtain prevents rain from splashing onto the play pen. With the family for 14 days and the children are very fond of her.



lst few days. Barks the whole night. Diarrhoea (due to drinking milk). Messes up newspapers. Very dirty. What should the mother of a primary school girl and two secondary school boys do? Give up the puppy? Return to the pet shop? A kennel operator boarded her at a commercial boarding kennel for two nights. The operator advised the following:

1. Use wood shavings instead of newspapers. The shavings keep the puppy cleaner and drier than newspapers. It was a satisfactory solution but there are recurring costs involved.

2. Ad lib feeding since the puppy is not that greedy and knows its limit. Therefore, there is no need to take away the feed within 15 minutes. However, this puppy is thin.

3. Canned food is a waste of time. For thin puppies, canned food mixed with dry food may improve appetite and weight gain.
Water is usually added to the dry feed to soften the hardness. Milk is another possibility. In this puppy, there was diarrhoea. It could be due to the milk and/or the stress of changing environment. Milk given in dilute form may not cause diarrhoea and puppies just love milk. Milk added to the dry feed seems to attract more eating.

4. Bring the puppy downstairs to the grass twice a day and it would be toilet-trained. The 3-month-old puppy pees a lot and poops around 3 to 4 times at this age, if feed twice per day, from feedback from various owners. Therefore, twice a day would not be sufficient to toilet train her. In any case, the owner could only bring her down in the evening.
5. Cover up the play pen so that the puppy feels secure and would not bark. This seems to be working after the puppy came back from the boarding kennel.

MY COMMENTS on the above:

Regarding point 1, , the use of wood shavings as litter, just as in cats has been recommended by some people during my internet research. This is the first time I have encountered a Singapore puppy owner using it. It definitely keeps the puppy cleaner and drier and she was quite happy with the litter compared to newspapers which are shred and crumbled.

Regarding point 2, the free feeding is not good for toilet training. The puppy usually passes stools within an hour of eating. Now she is given freedom to eat when she wants to. So, there is no urgency to eat all within 15 minutes. This affects bowel control.



Regarding point 3, , canned food has a place in the feeding management of thin puppies. Most puppies eat more when canned food is added. Milk sometimes cause diarrhoea in some puppies.


Regarding point 4, it is difficult to toilet-train the puppy if there is no fixed times to go downstairs. A 3-month-old puppy poops 3 to 4 times a day and pees a lot of times. Just going downstairs twice a day will be insufficient.

Regarding point no. 5, in my opinion, the puppy had been boarded out and have was deprived of attention even if she barked the whole night as the boarding kennels do not have people around after dinner.. With 3 pre-teen children, the new puppy received tremendous amount of attention during the first few days. Suddenly she had to sleep alone. That was why she barked. When she barked, she received the children's attention. This reinforced her barking behaviour. When boarded out, she had to sleep alone and came back "cured." I had another similar case too. This boarding out may be a solution to noisy barking puppies. As long as nobody pays any attention to the puppy during bed-time, she would not bark.

The main issue is that the puppy can never be paper-trained if wood shavings are used. It can be wood shavings trained but the owner was not in favour of using wood shavings for a long time.

This case require the use of the CRATE TRAINING method if the lady owner is home most of the time. If done properly (see other articles in the blog) and CONSISTENTLY, this puppy should be paper-trained within 14 days.

The mother may have lots of time spent in looking after the primary school daughter and two intelligent boys from a premier Chinese school. I did not ask but some young home-makers in Singapore spend a lot of time ferrying their younger ones to schools and back and to various enrichment and tuition classes. This can be quite exhausting. However, the best time to train this puppy is at 3 months and when she is still new to the family.

The above are my quick thoughts for this particular situation. Other owners with the same playpen + Aluminium tray have other solutions. I would need to edit or review later when all the research reports come in.

Please refer to the other articles and let me know by e-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com if you have any questions. Do let me have a few picture of the wood shavings on the aluminium tray as this is a rare practice in Singapore.

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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27. The Pom has a bedroom toilet

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Australian import. Handsome looking. Good appetite but coughs.
When first purchased from the pet shop, he coughs non-stop. He was given medication from a vet and now it is over 4 weeks. He coughs less. But still gives hacking cough at night especially.

"Kennel cough in puppies may take over 4 weeks for the puppy to recover", I said based on experience. "But most recover within 2 weeks." Could it be the air conditioning temperature being too low drying the throat?

Since the puppy seldom bark, his throat would not be much irritated by non-stop barking. He sleeps in the owner's bedroom. That's the secret of no or little barking at night.

Could it be the puppy's active life-style? He was paper-trained by the 2nd week and uses the playpen in the owner's bedroom as the toilet. No other places in the apartment. To people, the apartment is not that big. To this Pomeranian imported from Australia and having kennel cough, running back to the bedroom from the other rooms could be like asking the toddler to run back a big football field. That takes some strain on the lungs and breathing system. People sometimes cannot understand the apartment is large for a small Pomeranian and takes much energy out of him.

The 4-month-old Pomeranian's routine:

lst week. Playpen (4 pieces of fences) + newspaper + urine training aid. Sleeps in the owner's bedroom. The urine training aid was strong smelly and made the Pomeranian terribly smelly. So, no more use.

2nd week. Open the playpen to let Pom out to play. He goes back to the playpen to pee and poop.

Feeding time. Stainless steel feed bowl. 15 minutes take away the food. 10 a.m and 7 p.m. Passes stools around 1 p.m, 5 p.m and 8 p.m. Passes water a lot of times.

Water from water bottle fixed to side of playpen.

Now, changing to puppy training pad replacing newspapers. Taped on floor. Puppy does not shred the pads unlike newspapers and has cleaner, not black feet. Successful change-over but still keeps the playpen (toilet) in the bedroom so as not to confuse the puppy. That was a good advice.



The owner was advised to check on his air conditioning temperature which might need to be above 21 deg C and to keep the Pomeranian in his bedroom for a week.

The owner did not want to shift the playpen toilet out of the bedroom so as not to upset the Pomeranian's schedule and toilet location. He was wise. Now, he is using puppy training pads taped to the floor of the playpen. In this way, the puppy can't shred the pads unlike newspapers and has cleaner feet. He changes the pads every 2 days. Regular feeding schedule and fixed toilet location are secrets of success in the first week. It was a great toilet training success story.

Now, if only I can cure his cough within 7 days. It would be much appreciated by the owner.

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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26. The Beagle could not be paper-trained?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

I remember this 6-month-old male Beagle very well because he had a rare colour, a lemon colour and most important, he passed intestinal gas during consultation. Today, he had no more flatulence but had some skin rashes.



"Has he been paper-trained?" I asked. It would be difficult to paper-train a puppy if it has medical problems like passing gas.

"He has skin rashes. This is the 3rd time in 3 months he sees the vet," the young man said. "He has recovered from his farting. I gave him various supplements recommended by the pet shop." Skin rashes are one of the commonest problems in puppies. The causes are varied.


HOW WAS HE TOILET-TRAINED?

1. Outdoors. After eating at 10 a.m and 7 p.m usually, he would be brought downstairs to the grass area. However, the times are NOT fixed as the owner may over sleep. So, the Beagle has to pee in the wire crate.

2. Passes motion three times at night. This might indicate that he had a gut problem, not being able to control his motion or that he had not been given a fixed schedule to pass motion during the day.

3. Always crated if the owner is not at home. Nobody at home to toilet-train him.

4. If the owner is at home, the Beagle is leashed so that he would not pee all over the whole apartment.

WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?

If the Beagle is not paper-trained by 6 months of age, the male hormones of adolescence will make the Beagle rebellious and difficult to train. Was he incorrigible?

I came to the conclusion that the Beagle did not have a fixed schedule to go to the toilet and the owner agreed. But what is the solution now? I promised to e-mail him after thinking about the situation.

The recommendation will be crate training. In crate training, the Beagle is confined in a crate just sufficient for him to lie down and stand. At 6 months, he should be able to control his bowels and bladder for 5 hours.

At the beginning, the owner has to take him out every 3 hour to a restricted area e.g. toilet or outdoors. Command him to "pee here." Praise or reward if he does what is required.

Increase to 4 hours and then 5 hours. However, there must be a time-table with regular taking out of the Beagle. The owner must take leave. Members of the family may be encouraged to help.

The floor tiles are neutralised with vinegar:water 1:2 so that there will be no urine smell to attract the Beagle to the area.

Readers with any suggestions, please e-mail judy@toapayohvets.com. Thanks.

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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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.

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

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24. The Spitz owner diligently does online toilet-training research

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"The Spitz was paper-trained in 3 days?" I was incredulous when the twenty-something years old trim and fair lady working for an airline told me about her success story. The Spitz looked as trim as she is. Thin as a rake seems to be the in-thing for the younger generation and singles.

This Spitz commanded attention from groomers and everybody including me. He seems to be a natural champion Spitz. Most important, he had clear eyes. No tear staining. The only blemish were 2 stained front paws due to licking as a home-alone dog.

What were her secrets of success? She had knowledge by reading up and researching on the internet and applied the knowledge effectively by taking 3 days to toilet-train the spitz puppy full-time.

"Did you sleep with him?" I asked. A professional question. She understood what I meant. There were success stories of spending 24 hours with the new puppy. Every time the puppy wakes up or makes noises wanting to go to the toilet, bring him to the toilet even if it meant having to sleep next to the puppy for the first few days.

Now, the Spitz is 14 months old and his front paw stains had faded due to the fact that he has a companion, a new Golden Retriever puppy imported from Australia. The Spitz sprayed urine on my Surgery's door. That is normal for some male dogs. "But he mounts the Golden Retriever," the young lady said.



"Does he go to the same urine spot as the Spitz?" I asked. New puppies adopt the same practices as the older dog in most cases.

"No," she said. "The Spitz would not permit him to be in this toilet area."I put the 2nd piece of newspaper (with urine) onto another area and the Golden Retriever puppy used that area.

Watch for signs of the puppy wanting to urinate (sniffing, circling). Commands like "pee here" and praises seem to be the key to success too.

It was a great success story. Maybe the Spitz needs to be trained not to mount on the new puppy? If not, he may need to be neutered and a loss of good genetic material though I doubt he will be used for breeding.

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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23. The Miniature Schnauzer climbs out of the playpen daily

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

This Miniature Schnauzer was all ears if you know what I mean. If not, you will understand when you see his picture. She seems to be attentive and a good listener. I mention the ears to the owner but did not comment to prevent misunderstanding with the Seller. "Oh, the pet shop operator advised me to use 5-cent coins taped onto the ear tip so that the ears will drop," the young man said to me. "The puppy just would not have this nonsense."

He was not worried about physical appearances and that was good for this puppy. Taping ear tips sometimes lead to damage and infection to ear tips and distortion of the shape of the ears.

The playpen was open at the top. "She can climb out of the play pen," the owner said as he showed me a beautiful picture of her in his mobile phone. "It is difficult to photograph her climbing."

I know this too well. Photographing puppies doing what you want them to do is most difficult. Maybe babies are easier. The owner e-mailed the mobile phone picture to me. It was kind of him.



She prefers to pee on the kitchen floors and the adjacent bathroom when the owner is at work. I said, "Thoroughly clean up the floor with vinegar:water 1:3" in response to the owner's complaint that the other floor cleaners were ineffective in neutralising the urine smell.



The playpen is around 3 feet high. This Schnauzer discovered how to climb up the fence and get out to pee.

This case seems to be the puppy telling the owner that she wants her playpen to be very clean. Every puppy instinctively wants a clean den to sleep. It cannot communicate this well to the owner. Many first-time puppy owners are unaware of this basic instinct that dogs never dirty their den. This seems to be the case.

The solution seems to be to confine the puppy in a small area covered with newspapers. 3 sides of the playpen are anchored to an area. One side of the playpen is left open so that the puppy can eat and drink inside. It pees outside the playpen in the kitchen area. This outside area is lined with newspapers. Will it work since the owner is at work the whole day? Will it shred the newspapers? If it does, can the newspapers be taped onto the floor tiles? A pee tray lined with newspapers be used?

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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22. Is the Corgi's belly button prone to clipper burn?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"I will never go back to the groomer again," the owner said to me. "I did not ask her to clip the navel as I just wanted the puppy to have a bath."

It is best to write down what the owner wants. In this case, the Corgi's belly button was red. It was probably clipper burn as the groomer shaved off all hairs in a rectangular area 7 cm x 14 cm. The Corgi was licking the navel which had loose skin.



I remember Corgi's navels very well. Not that I had encountered more than a handful of Corgis in my practice. I remembered Corgi's navels because I had seen a case of a Corgi whose navel was cut by the groomer's clipper. I had to rush back to the Surgery to stitch up the 1 cm cut. The case was memorable because the owner went back to the same grooming shop even though the Corgi had the same cut on the navel by another groomer in the same grooming shop earlier. How unlucky can the Corgi or the pet shop operator get?

Now, I wonder whether Corgi's navels are vulnerable to clipper burn?

This Corgi is also sleeping alone. I think this is the 3rd sibling I met for vaccination. From the same pet shop. The independence spirit is valued because many Singapore owners cannot cope with whining and barking puppies wanting company at night.

The Aluminium tray with play pen is an excellent innovation by a pet shop operator. The tray prevents urine staining the floor tiles and the 4 pieces of playpen fences collapsing on a home-alone active puppy.


"The Corgi sleeps a lot," the owner said. "Puppies need a lot of sleep." I said. I don't how many hours of sleep do they need per day.

I hope the playpen + Aluminium tray works for this Corgi who appears to be an alpa-female. Likes to bite. Advised not to play tug of war and be strict with her.

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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21. The Pom pushes his stools through the wire flooring gap

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The young boy loves this Pom very much but he was in a boarding school. The Pom has a great coat and is very clean. His home is the cage with wire flooring and pee tray below.



He wants to be clean as you can see that he pushes the stools into the tray below if nobody removes them. He does not eat them. This is an intelligent puppy. He just wants to have a clean area to lie down and be his den. I hope the young boy has more time for him when he comes home from the boarding school.

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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20. The Italian Greyhound had the ideal toilet-training configuration

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore


Some books have described this method. I would recommend this set up which is ideal. But it is expensive and seldom advocated by the pet shop operators in Singapore, if any.

1. Basically, a large enclosed area. Playpen 6 feet x 6 feet.
2. Left side. Den for the puppy. In this case, the plastic crate which was used to import the Italian Greyhound from Australia. Internet purchase by Singaporean.
3. Right side. Pee tray on which half a page of the Straits Times newspaper is placed.
4. Water bowl at corner near pee tray.
5. Feed bowl removed within 15 minutes. No free feeding. Fed 2 times a day.



In this case, the puppy is older and has been paper-trained by the Australian breeder. She just goes to the papers to pee and poop on day 1. So, this was not much of a problem.

Will this set up work as it costs more to install? This is a difficult question to answer.

The Italian Greyhound had 2 vaccinations in Australia and was covered by 3 main viral diseases. The next vaccination would be July 2006.

Did she need any vaccinations in Singapore? If was properly vaccinated in Australia, she would be all right but she should get a 3rd vaccination. In this case, no vaccination was done as the puppy vomited during car travel and the owner was worried it was getting cold. It is best not to vaccinate unwell puppies even though it is only car motion sickness. In this case, the puppy would not be vaccinated for this year.

2 vaccinations are the minimum if she did not have maternal antibodies to interfere with the effect of the first vaccination. Australian-imported puppies to Singapore are advised to have 2 vaccinations in Singapore.

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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