98. Puppies "On Test"?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Do you think the Singapore Government will implement a "Puppies On Test?" on puppy owners in the near future?



Something along the lines of the ERP (Electronic Road Pricing)?

97. "Doc, Shall I beat the puppy if he misbehaves?"

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The breeder's assistant, a tall young man with a crooked tooth had advised that the puppy be spanked if he misbehaves. The Jack Russell loves to bite the owner's fingers and shreds newspapers. Great ball of fire and high energy. I put a towel on the consultation table to show the owner that the puppy may love a soft area to sleep on. The puppy immediately sniffed and bit the towel.

"His gums are itchy and he needs to chew the towel," I explained. Other puppies in the same situation usually just sniffed the towel.




"Doc, shall I beat the puppy if he misbehaves?" the over forty man asked me a second time.

"Beating only makes the puppy frighten of you," I said.
The puppy pees and poops all over the apartment. Now, what should the owner do if not using negative reinforcement?

How do first-time owners deal with a puppy's toilet-training?

"What type of housing do you have for your puppy?" I asked.

The answer depends on the type of housing. If only, there is a book in the Singapore situation that I can take out and give it to the couple for reference. An instruction manual like the Secrets of Shaolin Kung Fu masters.

After explaining toilet-training, the man asks before leaving the consultation room, "Doc, shall I beat the puppy if he misbehaves?"

There are various methods of correcting misbehaviour. It takes a book to explain. I said, "The Jack Russell puppy is so small in size. Your beating may cause internal organ injury and it dies from internal bleeding at the head or abdomen."

The owner had not thought of that. I think he would not beat the puppy.


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96. Negative reinforcement (penalty for wrongdoing)

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

What is negative reinforcement in puppy training? Using a roll of newspaper to spank the puppy. Making him smell the urine or shit. Measures that cause pain and discomfort.

What about negative reinforcement for people? Singapore is a "fine" city. Penalties can be as high as $900 for speeding at 120 kmph for the first-time offender. 12 demerit points are also given. Is this negative reinforcement?




How about the electronic toll gate to reduce traffic congestion in downtown and now, all over the country? The ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) policy. Is it negative reinforcement in motorist education? Fine imposed if you enter the Restricted Zone without paying.



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95. Lhasa Apso pees on floor outside playpen

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"We don't want her to get cancer," the couple said. "Our daughter loves this Shih Tzu a lot and we hear that spaying her ensures that she will not get cancer."

"If the ovaries and womb are removed," I said, "There is much lower chances of getting cancer of the female reproductive system like breast cancer."

However, this Shih Tzu looks so much like a Lhasa Apso. She had a gradual stop in her nose. A regal look unlike a Shih Tzu with a sharp stop in her nose. (The stop is the distance between the midway of the eyes to the end of the nose). With a sharp stop, the Shih Tzu's nose looks much shorter and compressed.



"But this "Shih Tzu" looks different from other Shih Tzus, the owners said. "So far, we have not seen another Shih Tzu like her. She was not sold with pedigree papers at 6 months of age. The pet shop girl at Tampenis, now closed, said that nobody wanted her as she has a dark face, but my wife just love her."

"This could be a Lhasa Apso," I said. "Lhasa Apsos are not popular in Singapore as they have dark faces. Usually, puppies are sold away at 3 months and the pet shop operators find Lhasa Apso hard to sell and may get stuck with them."

I believe there a Lhasa Apso with lighter faces? Maybe not in Singapore.

The female dog was thin and weighs around 5 kg instead of the expected 6 kg. I postponed the surgery. To feed two times a day.

"Is she paper trained?" I asked the couple in the late forties. She was well groomed and her lush coat was just simply to hard to resist touching. A very quiet lap dog.

Apparently she had been paper-trained in the same playpen with newspapers. She enters a gap in the 4 pieces of fences. However, she would pee on the floor outside the playpen if the soiled papers were not changed.

The fence attach a water bottle. That was why the couple still had this playpen up.

"There is no need to have all 4 pieces," I said. One piece to attach the water bottle will do. Use a pee tray or card board paper on the floor tiles to prevent soiling. Give the dog more newspaper areas so that she will not pee on the floor.

A lot of cleaning will then not be necessary. The floor cleaner was effective as the dog could not locate the urine smell when the floor area outside the playpen was cleaned. She poops one time per day, after breakfast. I advised giving her 2 meals a day but this may affect her toilet-training. Otherwise she will not be able to gain weight. More exercises? Singapore is so hot and her coat is high maintenance. Maybe, more exercise in the apartment.



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94. Follow up: Does not pee on papers with no urine smell

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Bigger crate 3feet x 2feet.
Towel - Shreds towel but not newspapers. Owner believed that since newspapers NOT used to beat puppy, it does not shred newspapers. I think it is distracted by the towel. Does not pee on towel though.



Needs urine smell on papers otherwise will not recognise them as toilet area. 3rd vaccination. No scabies on ear now. Happy owner. This is a follow up on Sep 9, 2005 case mentioned earlier. 9 days with owner then and preferred to sleep in shower room. Disliked heat. Now housed in the kitchen.



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93. Pee platform and pee tray for the Singapore puppy

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

In Singapore, some puppy owners use the pee platform and pee tray to housetrain the new puppy. This can be effective as the puppy has had been used to this setup when crated at the breeder or pet shop. Not all pet shop operators recommend this configuration. Much depends on the willingness of the puppy buyer to pay. Usually 4 pieces of fences to form a playpen are recommended. This may be inexpensive but may not suit every puppy buyer.



Confine the puppy in a small area using barricades or fences. Put on the pee platform. Give command like "pee here." Reward the puppy with lots of praises or treats. If the puppy is free to roam the whole apartment, it may not have time or incentive to use this pee platform.

The puppy keeps cleaner than using newspapers. The floor tiles are also not soiled. There is no paper shredding. The platform must be big enough so that the puppy has a clean area to lie on. In addition, it should be cleaned often.

Later on, in paper-training, the 2nd piece of the soiled newspapers can be put on the floor e.g. the kitchen and the puppy encouraged to pee on the newspapers. The urine smell may or may not attract it to be paper-trained. Much depends on the time spent by the owner in house-training.

If no paper training is done, the puppy just use the platform. When the floor rusts, get a new one. The pee tray catches the urine. Less urine smells in the apartment or room.



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92. Pee-platform trained but poos on the floor. More cleaning work.

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The whole family of a couple with 3 grown up daughters came with the Miniature Schnauzer for the annual booster vaccination. 2 years had passed. This was a very well behaved Miniature Schnauzer. He barks only when people passes by. Although he was an intact male, he did not lift his leg to urinate on the walls expected of male dogs.

"Why?" the owner asked.


"Probably he is not an alpha dog - the dominant type wanting to mark territory," I said.

The old crate and pee tray had been replaced by a new pee platform and pee tray for the dog to go to pee. However, he poos on a corner at the balcony. The owners were happy with this arrangement.

"Have you ever thought of paper-training?" Apparently not.

"The apartment can be smelly for visitors," I said. "The family members's noses are sensitised and cannot detect the smell." A picture of the pee platform + pee tray is shown below. It costs around S$60. The more expensive $150 non-rusty one is made of aluminium.



I thought the girls nodded their heads. Maybe, the owner will start paper-training. Use the soiled papers with stool smell and put them on the same spot in the balcony corner. Give lots of praises. Maybe treats as rewards for doing what the owners wanted. Will this work? I may have to wait till the next annual vaccination booster to see the family.



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91. The Miniature Schnauzer does not pee on papers in the living area

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Somehow the Miniature Schnauzer did not associate the newspapers in the living area as a toilet spot.
"Why did you place the papers?" I asked.


"In the centre of the living area."
"But you placed the papers in the corner at the kitchen backyard area?" I confirmed with the owner.

So, was it the corner privacy or not? Puppies prefer certain corners usually. Some do not bother.
Could this puppy not attracted by the fresh newspapers without urine smell?

"Use the 2nd sheet of the soiled papers," I advised. "Neutralise the urine smells in the living area floor."

"Vinegar:water will not do," the owner said. "It affects the texture of the marble floor."

"Does the mixture bleach or change the marble floor colour?" I asked.

"No, but it dulls the surface. We use a floor cleaner."

I hope the puppy will be able to be paper-training in the living area. Or rush back to the toilet in the kitchen-yard area.



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90. The 3-month-old Shih Tzu can't resist the carpet. Why?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Most likely, the carpet is full of urine. If you use an ultraviolet lamp, you will see fluorescence all over the carpet. Therefore, the carpet is so attractive as puppies as a strong sense of smell.

He pees and poos on the carpet when nobody is at home. Why?



"He is afraid of being spanked" I said. The lady owner nodded her head. But what to do? The commercial odour removal from the pet shop was not "effective" although her friend claimed success.

She may need to neutralise the whole carpet. Also, the floor below the carpet. Try baking soda powder to neutralise the smell of urine.



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89. The Aluminium pee platform and pee tray

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Costs around $160. Will not rust. The platform is easy to slide out to wash. If you wash it every time the puppy pees, it encourages the puppy to use the platform. Puppies dislike dirtying themselves.



You still need to devote time to motivate and train the puppy to use the equipment. Newspapers are put on the tray to retain the urine smell to attract the puppy to use this as toilet area.



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88. How do you define success in paper-training?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"How do you define success in paper-training?" the owner of the 5-month-old Shih Tzu asked me.

"The puppy uses the papers all the time, except when he is sick or stressed." I said.
"When you bring him to a friend's apartment, he still uses the papers."



As to why the owner has 70% success, the floor tiles have great attraction for the growing up male puppy. He is 5 months old but he is already urine marking territory like peeing a bit very suddenly so that the owner has no time to catch him in the act. That is the complaint of the owner.

Neutralise the urine odour and confine the puppy in the kitchen again to start all over again the paper training. Neuter if necessary.

The definition of success in paper-training varies with the individual owner. The strict definition is that the dog does not soil the house at all and do not do it when brought over to the friends' or relatives' house. Dogs do soil the house on "purpose" sometimes and this may be due to stress (new dog, smell of new dogs, separation anxiety and illness).



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87. Golden Retriever trained on the aluminium pee platform + pee tray in 7 days.

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"If you give treats to motivate the puppy or child," the European lady said, "It is easy to succeed in toiilet training."

"I presume you have children in the Primary 1 and 2 School category," I guessed. "These 7- and 8-year-old responds very well to sweets as treats."

She did have children 6 - 9 years old. Older ones are not motivated when given sweets as treats. As for the Golden Retriever puppy, she has been very successful because she spent nearly 24 hours toilet training the puppy to step onto and use the aluminum platform as the toilet area.

A picture is shown below.


"What do you use for potty training the toddler?" I asked her. "Sweets may affect the teeth."

"We have a special type of raisin for toddlers," she replied. In her case, the pet shop operator had sold her a playpen but it was not used. She used the newspapers and confined the puppy in the kitchen for week 2. The puppy was in the bedroom at night. It was paper-trained with the use of the urine spray aid. In week 3 after purchase, she went to the pet shop and bought the aluminium pee platform + tray set up. It was very useful because the platform would not be rusty and could be cleaned easily. It cost around S$150.00 but she was satisfied with it. A picture will be posted soon.



The loose stools of the puppy? Passing stools 5X/day and loose stools were not normal for puppies fed dry feed. When the canned food (smelly stomach contents of cows) much loved by the puppies was fed in large amounts by the domestic worker, the puppy had loose stools. Chewbones and rawhides are given too. When the canned food is not given, the stools were well formed. So, it was that canned food.

Spending the time with your puppy the whole day and night would be worth the trouble as you probably can toilet train it in 7 days. In the morning, the Retriever is taken outdoors. He passses stools afer breakfast, lunch and dinner and after midnight around 5x/day. Pees many times.



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86. Two bricks and corner wall prevents Lab Retriever shifting playpen

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Some puppies pushes the playpen all over the room. In this case, the owner uses 6 pieces of fences to form a rectangular playpen.



2 sides are at the corner of a wall. The other 2 open sides are blocked, each with one brick. This prevents shifting. It is an excellent idea.



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