toilet training, house training puppies

Community education supported by www.toapayohvets.com

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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

Friday, December 23, 2005

218. Consistency in training is a success factor for this Shih Tzu

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Consistency is important in toilet-training. The Shih Tzu was toilet-trained to go outdoors using a fixed feeding and exercise schedule.

He has an extra outing at 12 midnight if the lady owner came back from shift work. Why? "The puppy is excited, "the slim lady owner said to me.



Now, though there is a piece newspaper in the bedroom, the puppy never soiled himself or used the papers.

Use the top sheet of soiled but dried newspaper on top of replacement papers will ensure that the puppy still has the urine smell, during paper training. The commercial puppy training spray was used earlier and found to be effective too.

Mopping the floor. The puppy still went to pee on the floor areas. That was the early stage. Now, the puppy kept the whole apartment clean. First week was messy. Needed to watch for signs of turning, squatting and sniffing. Say "No," and quickly carry the puppy to the newspapers.

It was good to meet an owner happy with her puppy.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

217. Follow up. 2 pee trays. Scottish Terrier & Westie.

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

2 pee trays may be needed if the owner is not at home the whole day. In this case, the Scottish Terrier and the Westie share the pee tray. When soiled, the tray is cleaned. The Scottish Terrier eats 2x/day, poops 2x/day, pees many times. Likes to chew all corner of wood and then vomit.

May need an anti-chew spray on furniture.

216. Male Shih Tzu pees anywhere when female is on heat

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Shih Tzu, Male, 2.5 years old.
Shih Tzu, Female, 2 years old. Had 2 births and 4 heats since 6 months of age.

"If the female is not on heat, the male goest to the papers on the balcony to pee and poop," the lady owner said. "If the female is on heat, he pees anywhere."

This is actually a case of urine marking to define his territory. To tell other males not to cross into his territory and mate with his female.

215. Perfume to mask urine odour ineffective

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Papillon, Male, born May 23, 05.
Shih Tzu, M, born July 6, 03
Tibetan Spaniel, M, born Jun 14, 05.
Jap spitz, F, born Aug 25, 05.

"Is Dettol floor cleaning effective in preventing the puppies from peeing on the same spots?" I asked. Dettol is a common floor wash and a successful marketing strategy.

"The domestic worker mopped the urine from the floor but the puppies seem to go to the same spots. They misbehaved even when the worker is around."

In this case, the mop may spread the urine smell, making the spots irresistible for the puppies to pee on. I advised vinegar:water to neutralise the strong ammonia smell of dog urine. Washing the mop thoroughly will help. In this case, the Dettol may not be the problem or ineffective.

This case seems complicated when it comes to toilet training.

1. The Papillon sleeps on the bed. When he soils the bed, he gets a beating. The perfume is used to mask the odour. Not very effective.

2. The Tibetan Spaniel sleeps on the towel in front of the toilet.
Paper-trained. The puppy starts licking urine and stools. He was "beaten" whenever he does that.

3. The Japanese Spitz is crated. She will only pee on fresh newspapers kept on the bedroom floor.

4. No complaints about the Shih Tzu.

IF the puppies go back to the same spots to pee, this shows that the urine smell not effectively neutralised. Need to study whether Dettol does neutralise the puppy's urine.

214. Female Maltese - Excitement pee for a record 7 times

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Maltese, Female born Jan 17, 2005.
Date Now: Dec 20, 2005.

I asked about toilet training when this Maltese came for its booster vaccination.

1. Playpen + newspapers in the living room. Lots of toys.
2. First week - stepped all over stools, urine.
3. 2nd week - After sleeping and eating, take her out. Put her on newspapers outside the playpen. Use one soiled sheet of newspapers so that the puppy is attracted to the smell of urine.
4. Newspapers in the bedroom. Now, the puppy is paper-trained.

The puppy would pee whenever she meets the owner. A record of 7 times in one instance. So, the lady owner tried not to greet her when she came home. But the male owner did not do so. The excitement peeing continued.

213. Paper-training on bathroom floor. Use of pee tray?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Maltese, Male, born July 30, 2005. Bought Nov 5, 2005. Apartment living.

1. First week - pee and poop anywhere when allowed freedom.
2. Confine to the bathroom. Newspapers on bathroom floor.
3. If puppy is seen peeing or pooping when let out, beat with newspapers.
4. Now, crate + door + wire flooring + pee tray when home alone.
5. Puppy goes to the newspapers in the bathroom now.

"Why not use the pee tray?" I advised. "Put newspapers onto the pee tray and put it inside the bathroom. This will save a lot of washing of the bathroom floor."

The young couple had not thought of that.

"However, the pupy need a big area as he turned and turned before poppingk" the young man said. "We have to put 2-3 spread out sheets of the newspapers for him."

In that case, the pee tray is too small.

"The puppy will only use new newspapers and will avoid the soiled ones," the owner mentioned. "He also avoid the soiled bathroom floor." This is a puppy's instinct to keep itself clean.

In this case, giving more newspapers to enable the puppy to get paper-trained. Spend time with training. The owner said it took 1 month and lots of training to get him paper-trained.

212. Switch from playpen to crate for working couples

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"How to stop the American Cocker Spaniel puppy from stepping on its stools and become smelly?" the young couple asked. They had just purchased the puppy from a pet shop in Novena shopping mall and wanted a post-purchae veterinary examination. A very clean puppy imported from Australia in the sense that it did not have skin disease.

The previous case of a Shih Tzu puppy had a thousand red rashes and pimples on its belly and lower chest. Continual itchiness. Hair falling off from the edges of its ears. Hind paws red with licking. This was a puppy that did not seek veterinary attention. The owner assumed scratching was normal. It came for a vaccination booster.

So, it was nice to see such a clean puppy. No smell because the young lady owner had bathed it.

But how to keep it clean daily? In the first week inside the playpen with newspapers covering the floor, most owners will complain that the puppy steps on its own stools and urine.

How to resolve this problem? Since the couple is busy working, the best form of housing for this puppy will be the crate with door, wire flooring and pee tray below.

I advised going back to the pet shop to switch to the crate. In this way, the puppy can manage to keep itself clean as the pee and poop (sometimes) fall into the gaps between the wire flooring and onto the pee tray below.



I also advised reading this web blog to get more ideas on toilet training at www.toapayohvets.com and email to judy@toapayohvets.com if they have questions.

It just takes too much time to explain and each situation and puppy is different when it comes to toilet training. Basically, the owner must have time to train. If not, the crate set up is the most ideal for the home-alone puppy.

American Cocker Spaniel
Female, Born Sep 3, 2005. Imported from Australia.
Veterinary Examination: Dec 20, 2005. Passed. Pet quality.
Vaccinated twice in Australia.
Needs 2 vaccinations in Singapore.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

211. Silkie accidents: beating and scolding

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The young man was in the 2nd year of National Service. His Silkie, male, 3.5 months old was brought in for vaccination. Small sized, almost like the small Yorkshire terrier-type.

Toilet training.
Crate with door and wire flooring.
lst 4 weeks - Poop small size, dropped into gaps of wire flooring onto pee tray.
- Pee into pee tray.
Crated when he goes to work.

Accidents: Beat, scold. Locked in cage for 1 hour.

Floor cleaners to mop up urine. Puppy sometimes go back to same area to pee again.

After 1 month, puppy just goes inside the crate to pee and poop.

LAYOUT
Towel on left corner. Water bottle on right corner.
Puppy poos and pees in between.

Seems like a good toilet training plan. Except for beating and scolding.

210. The boy of few words may lose his puppy

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore


"I have given puppies away before," the sun-tanned mother of 2 boys threatened the 12-year-old boy who was not paying attention to my advices on how to take care of his white Miniature Schnauzer. His 10-year-old brother had distracted him with some game card.

There was a lot of nursing required. The puppy was purchased from a pet shop yesterday and it had a "hacking cough" as well as pus in his nostrils. A present for the 12-year-old who had done well in his primary six school leaving examination. I was happy to see a good student. He might not qualify for the top school, having a grade of 255 and last year, the qualifying grade was above 260.



Still he had done well and now he had a present he wanted. A very quiet boy. A boy of few words.

"Quiet boys read a lot," I told the mum. She nodded.

"They are introverts," I said. "They converse with the authors instead of with real people.' Mum nodded.

"How do you get him to be more sociable?" she asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "I was like him. Maybe he had not much interaction with people and would be more sociable when he goes to the university." Mum did not agree that her son had no meeting with outside people. This was a closely knit family and they always had dinner together she said.

She wanted the boy to be responsible for the puppy. The boy had told her, "Mum, it is cruel to confine the puppy in a small area."

So, the puppy was in his bedroom at night. Coughing and disturbing the younger brother's sleep.

"The puppy had kennel cough," I said. "A viral and bacterial infection. There is no drug for viral infection. The puppy needed to be confined to enforce rest. If the puppy plays and not rest, the coughing will get worse."

Mum wanted the boy to be responsible, "It seems I will be the only one looking after this puppy."

I was happy for the boy with few words as now she did not say about giving away the puppy. It takes training and time to get this boy to care for his puppy. If he knew how. But he must listen and he was not paying attention to my veterinary advices.

So, would he do it? I doubt it. But I may be wrong. After all, he is a boy of few words.

"You have better nurse this puppy making sure he drinks and gets hand-fed the one handful of dry puppy food a meal twice a day as instructed by the Seller," I said to the working mum.

"Otherwise, you will have a dead pup in your hands in 7 days' time." She was a working mother who really had not much time to herself. The younger one was in the gifted education program after a common test. He was on the fast track to the top school and I was impressed. The gifted education program promotes elitism but a country needs such people too. Would this playful second brother be kicked out of this program if he does not pay attention to his studies? This was his mum's main concern.

I remember this case very well because I have two sons. They are no more pre-teens. Taller than me. Teenaged giants.

But these two boys sure bring back memories of so much responsibilities to make sure they go to tuition, get good grades and not let their teachers call their mum to meet about their lacklustre academic performance.

They did not make it to the gifted education program or the top school. They are 17 and 19 years old, but they sure love their mums and go with her on holidays.

209. A senior breeder shares his experiences on toilet training

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

To prove his point, the oldest breeder in Singapore (over 70 years old), opened the door and took out a 3-month-old Cocker Spaniel puppy from the crate with wire flooring and a pee pan to show me. The whole body and feet were clean.

"I always recommend the crate," the breeder said. "They cost around $80, the same price as 4 panels of fences to form the playpen. Puppies kept in the playpen get so messy as they step on their pees and become smelly."

"What do you advise the new puppy buyer?" I asked him.

"Put a piece of carpet or cloth on half the floor. The puppy will sleep on it. Water bowl and feed bowl at the corner of the other half. Change pee tray newspapers. If stools are stuck on wire flooring, use a brush to remove them. Otherwise the puppy jumps onto the stools.

"How do you paper-train?" I asked.

"Just take the puppy out twice a day and put him on the newspapers placed inside the bathroom." the breeder said. "Put puppy onto the newspapers for 5 minutes. Quickly put back to the crate. No distraction. If you spend time doing this, the puppy will be paper-trained."

"It sounds so easy." I said.

"Females are easier to paper-train than males." the senior breeder said. "100% of the females will use the newspapers. Males may be a problem. They tend to lift their legs to urinate. They should be neutered before 6 months of age to prevent this happening but all vets in Singapore will not advise such early neutering."



This was a breeder with over 40 years of dog breeding. So, his words carried weight although I would not entirely agree with his statements and the ease of paper-training the puppy. He had time for training them. But most owners seem to have no time or knowledge.

He had seen all veterinarians and was helpful to me in explaining how various vets in Singapore performed Caesarean sections. How I could improve myself or how I rank amongst the vets in competence or incompetence.

It was continuing education at the best and feedback from a client that is very valuable for self improvement. Much can be learnt from old-timers if one is bothered to ask and if old-timers have the kindness to share their experiences based on the knocks of hard life rather than a degree from the university.


Singapore has changed so much. The Esplanade on the Bay theatres enriches us with the arts and culture. Life has become much better but much expensive and stressful. Learning can never been enough.