254. E-mail No. 2. Follow up on 5-month-old Silkie

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

DRAFT COPY.



>E-MAIL NO. 1. QUESTIONS
>>
> ... wrote:

> Dear Judy,
>
> I just bought a 5 months old silky terrier 3 weeks
> ago. We are trying to toilet train since the first
> day
> she arrived at our home. We confine her in the guest
> toilet with her toy, bed and pee tray. Whenever she
> had accident we will bring her to pee tray but she
> still don't get it. She will sometime sleep in her
> pee
> tray although we put her urine there. Now we even
> sit
> in the guest toilet wait for her to eliminate, but
> she
> will hold for as long till we leave (that was about
> 1
> to 2 hour's time) then she pee on the floor or her
> bed
> immediately. We really don't know what to do with
> her.
> We bring her out every morning before we going to
> work
> and in the evening after work. She will do her poo
> but
> she will also poo and pee in the house when let out
> to
> play.
>
> We bought puppy potty training spray but no use.
> Please help!!!!
>
> Thank you very much.


REPLY TO E-MAIL NO.1

--- David Sing wrote:

> 1. Some puppies take a much longer time to toilet
> train because the owners are not free. Some take 2
> months.
>
> 2. Three weeks of part-time toilet training is not
> sufficient. I presume you work the whole day, so you
> did not have much time to toilet train her.
>
> 3. As each case differs, I can only speculate that,
> in your case, you confused the puppy by putting her
> into a guest bathroom with lots of urine smell.
>
> 3.1 The guest bathroom is a big space from the
> puppy's point of view. She would have found a place
> to pee and poop by herself in the first 7 days (in
> most cases) if you had not introduced a pee tray
> with urine smells.
>
> 3.2 But you want her to pee in the pee tray as you
> had sprayed the housebreaking
> urine spray. The bathroom is full of urine smell.
> So, the puppy got no particular toilet area.
>
> Try the following:
>
> Neutralise the urine smell in the toilet floor and
> toilet bowl with vinegar:water 1:2 thoroughly and
> daily.
> Make the pee pan the only place with urine smell. I
> presume you put newspapers onto the pee pan?
>
> 4. After accidents, many puppies do not understand
> why you put her onto the pee tray. Lots of
> repeitition and hard work to make her understand.
>
> Watch for signs of turning, squatting and sniffing
> and bring her to the pee tray. This is easier said
> than done.
>
> 4.1 Neutralise the urine smell in the accident areas
> too. Watch for signs of wanting to pee, carry the
> puppy to the pee pan. Say "pee pee". If she does
> that, praise a lot and/or give a treat. Repeat many
> times. For your case, 3 weeks of part-time toilet
> training is not enough.
>
> 5. Distractions. When you are there, the puppy wants
> to socialise with you. So she controls her bladder.
> Especially if you have had brought her outdoors to
> pee and poop.
>
> 6. Let me have a schedule of the puppy's daily
> activity, e.g. time to wake up, go downstairs,
> feeding, playing, sleeping so that I can advise
> further.
>

E-MAIL NO. 2. QUESTIONS> <...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi Dr Sing,

Thank you very much for the quick reply. My puppy was
vaccinated by you when she is still in the pet shop.

My puppy's daily schedule: (Weekday)
wake up – 7.00am
1st feeding – 7.30am
go downstair - 7.50 am
playing - 8.30 - 9.00 (play a while at home)
sleeping - after i leave for work, most of the time
she sleep. ( i on classical music for her whole day so
that she won't feel bored)
2nd feeding - 7.30pm
go downstair - 8.00pm
training (sit, come, stop...) - 9.00pm (at home)
Play until 12pm then sleep

My puppy's daily schedule: (Weekend)
wake up - 10am
1st feeding - 10.30 am
During Weekend, we will bring her out longer to nearby
park. and basically she will have free roam for the
whole day when at home. She will sleep underneath sofa
and then wake up to play again, there is no specific
time of playing and sleeping.
2nd feeding - 8.30pm
Sleeping - 1.00am

Thank you very much again for the help and wishing you
a happy chinese new year...
gong xi fa cai

Cheers
...

REPLY TO E-MAIL NO.2
Thu, 26 Jan 2006 02:27:40 -0800 (PST)
From: "David Sing"
Subject: Re: Please help on toilet training.
To: <...@yahoo.com>

Thanks for e-mail.

The puppy is toilet trained outdoors twice a day during week days. So, she is used to this routine. When you go to work, she pees on the bathroom floor. When you are home in the evening, she has already eliminated outdoors. A 5-month-old puppy can generally not need to pee for around 4 hours. Is that what your puppy is doing?


To make her pee on the pee tray is difficult. However, neutralise all urine smell in the bathroom as advised in earlier e-mail. Confine her to a small bathroom area of 3 feet x 3 feet with the pee pan + soiled urine newspapers when you want to train her to pee on the pee tray. No coming out of the bathroom for the first 2 weeks (too late for you?)

If the puppy is out, you need to monitor for signs, say "pee pee" when you put the puppy on the pee tray, praise for performance. All these take a lot of time in the evenings.

As for the weekend routine, the puppy's toilet training schedule is upset. For the first 2-4 weeks, new puppy owners should have confined the puppy to the small area to toilet-train. No outing to the parks. A fixed schedule of feeding and exercise 7 days a week for at least 2 weeks is a key to success. Withhold water after dinner.

Let me know if you succeed in pee tray training, let me know. Indoor and outdoor toilet training may be too much for your puppy as you do not give her a fixed timing, especially during weekends! So, expect 4 - 8 weeks to succeed!