255. Pee-Pan trained after 1 month - Success story.

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

I was looking for a real case of how a puppy owner successfully toilet-train a puppy on a pee pan in response to an e-mail query from another owner in Post No. 254 and 253 yesterday.

I had consultations by appointments and so it was not possible to ask every new puppy owner how the puppy was toilet-trained. It takes around 20 - 30 minutes to discuss their cases. The waiting room people would get restless.

In this case, the young lady complained that the female, Miniature Schnauzer suddenly was incontinent. She pees everywhere except onto the pee pan. A change of house-breaking habits. Was she having a urinary tract infection?

Her urine just leak out all over the apartment. I put her on the consultation table. If only she could talk. She was active and had no fever. I palpated her bladder with my right fingers. Her bladder was slightly distended. As round as a 2-cm diameter marble. As I felt it, 5 drops of clear urine spurted out onto the steel table. The lady owner took out her tissue paper to wipe them off.

"What's happening to my puppy?" she asked. There was no easy answer. If only puppies could talk. No changes of diet. No new treats. No other changes in her environment except that the puppy had been to the park.

Could she have been frightened by a dog that suddenly approached her? This was possible. A frightening experience causing her to lose her regular toilet training habits.

Yet, a puppy in a secure happy environment as this one would not be traumatised so much. So, was there another reason?

The clue was that the puppy refused to pee on the pee pan. suddenly.

"Was she frightened of the pee pan?" I asked.
"Yes," the lady owner said. "She refused to go near the pee pan."

So,the lady provided the answer.

Now, why was the puppy afraid of the pee pan? The vet had to give the answer.

Did the puppy climb up the playpen (trying to escape) and fall down?

The young lady nodded her head, "Many times".

So, it was possible that the puppy feel onto the edge of the pee pan. She hurt herself in the bladder area. When she wanted to pee, she felt the pain and now avoided the pee pan.

An incredulous explanation? I know that puppies learn from pain. Some puppies jump down from the chair or table and after that, would not do it again if they felt the pain. I saw a Jack Russell climbing a play pen and fell down. After that this puppy would not climb the play pen.

So, it was possible that this Miniature Schnauzer had a painful experience by falling onto the pee pan and associated the pee pan with pain. Yet she had to pee. She withheld her urine but still had to pee. So, she became incontinent.

I asked the young lady to e-mail to me a picture of her housing and to let me know in 24 hours whether the puppy would pee onto a "new" pee pan.

A new pee pan could be purchased or made of cardboard boxes. The old pee pan's urine could be neutralised with vinegar:water 1:2 and used again. What this lady is going to do will depend on her.

I am eager to see what is the response of the puppy. But this lady had successfully pee-panned trained her puppy. I hope others could learn from her method.




Basically, a play pen encloses the puppy. A pee pan with newspapers on one side. The plastic carrier with chew toys on the other. A water bowl in between. The feed bowl is given to the puppy only during feeding times and removed from the plastic carrier. The plastic carrier is the puppy's den and bed. It took her a month to be successful. Probably she did not do it full-time as she was working.

During the consultation, I noted that the plastic carrier was wet with the puppy urine, confirming incontinence.

FOLLOW UP IN CASE 256. REPLY FROM OWNER.