306. The puppy's mind is a blank cheque

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

"When is your puppy toilet training book published?" the pet shop owner asked me. He operates a beautiful pet shop in Bukit Panjang Shopping Mall.

I shook my head. It is hard to write a book. Easier to blog.

"What do you recommend for toilet training when you sell a puppy?" I asked him.

"The puppy's mind is a blank cheque," he said. "It is the owner who signs the cheque." It was a good analogy.

The puppy was ready to learn. But if the owner did not teach him properly, it would not be a good sociable puppy.

He recommends a crate with the pee tray below whenever he sells a puppy.

"Put the newspapers on the crate," he says. "When the puppy smells his pee on the papers a few times, he will be paper-trained."

"Not so easy in practice, as you say," I told him.

"Same with barking at night," the pet shop operator said. "When the puppy starts barking, the owner will switch on the lights and goes to see him. So he knows that barking will get him attention. The best is to ignore his puppy and he will stop after 2 nights and sleep alone."

I knew he was right. But how many owners would ignore the new puppy? The first 3 months of a new puppy are always like a passionate love affair. Close attention. So, it is again "not so easy in practice." I did not say that to him.