DRAFT - Why the puppy does not poop on newspapers

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

DRAFT COPY. No time to edit.
>
> ...@singnet.com.sg> wrote:
>
> Dear Dr Sing,
> We went to your clinic last Friday (7 Jul) with our
> 7-mth old Golden
> Retriever, Rocky for his 3rd vaccination and seeked
> your advice on how
> to toilet-train him.
> After some thoughts on your suggestions, we decided
> to start off with
> neutralising his urine and poo smells in the house
> with white vinegar
> and water.
> On that same evening, we neutralised the entire
> living room and part of
> the kitchen area, leaving the unneutralised part of
> the kitchen as his
> intended toilet area (the spot that he frequents
> most). Then covered
> that area with fresh newspapers and some soiled
> ones.
> That weekend, we tried confining him to that
> specific kitchen area after
> his meals and monitored him, also tried bringing him
> out for walks and
> kept asking him to pee/poo, but were not successful.
> He did not pee/poo
> as we wanted him to. We gave up, but continued
> neutralising the floors
> every night as he still eliminates randomly at those
> 2 areas.
> On Tuesday (11 Jul) evening, just when we thought
> that the methods
> weren't working, we saw him pee-ing right in the
> centre of the
> newspapers. We quickly praised him and offered him a
> treat. This time,
> he took the treat happily and ran off chewing it.
> Initially we thought
> he had learnt to eliminate there, but later at
> night, we found his poo
> on the kitchen floor. The following days, as we
> continued with
> neutralising, we saw some improvement. We observed
> he has stopped
> eliminating in the living room, and does it only in
> the kitchen area,
> however, he only pees on newspapers, still poo
> everywhere in the
> kitchen.
> Last night we've decided not to neutralise the
> floors. This morning, to
> our surprise, we saw both his pee and poo on the
> papers. We're very
> happy to see that, and we'll continue to monitor him
> closely until he's
> really stable and makes no mistakes.
> Will update you again on his progress.
> Really appreciate your help and professional advice.
>
> Thanks,
> ...


> Sunday July 16, 2006. E-mail reply from Dr Sing
NLB Toa Payoh Library 10.30am.
>
>
>
> My computer is infested with viruses. It shut down
> and re-started
> several times earlier. After that it shut down
> completely. So, I am
> using the NLB library to reply to you. It is hard to
> find real computer
> experts in Singapore who can resolve this problem
> without having to
> re-format the whole hard disk.
>
> I am very grateful for your contribution to my
> research and a book on
> Singapore puppy toilet training.
>
> In reply:
>
> 1. My research and reading of other reports. It
> appears that white
> vinegar is effective only to neutralise the ammonia
> smell of puppy
> urine. Acid plus alkaline = water, to put it simply.
> So, the puppy
> can't find the elimination area.
>
> I presume you used the same mop or had not rinsed
> off the urine smell
> thoroughly, so the puppy could detect the "accident"
> areas for the first
> few days. Corners or edges of doors may still have
> traces of urine. The
> sense of smell is very acute in the canine. However,
> after a few days of
> your hard work, you probably wiped out all urine
> smell. So, the puppy
> goes to the newspapers. I presume you did not use
> the soiled newspapers
> (2nd layer) but the floor is OK too.
>
> 2. White vinegar is said to have no effect on the
> poop as it does not
> smell of ammonia.
>
> 3. So your success later may be due to your
> monitoring and praises. Your
> puppy probably now expecting treat. Some will sit
> and wait for it after
> peeing. A few owners tell me that some even pee less
> but more often to
> get treats. I hope your puppy does not think this
> way.
>
> 4. Poop after feeding times. If you can have a
> regular schedule of
> feeding and exercise, without distraction of playing
> immediately after
> eating, you may be successful. Signs of elimination
> like sniffing,
> squatting and circling - bring puppy to newspapers.
> Praise and reward.
>
> 5. Will be most grateful if you let me know your
> progress in the pooping
> training aspect. It is from such case studies that I
> am able to advise
> as each situation and each puppy behaves
> differently.
>
>
July 30, 2006 e-mail to Dr Sing>
...@singnet.com.sg> wrote:

> Dr Sing,
>
> We're still working on Rocky's poop training.
> Did not really have enough time to monitor him for
> the past 2 weeks due
> to our work schedules.
> We will continue with your suggestion in Point 4
> below.
>
> Thankfully Rocky does not seem to expect treats
> after peeing. He just
> walks away.
> He has no problem with peeing on newspapers, i don't
> understand why he
> could not poo on the papers as well.
> So far only once or twice he pooped on papers, the
> rest of the times are
> done on the kitchen floor.
>
> We still do use vinegar to mop the kitchen floor on
> alternate nights.
> You mentioned in Point 2 that white vinegar has no
> effect on poop. Do
> you mean that white vinegar can only nuetralise
> urine smell, but not
> poop smell?
> Is there anything we can do to remove the poop
> smell?
>
> Hope your computer is fine now.
>
> Thanks,
...



Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 e-mail reply.
04:32:18 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
Subject: RE: Rocky's Toilet Training - Pooping on floor.
To: ...@singnet.com.sg

Thanks for feedback.

1. Most likely reason Rocky does not want to poop on
the newspapers more often may be due to at least 2
reasons:

1.1 The papers had not been changed. Most dogs do not
like to step on soiled newspapers as they are clean
creatures. So, he chose the floor.

1.2 The papered area is too small. I remember he is a
Golden Retriever. Correct me if I am mistaken. You may
need to have double or triple the areas covered by the
newspapers or buy a big pee pan (to put newspapers
on).

2. In many cases, vinegar:water mixture does not
eliminate the smell of poop because the poop is not
ammonical.

3. In your case, you said you had not much time. I
presume you had no time to change the newspapers more
often and no time to bring him downstairs. There is no
fixed schedule for exercise after eating. If that is
true, then he has no opportunity to poop 15-30 minutes
after eating (as most dogs do) on newspapers under
your training and supervision. You probably had gone
to work or are too tired to bring him downstairs. I do
not know the real situation.

4. If you want your puppy to poop on newspapers, you
need to SPEND TIME to train him to do so. WATCH for
signs of wanting to poop and bringing him to the CLEAN
newspapers for the first 2 weeks. Praise, pat and
reward with treats on success.

Otherwise, it is very difficult for him to know what
you want.

5. Let me know once your pooping training is
successful.