413. Success in 9/10 cases, the pet shop operator asserted
Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore
"You have a stingy boss," the pet shop operator said to James, my receptionist when I advised James to eat a small slice of the mooncake, 1/8th of a piece of the small mooncake instead of the whole cake. It was the small type of around 4 cm in diameter, full of the orange egg yoke. It could be eaten all at one time. To me, this mooncake was mostly egg yolk than cake.
In eating a slice, James should be able to assess whether the mooncake was of good quality. That was how I sample moon cakes from various manufacturers. If the small slice was no good, then, don't eat any as the cakes can be quite fattening.
We were at the shop to vaccinate 4 puppies. The pet shop girl offered us the mooncakes---presents from customers. October 7, 2006 was the day after the Moon Cake Festival and no more moon cakes would be on sale.
Howver, a customer was present. A lady and her Singapore Management University psychology undergraduate daughter were browsing. It was no good for my reputation. Yet it was Mr T's personality to make such provocative remarks. Maybe he was paying his pet shop girl more than the market rate.
"Mrs Chua, the mooncake offered is not mine, so how can I be a stingy boss by asking James to eat a small piece?" I sought the customer's opinion. She nodded her head. For the sake of the puppy toilet training research, I soldiered on.
I asked Mr T to take a picture of the puppy in his shop for my puppy toilet training book.
"You want to become a professor?" he laughed. "Still writing this book for the past 3 years!"
"It is a difficult book to write," I said. "Some research is incomplete." Mr T was the temperamental type, so it was not a straightforward matter of asking him how he advised on toilet training after he sold his puppies. Confine in the playpen or crate, the pet shop operators selling the puppies would say. But Mr T was one of those progressive pet shop operators with hands on experience in breeding and selling puppies for more than 10 years.
So, you would expect that he would not give free advices so easily. And he did not do so for the past 3 years I had known him and took all his jokes and provocative remarks without getting angry.
So, today, I did not expect him to do so. I took some pictures.
"The secret of success is to put the puppy inside the playpen or crate for 2 weeks," Mr T said. "9/10 of my cases were toilet-trained."
"Incredible!" I shook my head. "Most puppy owners have a hard time toilet training and take more than 2 weeks. The reason being that they let the puppy free."
"Suffer for 2 weeks," Mr T said. "Enjoy a life-time with a clean dog that does not mess up and make an apartment smelly."
"No taking out of the confined area," Mr T continued. "Remove the stools from the wire flooring promptly. The puppy would then be attracted to the urine and poop smell. You can use the crate and wire flooring set. Get the puppy to use this set as a toilet by spraying the commercial urine spray onto the pee pan which is covered with newspapers. The the puppy would be attracted to use this set as a toilet area."
"As for the playpen with newspapers, remove the soiled newspapers promptly. Shred the newspapers to provide the flooring in the playpen so that the puppy would not step all over the stools. Reduce the paper area so that the puppy just eliminates on the newspapers."
That was an unexpected excellent advice from Mr T after 3 years of business with him.
Actually he had terminated the business relationship for the past few months as an aggressive layman who operates a veterinary clinic had been successful in securing his business.
It was like meeting an old friend again. Business had been much better. I asked Mr T what he wanted to do in life? Any new ideas or expansion? His uncle had opened a very beautiful puppy shop.
The pet shop girl had taken some time off from her busy grooming to ask me, "Why don't you ask me what I want in life?"
"What do you want in life?"
"A very rich man to marry. Over 80 years old. One foot in the grave. So that I do not have to work anymore and care for my baby daughter full time."
"Really? This is what you want?"
She nodded.
"You will not give conditions like sleeping in separate beds?"
The pet shop girl was silent.
Mr T wrinkled his nose, "He has somebody in mind for you!"
We all wish we do not have to work for money. To do something we enjoy doing. Not for all the money in the world. Where do I find such a very rich old man for the pet shop girl?
"You have a stingy boss," the pet shop operator said to James, my receptionist when I advised James to eat a small slice of the mooncake, 1/8th of a piece of the small mooncake instead of the whole cake. It was the small type of around 4 cm in diameter, full of the orange egg yoke. It could be eaten all at one time. To me, this mooncake was mostly egg yolk than cake.
In eating a slice, James should be able to assess whether the mooncake was of good quality. That was how I sample moon cakes from various manufacturers. If the small slice was no good, then, don't eat any as the cakes can be quite fattening.
We were at the shop to vaccinate 4 puppies. The pet shop girl offered us the mooncakes---presents from customers. October 7, 2006 was the day after the Moon Cake Festival and no more moon cakes would be on sale.
Howver, a customer was present. A lady and her Singapore Management University psychology undergraduate daughter were browsing. It was no good for my reputation. Yet it was Mr T's personality to make such provocative remarks. Maybe he was paying his pet shop girl more than the market rate.
"Mrs Chua, the mooncake offered is not mine, so how can I be a stingy boss by asking James to eat a small piece?" I sought the customer's opinion. She nodded her head. For the sake of the puppy toilet training research, I soldiered on.
I asked Mr T to take a picture of the puppy in his shop for my puppy toilet training book.
"You want to become a professor?" he laughed. "Still writing this book for the past 3 years!"
"It is a difficult book to write," I said. "Some research is incomplete." Mr T was the temperamental type, so it was not a straightforward matter of asking him how he advised on toilet training after he sold his puppies. Confine in the playpen or crate, the pet shop operators selling the puppies would say. But Mr T was one of those progressive pet shop operators with hands on experience in breeding and selling puppies for more than 10 years.
So, you would expect that he would not give free advices so easily. And he did not do so for the past 3 years I had known him and took all his jokes and provocative remarks without getting angry.
So, today, I did not expect him to do so. I took some pictures.
"The secret of success is to put the puppy inside the playpen or crate for 2 weeks," Mr T said. "9/10 of my cases were toilet-trained."
"Incredible!" I shook my head. "Most puppy owners have a hard time toilet training and take more than 2 weeks. The reason being that they let the puppy free."
"Suffer for 2 weeks," Mr T said. "Enjoy a life-time with a clean dog that does not mess up and make an apartment smelly."
"No taking out of the confined area," Mr T continued. "Remove the stools from the wire flooring promptly. The puppy would then be attracted to the urine and poop smell. You can use the crate and wire flooring set. Get the puppy to use this set as a toilet by spraying the commercial urine spray onto the pee pan which is covered with newspapers. The the puppy would be attracted to use this set as a toilet area."
"As for the playpen with newspapers, remove the soiled newspapers promptly. Shred the newspapers to provide the flooring in the playpen so that the puppy would not step all over the stools. Reduce the paper area so that the puppy just eliminates on the newspapers."
That was an unexpected excellent advice from Mr T after 3 years of business with him.
Actually he had terminated the business relationship for the past few months as an aggressive layman who operates a veterinary clinic had been successful in securing his business.
It was like meeting an old friend again. Business had been much better. I asked Mr T what he wanted to do in life? Any new ideas or expansion? His uncle had opened a very beautiful puppy shop.
The pet shop girl had taken some time off from her busy grooming to ask me, "Why don't you ask me what I want in life?"
"What do you want in life?"
"A very rich man to marry. Over 80 years old. One foot in the grave. So that I do not have to work anymore and care for my baby daughter full time."
"Really? This is what you want?"
She nodded.
"You will not give conditions like sleeping in separate beds?"
The pet shop girl was silent.
Mr T wrinkled his nose, "He has somebody in mind for you!"
We all wish we do not have to work for money. To do something we enjoy doing. Not for all the money in the world. Where do I find such a very rich old man for the pet shop girl?
posted by Photography by Sing Kong Yuen | 7:49 AM
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