toilet training, house training puppies

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Location: Singapore

A veterinary surgeon at www.toapayohvets.com and founder of a licensed housing agency for expatriate rentals and sales at www.asiahomes.com

Monday, November 20, 2006

439** Case study for book: Negative reinforcement in a male dog - success story

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore
Date of interview: Nov 19, 2006.
Owners: A working couple in the fifties
Dog: 2-year-old Male Jack Russell Terrier.
Residence: HDB apartment.
Toilet: A crate placed inside the common bathroom that has a squat toilet bowl.
Purchased: when he was 3 months old. Crate with pee pan. Accidents in the kitchen.
Method: Negative reinforcement: Caning for 3 months. Freedom to roam inside the kitche. Barricade with baby gate.
Time to be successfully crate-bathroom-trained: 3 months.
Feeding: 2 times per day.

Owner will query the Jack Russell puppy on reaching home from work with "What is this?" as he had peed and pooped on the kitchen floor tiles. The puppy would run away to hide inside the common toilet. Over 3 months and caning, the puppy use the appropriate toilet area.

When the owners are not free to bring him downstairs, (3 times per week, usually weekend), he runs into the crate and pee and poop on right hand side. He pees above the drainage hole cover. Does not step on the pool by turning at an angle to pee and poo. The owners will close the crate door. Hose water on dog's feet to get rid of any urine stain and hose off the stools.

Advantage of crate.
1. No need to pick up stools to dispose in the garbage bin.
2. Keeps paws clean by hosing with water after elimination.
3. Pee Pan is redundant in this situation.

Negative reinforcement in this situation is effective. The male Jack Russell urine marks every lamp post outdoors but will not do so inside the apartment. He just goes to the common bathroom crate when he is not going outdoors. He does not lift his leg to pee in the crate but does so outdoors. He has a routine of going outdoors 3 times per week. "Pees at every lamp post," the owner laughed.



Many owners cannot manage to control urine marking in grown up male dogs but this case is exceptional. He does not urinate mark at the Veterinary Surgery too. I would consider him very well behaved as many male dogs pee at the Surgery.

Comments: Male dogs that are dominant tends to urine mark inside the apartment and inside the veterinary surgery unless they are well trained at a young age not to do so. This case study shows the successful application of ROOM and CRATE method using NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT training. It needs a firm owners to execute this method. As the couple is working, 3 months is needed to achieve success.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love all the puppy information you've compiled here, please keep up the good work!

4:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've found that many male dogs "mark" the house wherever amonia cleaners have been used. Amonia is a by product of urine. I only used cleaners that have been designed for Pets. They're amonia free. Helped alot once I stopped using them.

Pomeranian Puppy Trainer

5:03 AM  

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