toilet training, house training puppies

Community education supported by www.toapayohvets.com

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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

Saturday, January 21, 2006

246. Shih Tzu beaten a lot but still not toilet trained. Give to animal shelter?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Fortunate to find a new home and a young lady owner who surfed the internet for toilet-training info.

Paper-trained in 3 weeks using the leash method plus verbal cues and praises during the monitoring of "accidents" when she returned home from work.

She said, "Guilty look" when the dog had "accidents." Actually, the dog is afraid of being beaten. It was a look of fear as she had numerous beatings by the domestic worker of the first owner.

She commented, "weird habit, she will not pee or poop if the newspapers are full (soiled). Must replace the papers or she will eliminate outside the papers on the floor tiles.

Dog given 2 sheets of newspapers on kitchen floor. Had been leashed for past 3 weeks at night in case she still had ticks.

I assured that no ticks and probably need not be leashed. Observe and give more newspapers at night.

First day - mess up whole apartment. Hides in a corner (guilty look but actually the dog is frightened of being beaten up for having accidents. This was misinterpreted by new owner as guilty look).

Leashed - OK.
Sleep by herself on a bed in the kitchen. Ignored her barking and whining.
Water bowl.
Seldom shreds newspapers. Parents at home but mum afraid of dogs.
Free feeding but finished food within 15 minutes. Feed twice per day.

Slight Separation anxiety. Barks when owner/family leaves home.

A well-informed new dog owner. The internet was very useful for her toilet training education, one source includes this blog.


SCABIES



Saw numerous nodules on ear flap, both ears. Could be recovering from scabies or had residual scabies mites.

Dog scratches ears vigorously. Owner thought it was "normal" or comical. Asked her to come back next week if condition persist. Dog had 3rd vaccination today.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

245. A pet shop prefers the playpen to the crate. Why?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

On Jan 18, 2006, I went to a pet shop to vaccinate 8 puppies. A pet shop with walk-in traffic and sells better quality puppies.

"What do you recommend for housing when you sell a puppy?" I asked. This pet shop was only permitted to sell puppies and no pet accessories. This was part of the term and condition of the tenancy at the shopping mall.

"The playpen is best," the pet shop girl and boy said. "Less likely of the puppy's feet getting caught inside the wired flooring. More living space as the usual 4 sections of the playpen make a bigger area for the puppy.

I would add that the price is lower. The playpen can be stored away later when the puppy is paper-trained.

Interesting feedback about the usefulness of the playpen. If I had not asked, I would not get the feedback.

Monday, January 16, 2006

244. Leash in Toilet Training :What's the next step?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

The picture is worth a thousand words. I was fortunate that the dog owner with a pre-teen son really e-mailed to me the picture.



The son had said, "The puppy will eat the plants in the balcony!" when I proposed using the panels of fences (see picture) to confine the puppy as he poops everywhere when he is off-leash. I could see what the boy meant when I saw the picture.

The owner had bought a playpen with the Aluminium pee pan but found it to be ineffective. So he leashed the puppy to the hook in the balcony, spreading 2 sheets of 3-ply each of newspapers on the balcony floor. "Heavy use of newspapers," he said. "Sometimes the puppy poops in between the 2 sheets and the 6 soiled papers had to be replaced."

This puppy would not go back to the newspapers in the balcony to pee and poop. Why?

"Did you neutralise the ammonia smell of urine inside the living and dining area?" I asked.

"Yes, I used the enzyme breakdown anti-bacterial floor pcleaner bought from the pet shop," he replied. "Still the puppy went to pee on the living area, around the same spot."

"The smell of urine is too attractive, as puppies have a strong sense of smell." I said. "Some of the dog owners had success with white vinegar:water 1:2 used to neutralise the puppy urine smell on the floor."

He would try.

As to paper training, I advised that the whole apartment's urine smell be neutralised. Put the puppy inside the kitchen. Used soiled newspapers. "Maybe leash him?" the owner added.

"The puppy had never been tested whether he would go to the newspapers when confined and not leashed," I noted.

"I can close the sliding doors of the balcony and observe," the owner suggested. The puppy had never been left enclosed in the balcony area without a leash. It was an excellent idea.

The puppy sleeps in the living area. However when it rains, the puppy's newspapers are put inside the living area. This means that the living area smells of urine.

"Why not put the papers onto the aluminium pee pan you bought?" I asked."In this way, the floor tiles will not be soiled by pee and poop."

The owner had never thought about the use of the pee pan. He would not have to use so many newspapers if he train the puppy to pee and poop on the pee pan. He will try this out in the kitchen or the balcony.

It was quite a very interesting talk (if you were a first-time puppy owner). I would see how he succeeded. Maybe I should be a puppy toilet training consultant if there is such a position.

But I was happy he sent me a picture (above) overnight. It was a good picture and it is worth a thousand words of my writing!