486. 5-month-old poodle soils herself. Why?

Thank you for your e-mail. My replies are in CAPITAL LETTERS.

--- On Sun, 6/20/10, ...gmail.com> wrote:



Subject: Toilet training of Toy Poodle
To: judy@toapayohvets.com
Date: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 10:03 AM

Dear Dr Sing,

Have been reading your web-site and found your advice we helpful and would be very grateful if we could have some advice from you.

My sister and myself are the owners of a 5 months old female toy poodle, the puppy has been with us for 2 months now. We had experience of 2 other dogs before, both male chihuahua and we find this toy poodle to be the most naughty and difficult to train. We went through a very difficult first month but thereafter, everything seems to became better when seems to be doing ok with the pee pan, therefore, we put her in the kitchen, a small area barricate with gate. Unfortunately we finds that once she is out of the play pan, she would pee and poo everywhere, we would reached home every night to find her soak in a pool of urine and with poos everywhere obviously being stepped on. We are really very frustrated and already at the verge of giving up. Appreciate if you could give us some guidanceon to these problem that we are facing:

1) We have tried putting her back in the play pan (for maybe about 15 minutes) everytime she pee and poo on the floor, but she don't seems to understand that it meant to be a punishment for her. There are times when spent about 2 - 3 minutes washing her pee pan and when i walk out of the bathroom only to find the kitchen floor flooded with her urine (she did that inside her play pan). Some other times when we reach home found her sitting in her pee pan, the cover (netted plastic cover) separated from the bottom pan and she was sitting on her own poos and the kitchen wet with her urines

Questions :
- she don't seems to have a sense of cleanliness, why is that so ? i thought puppies especially female like to be clean

THERE ARE MANY REASONS FOR A 5-MONTH-OLD POODLE TO BEHAVE BADLY, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:
1. SEPARATION ANXIETY - Eliminates anywhere and destroy/damage home furniture when the dog is home alone.
2. ATTENTION-SEEKING - Keeps wanting the owner's attention at all times.
3. URINE AND POO-MARKING - To mark territory.

MOST LIKELY, YOUR POODLE IS THE TYPE THAT KNOWS SHE WILL GET YOUR ATTENTION (SCOLDING) IF SHE IS NOT CLEANS. AT 5-MONTHS OF AGE, SHE IS HARDER TO TRAIN COMPARED TO A 3-MONTH-OLD AS SHE IS AN "ADOLESCENT".


- how do i let her know that peeing and pooing on the floor is wrong ? after 2 months with us, we just couldn't put the message across to her and that is very frustrating

CONFINE HER AGAIN AND DON'T PAY HER ANY ATTENTION WHEN YOU CLEAN THE PLAYPEN OR THE DOG. GET HER SPAYED. SPAYING MAY OR MAY NOT HELP AND IS NOT A GUARANTEE.

- does puppies know when the owner is angry ? she don't seems to know
SHE KNOWS SHE CAN GET ATTENTION WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY. THAT IS PROBABLY WHAT SHE WANTS.


- how many times can we bath the puppy in a week ? we have been bathing her every weekend but only find her wet with her own urine on Monday, because of that, we
cannot carry / hug her until she is bath again on weekend.

BATHE ONCE A WEEK USUALLY BUT MORE IN YOUR CASE.

- We have been using pee pan for 2 months now, is it still alright to use newspaper to replace the pee pan ? we have tried putting newspaper before, but she would shred it and dirty the whole place with shredded newspaper and her pees and poos,

CONTINUE WITH THE PEE PAN + GRATE METHOD. PL SEND 2 PICTURES. OF TOP AND SIDE VIEW. I CAN'T ADVISE AS I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS YOUR ACTUAL HOUSING FLOOR PLAN.

2) Have read from your web-site that water should not be given after 8 pm. or after dinner, therefore, we have started to do just that, however, i find that every morning when we wake up she would start to cry, bark and howl , not something new but she seems to be more reckless after we took away water at night. When we feed her and give her water at the same time, instead of going for the food, she would start drinking for 2 -3 minutes before eating.

IT MAY BE POSSIBLE THAT YOUR FEMALE DOG HAS A UTI (URINARY TRACT INFECTION). CHECK WITH YOUR VET.


Questions
- I find that she have been drinking alot, is that somehing unusual ?
- we are feeding her with the ANF dog food for puppy, could it be the food that is causing her to be extremely thirsty?


DRINKING A LOT - GET A VET EXAMINATION AND URINE TEST. HOW MANY ML IS THE POODLE DRINKING? YOU NEED TO KNOW AS YOU MAY BE INCORRECT. ALSO DRY FOOD DO CAUSE PUPPIES TO DRINK MORE.

3) She would struggle when we blow her after bathing, is there any tricks that we could calm her down ? i pratically have to fight her and press her down before i could blow her, really very tiring. Is it alright if the dog is only half dried ?

YOUR DOG MAY BE AFRAID OF THE SOUND OR HEAT OF THE BLOWER. USE TOWEL DRYING AND A LOW HEAT AND SPEED SETTING AFTER TOWELLING.

Sorry for the long story, would appreciate your advice when you are available.

Thanks and best regards
Name of Owner (lady)


IN CONCLUSION,

1. BRING YOUR POODLE OUTDOORS IN THE MORNING AND EVENING AT THE SAME TIME. LET HER "URINE MARK OR POOP" OUTDOORS AND CLEAR UP THE POO.

2. CONFINE AGAIN. BUT NO SCOLDING OR SPANKING WHEN SHE MISBEHAVES. START OBEDIENCE TRAINING. READ BOOKS ON THIS SUBJECT. ATTENTION-SEEKING IS COMMON IN SOME SMALL BREEDS LIKE POODLES AND BICHON FRISE.

3. PRAISE AND REWARD WITH FOOD TREATS IF SHE OBEYS YOUR COMMANDS.

4. VET EXAMINATION FOR URINE AND URINARY SYSTEM.

5. SPAY HER SOON.

6. NEUTRALISE FLOOR WITH WHITE VINEGAR:WATER AT 1:3 AND CLEAN PEE PAN PROMPTLY. I PRESUME YOU DON'T CLEAN HER ELIMINATION AREA FOR MANY HOURS.

7. E-MAIL ME TWO PICTURES OF TOP VIEW AND SIDE VIEW OF POODLE IN PLAYPEN, INCLUDING PEE PAN AND GRATE.

485. House-breaking a rebellious young dog

The brown and white Cocker Spaniel, adopted 3 months ago, would bark when left alone in the balcony. Neighbours might complain. So she was let into the house in the first week. She was then 4 months old. Now, she would pee anywhere in the living and dining room and seldom on the newspapers in the balcony.

"What can I do?" the busy journalist who was referred to me to certify the height and weight of the Cocker Spaniel for licensing purposes, asked me. "My maid or I take the dog outdoors 6 times per day to let her pee outdoors. Yet she continues to urinate inside the apartment."

"This seems to be a case of urine marking rather than being a case of not house-broken?"
"She is a female dog," the lady reminded me.
"Some dominant female dogs do urine mark," I said.

"Where does she sleep at night?" I asked.
"In my bedroom."
"Does she pee inside the bedroom?" I expected a positive answer.
"No, no," she replied.
"Since your bedroom door is closed, she might need to pee and would then do it on the bedroom floor."
"No," the lady laughed. "I left the bedroom ajar so that she could go to the balcony to pee."

Is there any permanent solution to this problem? Each case is different as each dog has his or her own personality.

"In my opinion," I said. "You are not firm enough with your dog and so she takes advantage of you. In the first week, you permitted her to go indoors when she ought to be confined in the balcony all the time unless supervised, to be paper-trained. She tested you by barking and you just let her in. Now, she is 7 months old and her mind is not easy to train. She is equivalent to an adolescent - rebellious as she is no longer a 3-month-old puppy with a blank slate in the mind and therefore easily trained."

"What should I do?" she asked.

"Spaying her may or may not help to prevent urine marking. Start being assertive," I said to her. "For example, grip your dog's muzzle when she barks, give a light tap and say 'no barking' in a very loud and firm voice."

"She is such a lovable dog," the career lady said.
"Yet she is a wolf in sheep's clothing and has had manipulated you. She has little respect for you. So she urine-marks."

"In the dog's hierarchy," I explained, "There is a leader in a pack of dogs. This leader can be a male or female. The leader bites the subordinate dog if the subordinate goes out of line. The mother gives the pup a nip if the pups misbehaves. In your apartment, you did not display that leadership quality. So, the dog does as she pleases and urine-mark the floor to show you that she is the leader."

"I am firm towards her," the lady asserted.
"Not firm enough as this is your personality," I had observed her to be a non-confrontational personality type and asked her companion whether my observations were correct. The companion, a lady friend who was with her nodded her head.

So, what do we do to solve her problem?

1. Barking. Use the muzzle tap and voice command to stop her barking. Muzzle the dog when she barks, but for a short time of 5 minutes.
2. No water to drink after dinner at 8 pm.
3. Confine her to the balcony where there is newspapers for her to pee.
4. Positive reinforcement training. Give a food treat when the dog pees on the papers in the balcony or stop barking on command. "My dog is not interested in food treats," the lady said. "Well, the ones you give her may not press her buttons, but try and find one she is crazy about. Or reward her with play."
5. Negative reinforcement training. Many newer puppy books are talking about positive reinforcement training. But in this grown up dog, a light tap on the muzzle to stop barking or a tap on the back together with firm voice commands may be the answer at this age of rebellion. Before it is too late. Will the lady do it? It is hard to say.
6. Leash her to the dining table so that she can't urine-mark anywhere she likes. The lady had not thought of that.
7. Give her a routine daily as regards feeding, drinking and exercise. Go outdoors three x per day to pee. Not 6 X.
8. Neutralise the urine-marked spots with a piece of rag plus white vinegar at 1 part to 3 parts water. Now, the whole apartment is full of urine smells but the dog can smell it.
9. Neuter the dog. But she looked so pretty and breeding would not be possible.

There are so many suggestions I made. Since she did not take notes, as I imagined a journalist would do so, I presumed her mind would remember all. It takes a lot of time to talk to her about her dog behaviour problem. Weighing and measuring the height of her dog took less than 5 minutes. Well, I was free on this first Sunday I started work after a break in Perth, Australia. She seemed quite happy and later told my referral that she was very happy with my service.

Puppies at 4 months of age can be paper-trained effectively if the lady owner is the strong and firm type. After talking to this journalist, a couple came in with a 4-month-old brown Cocker Spaniel for the 3rd vaccination. The wife looks "fierce" and appears the dominant party of the couple from my interaction with her. So I asked, "Is the puppy paper-trained?" "No problem," she said. "The puppy goes to the newspapers every time."

Success in house-breaking depends so much on the personality of the trainer who is usually a lady. Most lady owners are the nuturing kind type and so that is where failures in paper training in an apartment arise.

484. 5.5-month-old Silkie plays with poo

On Tue, 3/23/10, ...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Subject: How to prevent poop playing?
To: judy@toapayohvets.com
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 2:33 PM

Hi Dr sing, read some of your toilet training guide in the website and it is really interesting. Hope you can give me some advices if possible.

Pet: Jenny, Silky terrier, 5.5 months
Playpen + pee tray with metal grating to cover the newspaper + a bed (In the Housing and Development Board living room)
Playpen size: 3’ by 4’, Pee tray cover 50% of the playpen
Feed twice a day at 7am and 6 pm, usually finish food fast (<5 min), water is provided at playpen.
Allow to come out to play at 7pm-10pm. Other timing is in playpen.
Problem No.1:
Jennie has being with us for the past 2.5 months. She is left in the playpen during the daytime when we went to work. She will know where to pee and poo at the pee tray when kept in the playpen. After 1st meal at 7am, she will poo and it will be cleared and change of newspaper. Only till 6pm then we can provide her the 2nd meal as we are working. For the past 1.5 months, when we reached home around 6pm, all the poos at the pee tray will be scattered around at the playpen and we suspect she tried to eat and play with it. Usually during the weekend, if we saw the poo, it will be removed as soon as possible to prevent her from trying to lick and sniff it. 2 toys and a chewing bone will be in the playpen when we leave her inside. Sometime she will whine as do not like to stay in the playpen. Is it because she was kept in the playpen too long or too bored? Is it due to hunger? Please advice.

Problem No.2:
When we are at home, the playpen fence will be opened and allow her to roam in the living room and in the kitchen (other rooms are not allowed to enter). Every 1-1.5 hrs, toilet train her to the pee tray by guiding her to the playpen and close the fence. She is smart and knows where to pee and treats will then be given. Sometimes, if left unattended, for e.g. I went to the study room for awhile like 30sec, she will pee at the living room walkway. Pee spot will be clean with commercial cleaner. If we happen to witness it while she pees, we will scold her and give a spank. But she will try to run away and hide. So far peeing seen to be the only problem when we allow her to left unattended, otherwise, she will go back pee tray to poo even if left unattended.

Thank you,
Regards
Name of owner




REPLY FROM DR SING
I am Dr Sing from Toa Payoh Vets. Thank you for a detailed report on your "puppy". As no two puppies behave alike in an apartment, I can only provide you the following practical guidelines which may or may not be useful. These are:

1. PLAYING WITH THE POO

1.1 CHANGE FROM PLAYPEN AREA TO ROOM WHEN YOU WORK. The puppy is nearly an adult soon. She needs more space when you are at work so that she can move and exercise. The playpen area is too small. At this stage, you may need to give her a bigger space. One example is fencing the kitchen door or next-to-the-kitchen bathroom door with the playpen fences. The pee tray will still be inside this bigger space. A bigger space may distract your puppy from playing with her stools.

1.2 BOREDOM. Buy one of those toys with food packed inside. Some puppies spend time trying to get at the food. Buy chew ropes. There is one writer who suggests hanging a play toy from a rope so that the puppy will try and get at it and exercise while at home alone. This is probably impractical for you in the apartment.

2. PEEING WHEN UNSUPERVISED FOR A FEW SECONDS. This action appears to me to be urine-marking. Female dogs do mark territory too. Have you tried white vinegar:water at 1 part to 3 parts in a piece of rag to neutralise the urine smell? Let me know if you try it.

Urine marking occurs naturally in female dogs that are more dominant. Urine-marking is well known in male dogs but relatively uncommon in female dogs.

If your female dog starts urine-marking, neutralising the urine smell will not work. The owner has to spend time catching her before she urine marks and that is difficult for you. Does she urine-mark outdoors?

What is the solution? Will spaying her work? I don't know. My advice is to bring her outdoors when you come back from work and before you go to work. I guess you can't wake up early. Try this. She may then urine-mark on the grass outdoors and forget about the corridor which should be neutralised properly.

I hope the above helps. Best wishes.
Do let me know if I have not answered any questions and let me know your progress.

Update at: www.toapayohvets.com - toilet training articles

Grate training advice

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore


March 5, 2010 e-mail to Dr Sing

Hi Doc,

My puppy is 2 month plus old... I confined him in a playpen... there is a pee tray inside... and I put newspaper all around the playpen... but I noticed he will pee at the pee tray but would poo at another area... no matter how I tried ( I try to carry him to the pee tray just before he poo ) he still poo at the area... How can I solved this problem?

Another question is if I and my family were to leave the house, is it ok to leave the puppy at the playpen (with his whining and barking ).. sorry but this is the 1st time I'm having a puppy...

Thanks for answering my questions...



March 6, 2010 e-mail reply from Dr Sing

Thank you for the floor-plan. As no two puppies can be toilet-trained according to a successful formula, I can only give you some guidelines to encourage your puppy to pee and poop on the grate. These guidelines may or may not be effective for you. These are:

1. The playpen has a smaller area for the first 2-4 weeks after the puppy goes home than what you present now.
2. 50% of the playpen's floor area is occupied by the grate + pee pan (which the puppy now pees on). This may be the back half of the playpen as viewed from your approach to the playpen.
3. 50% of the front half of the playpen - Food and water on the left side, sleeping area on the right side. The bottom right side is now the puppy's pee area. You need to thoroughly disinfect and neutralise the puppy's smell on this spot. Use white vinegar:water at 1:3 dilution.
Wipe off the urine smell.
4. Grate should be washed often if you are around. Stools should be removed promptly. If the puppy poops after meals, that would be best. There should be no free feeding available throughout the day. The puppy must be trained to eat all within 15 minutes.
5. This process may take 2-4 weeks depending on your training consistency, spending time to train and puppy's intelligence, amongst other factors.
6. As to leaving the puppy inside the playpen while you work, this is necessary if you want to get him house-trained early. If a friend can check him during lunchtime, it will be good.
7. Let me know if you have any questions.

How to train a puppy to pee on the plastic grate?

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

Feb 13, 2010

Dear Dr Sing

I find your work on puppies' toilet training very interesting and informative, really enjoyed reading many of the pet owners' testimonials!

I am trying to train my puppy to pee on pee tray since I brought him home on 04Feb.
I have stayed home since 04Feb & have kept puppy confined to his playpen. Please see attached photo.

Puppy's daily schedule:
7am & 7pm: Feeding Time (he finishes all his kibble within 5 mins & I will remove bowl)
* Water in bottle available from 7am to 8pm only.

5pm - 5.30pm: Play Time (I let puppy out to play only in the balcony, floor area approx. 10 feet by 5 feet)
* I am trying to teach him not to nip my toes/jump on me, by walking out of the balcony whenever he does that.

Puppy poops twice per day on most days (at times, he poops only once in the morning):
1st time shortly after breakfast (around 7.30am)
2nd time not regular (it can be during playtime, shortly after dinner, or no poop at all)
Puppy pees every 2 to 3 hours.

Most of the time, puppy poops on pee tray & pees on paper. Initially, I have the playpen covered 100% with paper.
Now I have reduced paper coverage by 50%. I place the pee tray over paper to prevent him from shredding them.
He likes to sleep on the uncovered tile area.

The problem with puppy peeing on paper is he will step all over his urine. I want to keep his paws clean so I prefer for him to learn to pee onto pee tray if possible.

I encountered three scenarios:
1) I see puppy sniffing/circling the ground, I place him onto pee tray & say "pee here".
Result: He DOESN'T pee, jumps off pee tray & pee-ed on paper.

2) Puppy too fast, I catch him mid-stream, placed him onto pee tray & say "pee here".
Result: He HOLDS his pee half-way, jumps off pee tray & continued pee-ing on paper.

3) Puppy too fast, I catch him after he has pee-ed (especially on occasions where pee volume is small).
I still place him onto pee tray & say "pee here". (hoping it will still help him to reinforce the training)

To encourage puppy to pee onto pee tray, I spray commercial ammonia solution onto pee tray & have tried placing tissue soaked with his own urine under pee tray's mesh. I also tried removing all paper (except pee tray) but he pee-ed onto the floor, so I had to place the paper back.

For accidental poo/pee on tiled floor, I will clean floor with commercial cleaner that eliminates poo/pee odor. I will also clean the floor under the paper where puppy has pee-ed on before replacing with fresh papers. My point is, I try to remove any pee/poo odor within the playpen area EXCEPT those on the pee tray. But have been unsuccessful so far.



Is there anything I have omitted or not doing correctly? I am aware that I need to confine my puppy for 2 to 4 weeks before I may see results. However, I would like to ensure I am doing the right thing to start off with. Based on your extensive experience, are Shih Tzus more difficult to toilet train, especially on pee tray? Would greatly appreciate your advise!

Before signing off, I would like to wish you & your loved ones, a Happy & Bountiful Year of the Tiger with Good Health & Great Wealth!

Thank You & Best Regards
Name of owner

E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING

Thank you for your e-mail and New Year Wishes.
It is good that you provided a photography of the puppy housing. Shih Tzu puppies are no more difficult to toilet train than other breeds.

In your case, the puppy has had been paper-trained to pee on the papers and to poop on the "plastic grate (pee tray)". But you want him to pee and poop on the grate. As each puppy is different, my following suggestions may or may not work in your puppy.

1. "Cleanliness freak" is a common observation of many puppy owners. Your puppy wants to avoid the pee tray for the following reasons.

1.1 The tray is soiled and you do not wash it after he has pooped. You may have removed the poop using tissue papers, am I correct? But the puppy can smell the poop. So he does not want to step onto the pee tray to pee as he will dirty himself.

1.2 The pee tray is too small in area relative to the Shih Tzu, as I can see from the picture. Once he poops on it, he has no clean space to pee on it. I presume he poops on a corner as the positioning of the tray is such that he has only the rightmost corner to poop.

1.3 The playpen has a lot of space for the puppy to pee. So why should he use the pee tray? He soils his paws because you do not change the soiled papers immediately and there is insufficient space for him to pee on other newspapers as you have reduced the covered area. Puppies at this age pee a lot and owners need to change the papers many times if they don't want soiled paws. Soiled paws inside a crate or playpen is a common complaint of puppy owners as the papers cannot be changed promptly in practice. Therefore, the grate is much preferred by many puppy owners. The plastic grate is an attractive set compared to the usual metallic wire grates (picture, below) which also sold in many pet shops.



Proposal:
One possible solution is to buy a grate (pee tray) that covers 50% of the playpen, leaving 50% for sleeping and eating area. There are such grates (plastic or wired) available in Singapore's pet shops. In this situation, the puppy has to use the pee tray since he has no alternative. Obviously, you must ensure that the pee tray is kept cleaned at least 3x per day.

I hope this suggestion works. Best wishes for the new year.

Updated info at www.toapayohvets.com

481. Book contents

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

1. Purpose
What's in it for the reader?

2. How to do it successfully?
2.1 Situations, Tools, Equipment, Floor feeling, History of puppies, Age of dogs etc. interconnected. Positive and negative reinforecement travel. Rewards - food, play, fun.

Consistency, Perseverance, Patience, Knowledge of dog behaviour, human behaviour, child behaviour.

3. Action Stories
Problems, conflicts and solutions.

480. Toilet-training an adopted old dog

E-MAIL FROM DOG OWNER
Oct 29, 2009
Dear Dr. Sing;
I adopted a 9-year-old Border Collie/Aussie mix from a family five weeks ago. She is a wonderful dog and easy to make her behave. However, she seems to only want to poo on lawn or cut grass. I have a large yard with a lot of brush in the back, and all gravel in the front. She doesn't seem to poo in the yard, but holds it until we go for walks at the park, which isn't every day. She pees anywhere just fine.

Can you give me some ideas on how to get her to do her business on other surfaces besides grass?

Sincerely, 

Julia in Nevada
E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING
Oct 30, 2009

Dear Julia

Thank you for e-mail. Your dog is conditioned used to poop on grass and therefore soft feel and smell of the grass are important factors for his elimination process. Now you need to replicate a similar environment.

Please let me know if the following procedure works:

1. In your backyard, clear some area of brush (bushes?) to create a level patch for pooping. I presume you prefer your dog to eliminate in the backyard.
2 Create a level ground area 3X or more the standing area occupied by your dog as a pooping ground.
3. Scatter some grass and soil (with poop smell) onto this flat ground area. You get such samples from his previous poop area in the park.
4. Bring your dog to this area. You need to know when your dog normally poops. Is it after meals, as for most dogs? Is it twice a day?
5. Say "poop here" or some firm commands.
6. Rewards (food treat and praises) on success.
7. You need to persevere and be patient. It may take 2 weeks on daily training. Training is never easy.
8. Pl let me know if this method is successful and e-mail me his picture for my record.
E-MAIL FROM DOG OWNER
Nov 13, 2009

Hello Dr. Sing,

I have had some success with your suggestion on how to get my new dog to poop on different surfaces. I have brought home her poop from the park whenever I could find it, and put it in my yard where I wanted her to go.

When I put it down, I call her over and say 'good girl, good poop' and so on. The first time, she acted ashamed so I have petted her and reassured her that it was okay. After that, she just looks at it and quickly turns away, but I saw her pooping in the back yard yesterday for the first time, so we have some success.

I want her to go in the front yard too, on the gravel, because sometimes the back is too muddy, but so far she hasn't done anything there. The poop I put out there is dry now so I may have to put fresher stuff there.

But she has recently developed bad breath and her poop is very smelly. Could this be from holding it? The poop I've seen is formed properly, a good color and texture, not hard like constipation. When I got her 8 weeks ago, she had been eating commercial food but I have converted her over to the fresh food that I also feed my other dog (raw meat and bones, potatoes, rice, cereal grains, and fermented vegetables that I make myself). She seems to be doing well on it. There was a 4-day period when we didn't go to the park that was about the same time her breath went bad. (Her teeth have been checked and are fine.)

Apart from the poop and bad breath issues, she is settling in well, has become more confident around me and my other dog, is accepting the rules, and so forth. She is a very nice dog in every way.

Thanks for your help.

Julia
E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING
Nov 14, 2009

Dear Julia

It is a pleasure to get your feedback as I seldom get feedback from the time-pressed puppy owners of Singapore. There does not seem to be sufficient time here in busy Singapore. In reply:

1. Bad breath in newly adopted older dogs. In your case, possible causes are:
1.1 Gum ulcers and infections due to stress. You may dispute this "stress" issue as what is so stressful about a dog with no worldly problems as in people? Eat and sleep. How can that be stressful? Some dogs do get stressed by changes of environment and ownership and develop mouth ulcers.

Open the mouth and check. Has your vet examined the dog's mouth and submandibular glands?

1.2 High meat diet does cause bad-smelling stools. I have complaints from some puppy owners of commercial dog food causing bad-smelling stools. Such brands have higher percentage of meat. As for bad breath, it is possible too that your dog's stomach gas is passed out from the mouth or there is a stomach infection (gastritis due to stress possibly).
A course of antibiotics from your vet may resolve the problem.

1.3 Stool eating. If your dog enjoys eating his stools, the smell of breath will be that of his stools. You need to monitor this. He may eat stools in your absence.

2. Pooping in the frontyard gravel. The same principles of smell, oral command and praises you applied to training her to poop in the backyard apply. Initially, you may need to lay some grass patches on the gravel to simulate the "softness" of ground which the dog has had been used to. Choose a corner of the frontyard to be the elimination area. Otherwise the dog does it everywhere and you will be angry.

3. Is it possible for you to post a picture of the dog for case study recording purposes? Best wishes.
E-MAIL FROM DOG OWNER
Dec 30, 2009

Hi Dr. Sing,

I finally have a picture of Trifle, the dog I had to train to go potty in my dirt backyard. It's not a good photo, and doesn't show her great personality and charm but the Santa Claus wasn't very nice so she was reacting to that. I believe she is a hunting dog from the way she behaves toward birds and wild critters although she looks somewhat like a herder.



Trifle has turned out to be a fabulous dog. I have had her for three months and it's as if she has lived here for years. She is around 9 years old but she learns even better than a puppy. She is super smart and can figure things out without being told. She has adapted to me and my routines very well, and as well to my other dog. I did what you suggested, and she goes potty in the backyard just fine. She was timid and clingy for a while but I can see her becoming more and more confident. This is amazing to me, since she was with the previous family for 8 years.

I wanted to thank you again for your help but also wanted to say that even though you only helped me with that one thing, it opened me up to trying to find better solutions for other issues too. There weren't any big problems but it just made things go smoother. For example, she is a compulsive licker. The previous owners tried various things to stop it (including acupuncture!) but all I had to do was lightly tap her on the nose every single time she licked me, and say "No lick". In less than three months, she stopped it about 95%. I never had to get upset or frustrated about it, just had to be consistent. (My other dog has a terrible barking problem that I haven't been able to "cure" because I wasn't consistent in the beginning.)

I think I got lucky with Trifle -- I'm not sure every older dog would respond so well to getting a new family. But I am very grateful for her -- she is a wonderful addition to my life.

Thanks again,

Julia
E-MAIL FROM DR SING
Dec 31, 2009

Subject: Re: Trifle

It is New Year's Day today. I was surprised to receive your e-mail and happy to get a picture of Trifle. As regards the barking problem of the other dog, perhaps you can do the following:

I have a Miniature Schnauzer dog owner who holds the dog's muzzle when he barks (actually grip) and say "No barking." She slapped her hand gripping the dog's muzzle lightly as she gave this command. She gave me this tip as she was successful. She was the "gate-keeper" in a corporation and certainly had that strong personality to command respect from the dog. Maybe you can try this as you did for the "No lick" training. Please let me know.
SUMMARY

Old dogs can be taught new tricks. However many owners just don't have the time and patience to re-train an old dog to eliminate in an appropriate area. Much more time is need to re-train old dogs to eliminate in a new area.

1. Replicate the previous elimination ground feel and smell in your new elimination area - the key to success.
2. Give oral commands like "poo here" as you place the dog's poop and urine onto the ground where you want the dog to eliminate.
3. Praises and food treats when the dog performs.
4. Repeat training as the dog may not get it during your first two lessons.

For example, if the dog pees on the newspapers in one part of the house and you want him to pee in another area (garden) outside the house, you need to replicate the environment. Bring the piece of soiled newspaper with the urine smell and put it on the patch of grass to change the dog's mindset. Do steps 2, 3 and 4 as mentioned above. Remove the newspapers gradually.

Of course, there are dogs who don't need such procedures and will do what the owner wants after some oral commands and praises.