10. Teaching the adult Shih Tzu to pee and poo outdoors

E-MAIL NO.1 FROM AN AMERICAN DOG OWNER

"...> wrote:

Hello,
I read your website today and I have question. Wonderful website by the way. The woman told the Shih Tzu to pee on the newspaper, how did she get the dog to then pee outside? I have a 3 1/2 year old Female Shih Tzu who most of the time goes the bathroom inside. We are at our wits end with her and don't know what to do.
Please advise


REPLY TO E-MAIL NO. 1

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr Sing KY [mailto:ezyvets@yahoo.com.sg]
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 7:10 PM
To: Sherry
Subject: Re: Shih Tzu question

Pl let me know what you want the Shih Tzu to do?
Which website URL are you referring to?




E-MAIL NO. 2

"Sherry wrote:

I want her to pee and poop outside all the time, not in my house the majority of the time.

REPLY TO E-MAIL NO. 2

Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 05:47:47 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
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Subject: RE: Shih Tzu question
To: "Sherry
Sat Sep 15, 2007 5.47 am

I am Dr Sing from www.toapayohvets.com

Your dog is used to pee and poop in the bathroom for a very long time.
I presume you live in a house and you want your Shih Tzu to eliminate outdoors.

The following is one method using positive training.

1. Give the dog a daily routine or timetable for feeding (breakfast and dinner) and exercise (going outdoors if you live in an apartment).

2. Ensure that the door to the outside is not closed if you live in a house.
Otherwise how does the dog go out to eliminate when he needs to?

3. Note what times the dog eliminates. Is it 2 times per day in most adult dogs in Singapore. Is it <10 minutes after meals? Is the timing variable?

3.1 Take the dog to the outside area (outside toilet) you want him to eliminate at those times he needs to do it. You need to do this several times over several days. For the first few days, the dog will wait to go back to pee and poop.

4. Use the newspapers/tissues to absorb the dog's urine and/or poop in the bathroom. Take the papers down to the outdoor toilet.

Bring the dog near these papers so that he can smell them and be conditioned to eliminate in the spot. Say "pee here" in a firm voice.

5. Praise and food treat if he does eliminate outdoors. Play with him. Do not go back home immediately. The dog enjoys the reward of time spent with you as he gets fun after eliminating and not being taken back home. Later you will find that the dog barks to ask you to go down.

6. You will not succeed in the first few days. Be patient.

7. It is important that there is a fixed time to go downstairs for the next 7-14 days otherwise it will be difficult to train the adult dog. If the dog has fixed time peeing and pooping, your outdoor toilet training will be much easier as you just bring him outdoors and follow above steps 3 - 5.

Let me know if you succeed. Best wishes.

9** Draft 1,2,3. Cavalier King Charles poops in all the wrong places

Cookie, Cavalier King Charles, 3.5 months.
Playpen + newspapers in balcony.
Playpen has no door.
Home-maker changes soiled papers regularly and trains the puppy.

PROBLEM:
Paper-trained within 7 days but poops in the study and/or kitchen when let out. Why does the puppy not goto the papers? Why spanking did not correct this misbehaviour?

DRAFT 1

Sep 11, 2007 NLB 7th floor 5.43 p.m

"My puppy will suddenly poop in the study or kitchen if I don't observe her. In the playpen, she will go to the newspapers to pee. But when we let her out, she will pee outside the playpen. I spank her but she still poops in the study just today. This cannot be permitted as the study is smelly!"

A slight trembling small-sized 4-month-old female Cavalier King Charles was brought in for vaccination. Tricolour with 3 black spots on her muzzle made her look sadder.

Lady owner who participates in dog forums to gain knowledge, late twenties, 5-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, home-maker, husband working. No table food. No food treats unless it is for training. She is strict on this routine but she said: "Sometimes the husband will give the puppy a treat on coming home from work!"

Apartment: Executive Apartment with large balcony for playpen. No rain comes in.

Playpen: Top left 1/3 basket bed, Right 1/4 newspapers, Water bowl bottom left.




Duration: 6 weeks with the owner.

Purchase from pet shop at Thomson Road. Slatted flooring.

FIRST 7 DAYS AND NIGHTS

1. Strict confinement in the playpen. "Hardly comes out of the playpen," the lady said. "She comes out 1 hour to play. I watched for signs of elimination and put into playpen. Not allowed to come out of the playpen till she has pooped. By day 7, the puppy is paper-trained."

But after 7 days, the puppy is let out. She follows the lady owner everywhere. Needs human company all the time.

2. Whining for first night. Ignored. Puppy slept without much trouble in the playpen.

3. At night, still sleep in the playpen as she is not paper-trained.

FROM WEEK 1 TO WEEK 6 (PRESENT)

Main problems are pooping in the kitchen and study room (morning) up to now. "Thorough cleaning with Dettol has no effect," the lady said. In the evening, will poop on the newspapers in the balcony.

Feeding 3x/day. Breakfast, lunch sometimes and dinner. Dry food with some puppy milk. Feed bowl inside playpen. 3 tablespoons dry food per meal. Chew bones are dried chicken jerky not the soft meat balls which cause diarrhoea. Milk does not cause diarrhoea in this puppy.

Poop 3-4 X. Overnight,after breakfast at 7 am, lunch time (irregular) and after dinner. He poops 30 - 60 minutes later, not shortly after meals. After lunch, poops on balcony newspapers (new ones) or kitchen and the study. After dinner, poops on the newspapers in the balcony (new ones). Sleeps at 11 p.m.

Pees- many times. Papers are changed "hourly".

WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS?

1. In my opinion, the puppy just wants a clean place to poop or pee. Why did she poop in the study room despite "spanking"?

The one full page of the Straits Times would be soiled overnight. The daughter would take the puppy out of the playpen after breakfast, assuming she had had pooped. The poo was overnight. The puppy would rush to the clean same spot in the study or kitchen to poop!

What's the solution?

1. Overnight, the playpen newspapers are soiled. There is a need for a 2nd toilet location for the puppy as she is growing up. A newspaper on the pee pan in the kitchen bathroom would be ideal.

"Shut the study room. The puppy would go to the kitchen," the lady said. "The puppy likes to pee outside the playpen in the same area."

2. Increase the newspaper coverage inside the playpen from 25% to 50%.

3. Neutralise urine smell with vinegar:water 1:3. Stool smells are not neutralised similarly.

4. Wakes up, change soiled newspapers. Daughter feeds her and let her out. This is where the puppy seeks the study or balcony to poop if unsupervised for 1 minute!

CONCLUSION
Puppy is 50% paper-trained in the sense that she pees on newspapers in the balcony. However, she does poop on newspapers too but not all the time. Sometimes inside the forbidden areas in the study and the kitchen.

The best solution may be a 2nd toilet location - a pee pan with newspapers in the kitchen bathroom area. Increase the paper area as the puppy is growing bigger and eliminates more. She wants to be clean.

No distractions after feeding but it seems this is not possible with 2 kids around. So the puppy poops much later after the excitement of playing with the kids. Feed 2x/day to regulate the bowel movement so that pooping is reduced to 2x/day after food.

The owner supervises the kids. She is very strict with the kids playing rough with the puppy. The 5-year-old used to pull the puppy's tail or ears and was taught not to do it. The kids are discouraged from encouraging the puppy to bite and jump, or giving table food or hand feeding. She did not take leave to go overseas so that the puppy can be properly trained.

COMMENTS

It seems to me that the puppy would be successfully paper-trained in 14 -28 days if she has had provided a 2nd toilet location esp. after the puppy wakes up and as she changes the newspapers. Open the playpen and let the puppy run to the 2nd toilet location.

This is a fascinating case study.


Owner promised to e-mail to me a picture of the housing.



DRAFT 2

Thanks for the beautiful photos.

I have thought over the reasons why Cookie still poops in the study or kitchen despite being spanked after reviewing the over 500 cases of toilet training reports from other puppy owners in Singapore in the past 3 years.

The most likely reasons Cookie looks for the study room or kitchen to poop are:

1. Many puppies poop within 10 minutes after eating if undistracted after eating.
But Cookie poops 30 - 60 minutes after eating. This is because he is distracted by the 8-year-old daughter's presence after breakfast and will not poop soon after eating. As you said, she takes the puppy out of the playpen assuming he has had pooped in the morning. Actually he has had pooped overnight.

2. After 30 - 60 minutes out of the playpen, Cookie needs to poop. NO way he is going into the playpen to do it although you have had changed to fresh papers. In any case, the playpen has no door for him to get to the fresh newspapers you had put in.

You will be busy preparing breakfast for the husband and children. So, Cookie dashes to his favourite corner in the study room (if the door is left open) or to the kitchen floor to poop.



Solutions:
1. Some owners open up the playpen in the morning by taking out one fencing, so that the puppy has access to the fresh newspapers (the first toilet location).

2. Other owners have playpens with a door opened so that the puppy goes in for pooping and peeing. Your playpen does not have this configuration. So there is no immediate access to the toilet location during the last 6 weeks. The puppy resorts to finding a second toilet location---the study or kitchen for pooping and outside the playpen for peeing.

In your case, it may be possible to remove the playpen fencing by storing away the fences. Close the sliding door of the balcony and make sure that Cookie poops and pee on the fresh newspapers before he is allowed out. When he gets rewarded by food treats for doing it, you can open the sliding door.

3. He pees outside his playpen. The reason is that Cookie cannot control his bladder well at 4 months of age. According to a guideline, using a formula N-1, where N=puppy's age in months, Cookie pees every 3 hourly. So he pees outside the playpen as he is not crated during the day.

I note you have put a second piece of newspapers outside the playpen in the picture.

Conclusion.
With children and a husband and possibly neighbours and in-laws visiting and interacting with the puppy, there are so many distractions affecting the success of paper-training of a new puppy in an apartment.

Cookie's natural instincts is a very clean puppy and this is what he tries to communicate to you. Now he has been 6 weeks into toilet training. In general the success in paper training in most Singapore's dog owners are around 4-8 weeks. Couples without children or distracting friends and in-laws are successful in around 2 weeks.

After writing so much, what is the solution? More spanking? I can only propose the following:

1. Take away the playpen fencing during the day. Increase the newspaper coverage of the balcony floor.

You have been correct to reduce the 100% coverage of the playpen floor during week 1 after purchase so that the puppy eliminates on the newspapers. You then reduce the newspapers to a corner of the playpen. You change soiled newspapers regularly (every hour?). In this way, you have been successful in paper-training.

2. Close the sliding door in the morning so that Cookie poops on the newspapers after breakfast before coming out to play. Give your food treat and praise once he has pooped and let him out.

3. Access to a second toilet area but no access to the whole apartment in week 2 and 3 after purchase. This was not possible or done in your case. For example, barricade the balcony and gradually let the puppy have access to more room, e.g. living and dining area. The second toilet area will have newspapers with Cookie's urine smell. This could be in the living area on week 2 and 3 after purchase.

Now it is week 6 after purchase.Close the study room door at all times. Put newspapers in the favourite spot in the kitchen. Neutralise the urine smell outside the playpen (where I note you have put newspapers) with vinegar:water 1:3. So the urine smells will only be the first toilet location. The second toilet location will be the kitchen bathroom.

4. Crated in the playpen in the balcony at night. Many owners do this because they don't want the puppy to mess up the whole apartment. All puppies find ways and means not to be crated inside the playpen after breakfast.

5. Second toilet area. Give access to the toilet area by opening up the playpen (one fence taken out after breakfast) and a second toilet area in the kitchen bathroom flooring.

The above are my tentative solutions and quick reply to your problems. Spanking will not work in this case. I guess that Cookie sprints to hide under the table or somewhere whenever you raise your hand to spank him after he has had already pooped in the study? He just does not understand why he is being spanked. Your food treats for obedience and toilet training are better motivation.I am glad that you don't permit food treats to be given anyhow but only after successful performance of training.

Each toilet-training case differs as family distractions can be sabotaging your best efforts and change the daily routine of the puppy.
Daily routine includes a time table for meals, sleep and exercise. I wish you all the best.

Best wishes.






DRAFT 3

...@yahoo.com.sg> wrote:

Hello Dr Sing,

Thank you very very much for your advises. It is very much appreciated.

All you said in your mail are true. I didn't think about opening the door to Cookie's playpen every morning which is a great idea, coz I did noticed in the 3rd week when Cookie wanted to poo, he was trying to get to the paper inside the playpen but it didn't occur to me then to take out one of the door of the playpen for him to go in and out to use the paper.

I'll put your advise to use immediately about taking one of the gate away from the pen every day and will tell my daughter what to do in the morning as Cookie's breakfast is her responsibility in the morning. And we've already start closing the door to the study room yesterday and Cookie went to the balcony to do his poo on the clean paper there . Which will remain clean all the time for him to poo on.

But I need to ask you a question: Does Cookie need two pee/poo area instead of one? I don't mind him doing it in the kitchen if it is coz he's fav area in the kitchen is just right outside the toilet door or sometimes even inside the toilet itself. Please advise...

As to spanking Cookie, I do notice it doesn't really work coz he always runs back to me after i spank him. I doubt he really understand what all the spanking is about. Treats gets his attention more!!! So I rarely spank him actually, just talk loudly to him and give him a stern look and then I just clean up the mess and think of other ways to prevent him from doing it at the wrong place again...And Cookies is very clean coz he refuse to sleep in his basket if I don't clean it every week, he rather sleep on the floor in the pen.

Again, thank you for the advises and pointers.
Any further advise is appreciated, as we're all still trying to train Cookie to be better at poo/peeing.

Thanks & Regards.

REPLY TO E-MAIL SEP 12, 2007

I should thank you for your excellent report. It is a real case study.

Usually I don't get such feedback from puppy owners during the past 3 years.

Because of real cases from all of you, I get educated on puppy behaviour and was able to advise you. Still, my e-mail to you are draft reports as each case is different. Sometimes I can see the solution, but there may be more than one solution which I get after a period of time or when I review the case.

As for TWO TOILET LOCATIONS, it would not have been necessary if you had had a door in the playpen earlier and confine Cookie in the balcony for 2 weeks, then extend the restricted zone (like Singapore Government's ERP) to the living and dining area. So, she goes to the papers which you change frequently.

Now, it seems that you can do without two toilet locations if you go back to square one. Restrict to balcony and living area for 1-2 weeks if you can barricade (with the playpen fencing part of the living area). Then increase the area and so on and so on.

Of course, increase the newspaper area in the balcony as she is growing bigger. Otherwise she will poop in the wrong places.

I hope you don't mind me sharing your case study with readers so that all first-time puppy owners living in apartments and scratching their heads over paper training, all over the world can learn from your experiences.

And many grateful thanks. Let me know when you finally are successful in paper training. Best wishes.



ALMOST ALL PUPPIES INSTINCTIVELY WANT TO LIVE IN CLEAN AREAS, if they have a choice.

8. The dog trainer says "This Rottweiler will never be a good guard dog!"

"Mark (a dog trainer) tells me that my Rottweiler puppy will never make it as a guard dog!" the broad shouldered man with a face that has many hills and valleys lamented as he put the puppy onto the consultation table for her vaccination. "I bought her from a home breeder. She has the broadest head and was full of ticks. Now she is all right. I bought her to guard my house. Nowadays with so many robberies and murders reported in the New Paper, a guard dog will be best."

"Did Mark really say that this Rottweiler will never become a good guard dog?" I asked him. "It is too early to predict the puppy's courage at 3 months of age. When I was doing National Service in the Provost Unit Dog Unit, we assessed the dog at around 6 months of age as to whether it would be suitable for guard dog duty."



"This puppy is a laid-back lazy one," the man's mother commented in the Hokkien dialect. The Rottweiler was as still as a rock, as cool as cucumber, lying on the consultation table.

Overall, the puppy looked healthy. Well, she was not the Jack Russell breed, zooming in and out like a rocket. I checked her ears by palpating the vertical canals. Surprisingly the puppy gave a loud yelp as if she was being murdered.

Both her ears elicited similar screams of pain. No strong smell as I swab the ears with a cotton bud. Just reddish brown wax. She screamed more when I inserted the cotton bud to check the ear canals for mites or dirt.

Was it possible that the puppy was suffering from ear ache and therefore not inclined to be active? If only she could talk and tell us.

I put her on a table outside the surgery. Flushed her ears with a 20-ml syringe of clean water ten times on either ear. Big blobs of sticky reddish brown wax flowed out.

The puppy was given medication and proper veterinary ear ointment. A follow up would be useful. If the ear pain is removed, I predict that this puppy would be more active. In any case, this puppy does not have submissive or excitation urination---similar to bedwetting in some people or was frightened of me.

I said to the disappointed owner who bought the Rottweiler to guard his house: "Wait and see. She may make a good guard dog if she is well trained and not exposed to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the neighbourhood." Only time will tell.


SEP 13, 2007

Consultation: Puppy was limping on right hind leg, with toes out.

Put on examination table. Check length of both hind legs by extending both hips with my hands pulling back legs them backwards. Right hind slightly shorter.

Extend and flex hip joints. Palpate hip joints. Puppy screamed on palpating right hip joint. Subluxation or a congenital defect? Needs to X-ray.

In conclusion, the reason for this puppy being not active could be a painful right hip. As the first consultation was only for vaccination, no lameness examination was carried out, to save on veterinary costs to the owner.

7. A stinking carpeted bedroom - doggy smells and dampness?

Sep 12, 2007

"My daughter did not want to enter the master bedroom on the 3rd floor," June said. "The stench was overwhelming." June is a renovation contractor and she had to give an estimate of the costs involved. I met her when I treated her Doberman Pinschers and her daughter was just a toddler. She wanted 40% of $25,000 as a deposit to renovate the whole house including painting.

"Yes, I know," I said. "Ann had kept 2 puppies in the bedroom for the past year. They must have had peed and pooped everywhere on the carpeted floor." Anna could not smell the stench as her nose is desensitised or if she did, she did not say anything.

A new housing agent, Shirley wanted me to go to the house to smell for myself as she felt that it was untenantable. "It is so smelly that nobody would live in it."

"What a negative mental attitude you have," I said. "There will be tenants who don't mind the smells as they have low budget. Rentals of a bedroom in Singapore is now as high as $500 per month. Of course, there is a need to get a carpet cleaner to remove the smells first.

"My point is that if you think negatively, how do you succeed in your agency business? You want to be an entrepreneur but you are already thinking that the glass is half empty instead of half full. Instead of thinking of this house as an opportunity to start your business for foreigners, you start giving bad news of untenantable place---all because of some smells."

2-month-old puppies need to be confined in a small area for up to 4 weeks especially in carpeted rooms. Their bladder control is poor till they grow up to more than 5 months old. Take them out to a bigger but restricted area. Don't let them roam the whole bedroom which is carpeted. Urine-marking may also be a problem causing bad smells on the carpet when the dogs are mature even though they may be female. Some alpha female dogs do urine-mark.

In this carpeted bedroom, the smells of urine and faeces just accumulate but Ann would not be able to smell it as visitors could. There is a need to neutralise the smells and clean up the carpet and it can be quite a chore and expensive to do it. There were water seepage from the walls and roof and those could add to the smells.

In such situations, almost the whole house has had to be renovated. A new agent needs to be positive in thinking, otherwise it is best to become an employee as time is money and income depends on performance.

**6. Draft 2. Cavalier King Charles poops in the study room.

Thanks for the beautiful photos.

I have thought over the reasons why Cookie still poops in the study or kitchen despite being spanked after reviewing the over 500 cases of toilet training reports from other puppy owners in Singapore in the past 3 years.

The most likely reasons Cookie looks for the study room or kitchen to poop are:

1. Many puppies poop within 10 minutes after eating if undistracted after eating.
But Cookie poops 30 - 60 minutes after eating. This is because he is distracted by the 8-year-old daughter's presence after breakfast and will not poop soon after eating. As you said, she takes the puppy out of the playpen assuming he has had pooped in the morning. Actually he has had pooped overnight.

2. After 30 - 60 minutes out of the playpen, Cookie needs to poop. NO way he is going into the playpen to do it although you have had changed to fresh papers. In any case, the playpen has no door for him to get to the fresh newspapers you had put in.

You will be busy preparing breakfast for the husband and children. So, Cookie dashes to his favourite corner in the study room (if the door is left open) or to the kitchen floor to poop.



Solutions:
1. Some owners open up the playpen in the morning by taking out one fencing, so that the puppy has access to the fresh newspapers (the first toilet location).

2. Other owners have playpens with a door opened so that the puppy goes in for pooping and peeing. Your playpen does not have this configuration. So there is no immediate access to the toilet location during the last 6 weeks. The puppy resorts to finding a second toilet location---the study or kitchen for pooping and outside the playpen for peeing.

In your case, it may be possible to remove the playpen fencing by storing away the fences. Close the sliding door of the balcony and make sure that Cookie poops and pee on the fresh newspapers before he is allowed out. When he gets rewarded by food treats for doing it, you can open the sliding door.

3. He pees outside his playpen. The reason is that Cookie cannot control his bladder well at 4 months of age. According to a guideline, using a formula N-1, where N=puppy's age in months, Cookie pees every 3 hourly. So he pees outside the playpen as he is not crated during the day.

I note you have put a second piece of newspapers outside the playpen in the picture.

Conclusion.
With children and a husband and possibly neighbours and in-laws visiting and interacting with the puppy, there are so many distractions affecting the success of paper-training of a new puppy in an apartment.

Cookie's natural instincts is a very clean puppy and this is what he tries to communicate to you. Now he has been 6 weeks into toilet training. In general the success in paper training in most Singapore's dog owners are around 4-8 weeks. Couples without children or distracting friends and in-laws are successful in around 2 weeks.

After writing so much, what is the solution? More spanking? I can only propose the following:

1. Take away the playpen fencing during the day. Increase the newspaper coverage of the balcony floor.

You have been correct to reduce the 100% coverage of the playpen floor during week 1 after purchase so that the puppy eliminates on the newspapers. You then reduce the newspapers to a corner of the playpen. You change soiled newspapers regularly (every hour?). In this way, you have been successful in paper-training.

2. Close the sliding door in the morning so that Cookie poops on the newspapers after breakfast before coming out to play. Give your food treat and praise once he has pooped and let him out.

3. Access to a second toilet area but no access to the whole apartment in week 2 and 3 after purchase. This was not possible or done in your case. For example, barricade the balcony and gradually let the puppy have access to more room, e.g. living and dining area. The second toilet area will have newspapers with Cookie's urine smell. This could be in the living area on week 2 and 3 after purchase.

Now it is week 6 after purchase.Close the study room door at all times. Put newspapers in the favourite spot in the kitchen. Neutralise the urine smell outside the playpen (where I note you have put newspapers) with vinegar:water 1:3. So the urine smells will only be the first toilet location. The second toilet location will be the kitchen bathroom.

4. Crated in the playpen in the balcony at night. Many owners do this because they don't want the puppy to mess up the whole apartment. All puppies find ways and means not to be crated inside the playpen after breakfast.

5. Second toilet area. Give access to the toilet area by opening up the playpen (one fence taken out after breakfast) and a second toilet area in the kitchen bathroom flooring.

The above are my tentative solutions and quick reply to your problems. Spanking will not work in this case. I guess that Cookie sprints to hide under the table or somewhere whenever you raise your hand to spank him after he has had already pooped in the study? He just does not understand why he is being spanked. Your food treats for obedience and toilet training are better motivation.I am glad that you don't permit food treats to be given anyhow but only after successful performance of training.

Each toilet-training case differs as family distractions can be sabotaging your best efforts and change the daily routine of the puppy.
Daily routine includes a time table for meals, sleep and exercise. I wish you all the best.

Best wishes.

**5. Draft 1. Cavalier King Charles poops in the study room despite spanking

Sep 11, 2007 NLB 7th floor 5.43 p.m

"My puppy will suddenly poop in the study or kitchen if I don't observe her. In the playpen, she will go to the newspapers to pee. But when we let her out, she will pee outside the playpen. I spank her but she still poops in the study just today. This cannot be permitted as the study is smelly!"

A slight trembling small-sized 4-month-old female Cavalier King Charles was brought in for vaccination. Tricolour with 3 black spots on her muzzle made her look sadder.

Lady owner who participates in dog forums to gain knowledge, late twenties, 5-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, home-maker, husband working. No table food. No food treats unless it is for training. She is strict on this routine but she said: "Sometimes the husband will give the puppy a treat on coming home from work!"

Apartment: Executive Apartment with large balcony for playpen. No rain comes in.

Playpen: Top left 1/3 basket bed, Right 1/4 newspapers, Water bowl bottom left.




Duration: 6 weeks with the owner.

Purchase from pet shop at Thomson Road. Slatted flooring.

FIRST 7 DAYS AND NIGHTS

1. Strict confinement in the playpen. "Hardly comes out of the playpen," the lady said. "She comes out 1 hour to play. I watched for signs of elimination and put into playpen. Not allowed to come out of the playpen till she has pooped. By day 7, the puppy is paper-trained."

But after 7 days, the puppy is let out. She follows the lady owner everywhere. Needs human company all the time.

2. Whining for first night. Ignored. Puppy slept without much trouble in the playpen.

3. At night, still sleep in the playpen as she is not paper-trained.

FROM WEEK 1 TO WEEK 6 (PRESENT)

Main problems are pooping in the kitchen and study room (morning) up to now. "Thorough cleaning with Dettol has no effect," the lady said. In the evening, will poop on the newspapers in the balcony.

Feeding 3x/day. Breakfast, lunch sometimes and dinner. Dry food with some puppy milk. Feed bowl inside playpen. 3 tablespoons dry food per meal. Chew bones are dried chicken jerky not the soft meat balls which cause diarrhoea. Milk does not cause diarrhoea in this puppy.

Poop 3-4 X. Overnight,after breakfast at 7 am, lunch time (irregular) and after dinner. He poops 30 - 60 minutes later, not shortly after meals. After lunch, poops on balcony newspapers (new ones) or kitchen and the study. After dinner, poops on the newspapers in the balcony (new ones). Sleeps at 11 p.m.

Pees- many times. Papers are changed "hourly".

WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS?

1. In my opinion, the puppy just wants a clean place to poop or pee. Why did she poop in the study room despite "spanking"?

The one full page of the Straits Times would be soiled overnight. The daughter would take the puppy out of the playpen after breakfast, assuming she had had pooped. The poo was overnight. The puppy would rush to the clean same spot in the study or kitchen to poop!

What's the solution?

1. Overnight, the playpen newspapers are soiled. There is a need for a 2nd toilet location for the puppy as she is growing up. A newspaper on the pee pan in the kitchen bathroom would be ideal.

"Shut the study room. The puppy would go to the kitchen," the lady said. "The puppy likes to pee outside the playpen in the same area."

2. Increase the newspaper coverage inside the playpen from 25% to 50%.

3. Neutralise urine smell with vinegar:water 1:3. Stool smells are not neutralised similarly.

4. Wakes up, change soiled newspapers. Daughter feeds her and let her out. This is where the puppy seeks the study or balcony to poop if unsupervised for 1 minute!

CONCLUSION
Puppy is 50% paper-trained in the sense that she pees on newspapers in the balcony. However, she does poop on newspapers too but not all the time. Sometimes inside the forbidden areas in the study and the kitchen.

The best solution may be a 2nd toilet location - a pee pan with newspapers in the kitchen bathroom area. Increase the paper area as the puppy is growing bigger and eliminates more. She wants to be clean.

No distractions after feeding but it seems this is not possible with 2 kids around. So the puppy poops much later after the excitement of playing with the kids. Feed 2x/day to regulate the bowel movement so that pooping is reduced to 2x/day after food.

The owner supervises the kids. She is very strict with the kids playing rough with the puppy. The 5-year-old used to pull the puppy's tail or ears and was taught not to do it. The kids are discouraged from encouraging the puppy to bite and jump, or giving table food or hand feeding. She did not take leave to go overseas so that the puppy can be properly trained.

COMMENTS

It seems to me that the puppy would be successfully paper-trained in 14 -28 days if she has had provided a 2nd toilet location esp. after the puppy wakes up and as she changes the newspapers. Open the playpen and let the puppy run to the 2nd toilet location.

This is a fascinating case study.


Owner promised to e-mail to me a picture of the housing.

Success Story: A dwarf Shih Tzu is "confined to barracks".

SUCCESS STORY:
PAPER-TRAINED INSIDE A CRATE IN 4 WEEKS

Sunday July 22, 2007

"When my mum who is very firm or when nobody is around, the puppy will pee all over the apartment," the couple in their late twenties said. "But he knows how to go to the newspaper to poo. It is just that he pees around 10X per day and cannot make it to the newspaper in the utility room (away from the kitchen).

The HDB has an extended room during upgrading. This utility room is very small, not sufficient size to put in a single bed. The puppy was given free access in the apartment but mess up everywhere for the first 4 weeks. The owner bought a crate and confined him especially at night. By the 4th week when I saw him, he was paper-trained successfully.

The newspapers were put on the pee pan. Normally the pee pan is placed below the wire flooring of the crate so that urine and poo could drop through the flooring into the crate, keeping the puppy's lower body clean.

However, the owner felt that the wire flooring gaps may trap the paws. So he put the pee pan inside the crate. 3/4 of the pee pan would be newspapers (1/2 page of the Straits Times, measuring 35x58cm. The puppy sleeps on the 1/4 area on the right side (see picture).

As most puppies want to keep their sleeping area clean, this dwarf Shih Tzu has no choice but to pee and poo on the newspapers on the left side. When the papers are soiled, he will bark to ask the owner to change them.

"The puppy is growing. He needs a bigger area," I advised.

"I thought of buying 3 panels of fences to wall off an area outside the gate," the young man said.

"It is a good idea," I said. "In this case, put some newspapers outside so that the puppy has a 2nd toilet location. Or he may sleep outside and the crate is his toilet area."

I don't know whether the owner will extend the crate area. Another way is just to get a pee pan with newspapers and urine smell (use second sheet of soiled newspapers) and put it somewhere in the living area or corridor outside the bathroom so that the puppy can run to it when the other toilet area is soiled.




Shih Tzu, male, tricolour
Born: April 6, 2007
Now 15 weeks old.
1.8 kg, like a dwarf. He should be heavier at 3.5 months of age.
Been with owner for last 8 weeks, but still "not toilet-trained because he pees anywhere in the living room and bedroom".

REASONS
1. Newspaper is too far away.
2. Newspaper is half the page of the Straits Times. So he "misses his target."
3. Crate with pee pan below and door. However, the owner is worried about his paws being caught on the wire flooring. Therefore, the pee pan is placed onto the wire flooring. Newspapers cover 3/4 of the pee pan leaving right 1/4 for the puppy to sleep.
4. Whenever the paper is soiled, the puppy barks to ask for change.



SOLUTIONS
1. "If the puppy is not toilet trained after being with the owner for 2 months, there is a need to know why," I said.

1.1 Reasons:

In the first month, the owner thought it was cruel to crate the puppy. So he eliminates in the kitchen. But mum wants the kitchen floor to be clean. So,the owner bought a crate with pee pan. The mum cleans the kitchen floor thoroughly with Dettol and it was said to be better than the spray bought from a pet shop.

In the last 4 weeks, the crate was successfully used. The puppy has been confined inside, esp. at night. The door is left open and the puppy goes inside to poop and pee.

"He is a clean puppy and will bark if the papers are soiled."

2. Extension of the sleeping area by putting up 3 panels of fences outside the crate. This was the owner's idea. Good. But there should be a gap for the puppy to go out. Most likely the puppy will sleep outside the crate in the extension area. The extension area can be used as an extra toilet location.

3. "We don't know that there is a need for a second toilet location," the young man told me. Put newspapers in the living room. The puppy is able to pee on newspapers but the one inside the kitchen may be too far away.

4. URINE SMELL. The owner does this: Tissue paper dabbled with puppy's urine is put in between the newspapers earlier on.

Newspaper covers 3/4 of the pee pan (on left). Puppy sleeps on 1/4 on right and has his chew toys scuh as pig ears

5. SIGNS OF ELIMINATION like turning and sniffing.Owner will quickly take a newspaper and put the puppy on it.

6. ACCIDENTS. Owner makes the puppy smell his urine in accident area and scold him. Not effective.

7. Pee pan + newspaper in the living area may be effective. "I thought of only one toilet location," the man said.

"Two will be better as the puppy does not like to use soiled papers.

8. MISSING THE TARGET NEWSPAPERS. Pees outside the edge.
Quite a common complaint. "You put the tissue with puppy urine in the centre of the papers. When he smells it, his legs will be outside since this is only half a page of the Straits Time. So, the puppy misses target!"

9. PAPER TOO SMALL IN AREA. Needs to increase size to full page instead of 1/2 page as the puppy is growing.

In this case, as the Shih Tzu is a dwarf, the crate and pee pan housing was sufficient area for toilet-training. Confinement to the crate for the past 4 weeks was a key to success. Now, the puppy should be given another pee pan with newspapers (urine from 2nd sheet) as a 2nd toilet location so that he needs not bark for owners to change the soiled papers. Sometimes the owners are not at home. The Shih Tzu then need not be "confined to barracks". In this case, the barracks are the crate.



P.S. "barracks" = extremely plain or uniform housing. Soldiers are "confined to barracks" when there is a possibility of military coup?

3. New mother is well read.

The 4th Shih Tzu puppy licked the muscle relaxant cream from the tube used by the new mother's mum who helped her to babysit.

"Mum's hand gets sprained after carrying my baby," she told me. Now the puppy is very quiet. Could she be poisoned by the salicylate in the cream? The owner had rinsed the puppy's mouth.

An examination did not reveal much. The rectal temperature dropped from 39.1C to 38.4C over the next 30 minutes at the surgery.

"How is it like to be a full-time mum?" I asked her. She was a human resource assistant managing over 400 staff and their overwhelming demands for attention and explanation. She quit after 8 years as workload increased considerably. The company did not want to recruit more staff to help her.

It was a loss to the company as her network is extensive.

"What books do you read to help you be a good mum?" I asked. She is in her 30s and well informed. These are her recommendations:

1. No Cry Sleep Solution - Elizabeth Panley - Page One bookshop at Vivo City.
2. Good Night Sleep Tight - Kim West - Page One bookshop at Vivo City.
3. babysupplies.com forum.
4. Asian Parenting Today Book. Most appropriate than baby books written by Westerners, she said.
5. babycenter.com


"How about your husband?" I asked.
He does not seem to need to read such books.

"I read Dr Benjamin Spock," I said to her. "That was 20 years ago. Have you heard of this famous doctor well known in the U.S.?"

She shook her head.

2. A Galloping Pug. Can a paper-shredding, furniture destroying, house-trained hyperactive 1.5-year-old Pug be paper-trained?

DRAFT

Friday July 20, 2007.

"I bought a pug because pugs are quiet dogs," the lady owner controlled this 1.5-year-old male brown-black masked pug from charging away. He was like a racehorse ready to jump out of the starting gate. A choke chain was used to control him.

"Maybe he had Jack Russell blood," I could not believe that this pug was no more a puppy but behaving juvenile. When let free in the apartment, he would chew sofa, shoes and ripped down the curtains. He would pee and poop too.

So, for the past 6 months, he was confined to the playpen most of the day when the owner worked. He was purchased from a Sembawang farm when he was nearly one year old.
He was kept in a crate with concrete floors for up to one year old.

In the owner's house, the playpen is put against the kitchen wall. A plastic pee pan with newspapers on it is placed near the wall in the back half of the area.

"A water bottle hung from the right-hand-side of the cage.

"Why don't you use a water bowl?" I asked. Water bowl may be easier to lap water from.

"A water bowl is not used because this pug played with the bowl and spilling the water," the owner said.

The bottom half of the area was the tiled floor. He sleeps on the newspapers in the pee pan. The owner wanted him to pee and poop on the newspapers in the pee pan.

"Why not cover the playpen floor with newspapers since you want to paper-train him? Then gradually reduce the newspapers covering the floor. In theory, put newspapers on the area where he eliminates. In that way, you will have paper-trained him."

"It is easier said than done," the owner shook her head. "The pug shredded up all the newspapers."

He would NOT eliminate in this playpen (outside the pee pan area) except when:

1. The lady's father came home. "He could be seeking attention," the lady said. "He does not eliminate if I am home in the evening to take him out for exercise."

2. The lady did not come back on time in the evening or it was raining.

"He always has a reserve of urine in his bladder," the lady observed. "He would pee inside the apartment as if he is left free when I am at home. I restricted water intake like the dog tainer advised and gave him a routine. But still he could not be paper-trained!"

I said, "At his age, he has full control of his bladder and usually pees 1-2X/day. He is marking his territory, using urine." The owner seems to think that the pug is not toilet-trained. But urine-marking is a male behaviour of dogs to mark his territory to warn off other dogs.

FEEDING. Inside the playpen at 7 a.m and 7 p.m. After sleeping in his plastic carrier crate (chew toys, bed) overnight, he would be keen to have his breakfast inside the playpen at around 7a.m.

"After eating, he would avoid being trapped inside the playpen. He would hide under the dining table and no food treats would entice him to come out. The playpen was open with 3 panels hooked, but the pug would never be tricked by treats to come out from hiding if he knew he would be put into the playpen when I go to work." the owner said it was a problem trying to catch him to be put inside the playpen.



WHAT THE OWNER WANTS
1. The owner wants him to be paper-trained.
2. But he shreds newspapers.

HOW TO DO IT?
I suggest re-starting the toilet-training using either the tether method or the room confinement method (playpen opened inside a room) for at least 4 weeks. Since the common bathroom was available and the lady is able to spend full-time, this method may be preferred.

1. PRESENT ROUTINE

7 am breakfast in the playpen. If no elimination 1 hour after eating, the owner brings him outdoors. He eliminates outdoors. Owner goes to work. Pug put inside playpen to avoid destruction of the apartment furniture.

7 pm dinner in the playpen. If no elimination 1 hour after eating, the owner brings him outdoors. He eliminates outdoors. He never eliminates inside the playpen if the owner comes home on time. However, if the owner's father is present, he does it deliberately to get attention. I suspect he just wanted to get out of the playpen.

2. PROPOSED ROUTINE.

Confine pug inside the bathroom for the next 2-8 weeks. A baby-gate at the door permits him to see people.

Same time for breakfast and dinner. When he eliminates, praise and give him a food treat (he is very greedy for treats except when after breakfast when he knows he would be put inside the playpen so that the owner goes to work.).

Do not let him go outdoors till he has eliminated. Observe him inside the bathroom.

Pee pan covered with newspapers with one piece having his urine smell. The rest of the bathroom floor is initially covered with newspapers. He will shred them. Disinfect floor with white vinegar:water 1:2 those areas he had "accident" except for the pee pan.

(An idea. Gather some grass and soil and put onto the pee pan with newspaper and his urine so that the dog smells as if he was outdoors at the grass patch to eliminate. Will this work? I did not mention this to the owner).

He may or may not lie down on the pee pan and the newspapers as this was his old routine.

NEUTERING
"Neutering may make him less hyperactive," the owner had brought in the dog for the operation this morning. I was asking her about the toilet training as part of my research and was surprised to learn that the owner wanted him to be paper-trained.

In this case, the pug had been "house-trained". This is what the dog book authors define "house-training." To convert an adult dog from being house-trained to being paper-trained takes a lot of time.

"Usually a paper-trained pug waits till he comes home to eliminate," I told the owner. "He does not want to do it outdoors."

Now, this pug defines the home and outdoors as his territory. His plastic pee pan with newspapers and the carrier crate are his den. Dogs are territorial.

"Will neutering stops his urine-marking?" the lady asked.



"It is not guaranteed as you have had delayed the operation for too long," I said. "If it is done at around 6 months of age, at the start of urine-marking, chances are good that this anti-social habit will disappear after neutering."

"I thought it is cruel, so I did not do it," she said.

"Many Singaporeans and pet lovers think the same way," I empathised.

Now that the owner is full-time on training him, it is possible that she may succeed in 4-8 weeks time. But the pug would not be allowed to come out of the bathroom till he has eliminated on the newspapers. Praise and food treat need to be given. Later, remove the baby-gate and he is supposed to go to the bathroom to eliminate. So much for theory.

The pug was neutered today and stayed overnight at the Surgery without charge. But his urine-marking behaviour may still exists despite neutering. He will be less high-energy than before as his testosterone levels have diminished. This was what the owner initially wanted.


It is fortunately that the pug is not an alpha dog. An alpha wants to dominate and be the leader. He may bite the lady owner. This male pug does not bite anyone and is more interested in claiming his terrority at home by urine marking.

He had been house-trained in the sense that he eliminates downstairs. The lady owner had to work during the past 6 months. So, she waited one hour and since he did not eliminate in his pee pan, she took him downstairs. The pug eliminates downstairs and urine marks. After that, the routine is set. So he does not get paper-trained despite confinement in the playpen during the daytime.

Basics of toilet training for a puppy/dog.

1) Confinement - Put the dog in a small area (a crate, playpen pen or a small room) when he is not supervised. So he can't eliminate in the apartment.

2) Routine - Depending on the age, use the formula N-1 where N=age of dogs in months, as a guideline, to let the dog out of the crate or small area.

E.g. 3-month-old. Every 2 hours, bring the dog to the toilet area (newspaper with urine smell, pee pad or the grass patch outdoors). It should be immediately to 30 minutes after eating esp. in the morning. Do not leave it unsupervised until he is toilet trained.

Signs of elimination --- squatting, sniffing, turning --- carry to toilet area or outdoors for a puppy. Do not crate for more than 6 hours a day for puppies older than 6 months. Get a pet sitter.

3) Positive Reinforcement Training - Praise the dog for doing his business at the right place.

4) "Accidents" --- Do not spank the dog as he does not know why unless you catch him eliminating in the wrong place. Some owners make the dog smell the pee and take him to the toilet area, assuming the dog knows what he has done wrong. Over time, it seems to work. But it is better to supervise the dog closely and prevent "accidents" by watching for signs of elimination.

Neutralise urine smell in "accident areas" with white vinegar:water or products from the pet shop. Poop smell may not be easily neutralised.

1. Success story: The Superclean Dad. How to paper-train 4 pups by 10 weeks old

DRAFT


Sunday July 15, 2007

As I had time to chat, I asked about toilet training, not expecting much success. But I was surprised. This couple did succeed in paper-training all 4 Shih Tzu pups by 10 weeks of age.

"They follow their mother to use the newspapers as toilet," the wife said. Well, not as simple as that.

A young couple in their early 30s. One newborn baby. First-time home-breeder.
2 Shih Tzu, Male & Female around 2-3 years old.
10-week old Shih Tzus, 2M,2F, came for 2nd vaccination.
3 sold at $500/pup to screened customers as they are the wife's "babies".

"The Male Dog is a superclean dog!" the wife said. "At 2-3 am, he will bark to wake us up to cover up the soiled newspapers if he has had peed. The puppies are quite fussy about cleanliness as they grow up".


HOUSING - Kitchen only. Puppies are never allowed out of the kitchen or get into the bathroom near the kitchen. Wet bathroom floors dirty the puppy's feet too. So, kitchen is the only location.

1. During first 4 weeks. Puppies annd mum confined to the dam's playpen which consists of 2 panels of fences x 1 panel of fence. The sire's playpen is adjacent and has 1 x 1 panel of fence and towel.

2. Newspapers are to the left of the playpen in both cases. In the dam, the papers are spread out in 3 layers. The width of the papers will be 1.5 the paper width. That is, 1 paper's left half overlaps the other paper's right half. When soiled, simply cover up by folding the paper over the soiled area. Change when necessary.

2.1 2 toilet locations for puppies. Newspapers placed to the left of the dam's playpen and near the kitchen door which is barricaded by panel of playpen fences.

3. Wife has been full-time at home for last 10 weeks and able to train the puppies.
Initially puppies dirty the playpen but at 4 weeks, goto newspapers like mum. In first 2 weeks, mum cleaned them.

4. Feeding - mum 4-5X. Puppies 2X. Puppies weaned at 4th week onto milk powder, oats and dry puppy feed. Feeding bowl is taken away. It is kept near the right hand side (bed area).

5. Water bottle from front of playpen. No problem with water bowl too.

6. Elimination. Adult dogs wait till evening when husband come home. To eliminate on papers. If papers soiled, puppies rush to the 2nd toilet (newspapers near kitchen door). Eliminate overnight sometimes. Papers changed in the morning. Male will bark at 2-3 am to wake up owner to cover soiled papers.

6.1 Urine spraying by male dog. The owners "angled" the newspapers. One half is clipped to cover the side of the playpen fence (which separates the dam from the male pen. Cloth pegs tie up this partition so that the male dog can lift his leg and spray urine without dirtying the female bed (which is to the immediate left of the male playpen). This was a neat idea.

Adult dogs will eliminate only in the newspapers in the kitchen.



Yesterday, a buyer came. Puppy ran to newspaper under living area table to pee. This proves that it is successfully paper trained as puppies seek newspapers all the time.

Buyers will have NO problem. However, in my experience, when they bring the puppy home, buyers have their own housing floor plan, let puppy roam whole apartment as they deem it cruel to crate the puppy. Paper training and feed routine may not be explained to the buyer. So toilet training problems start for new owners in many cases.

Owner will e-mail me pictures. Need to follow up.

"The sire is a superclean dog," the wife who had just given birth to a baby said. "He would not dirty his paws by going into the playpen of the dam and puppies."
The puppies also are clean (by nature and instinct). In the morning, they rush to toilet location (B) as the papers have had been soiled in the playpen. Mum and Dad usually eliminate in the afternoon when they know that the papers would be changed immediately. Just cover one end over the soiled papers --- that would do.

Knowledge by reading on toilet training is also very important. This young couple had done lots of reading. Books such as "Puppy Parenting" were borrowed from the National Library and its branches. Is there such a book?

The younger generation is so knowledgeable. The 3/4 puppies were sold at $500 each at the website, efair.com.sg or something like that. Soon, it will be difficult for pet shop operators to sustain their business profitability if home breeders and professional breeders sell directly to puppy buyers.



e-mail me!


To: Mark.
Blogger.com.

I can put in the table in blogger.com, by writing html. But I am unable to put it in a location on the page I want too. Hence a big gap below the paragraph. Can you solve this problem?

Adults	Pups, 2M, 2F
2-3 years old	10 weeks old
7 p.m when owner home	Papers, unknown