E-mail
to Dr Sing
Fri, 9/12/08, <...@singnet.com.sg>
wrote:
Subject: Toilet train a dog
To:
judy@toapayohvets.com
Dear Judy,
I bought a
Cavalier King Charles for 10 days. I
wish to toilet train my dog using
newspaper. I wish to get a book in regards
to toilet training my dog using newspaper.
I bought a
cage that came with a plastic
pan under it,
I lay newspaper under it, on the pan. The
dog eats, sleeps, drinks and eliminates inside the
cage - it was recommended by the pet seller.
However, quite a few books that I read did
not recommend this.
These books indicate
that we should not mix the dog's den,
sleeping place with their pooping and
urinating place. I wish to get the book and
also need your advice.
|
E-mail
reply from Dr Sing
Sep 14, 2008
As the book on toilet training for Singapore
puppy owners by Dr Sing is out of print, the following
is the reply:
1. To paper
train your puppy, you need to confine
him for the first 2-4 weeks.
2. History
of his toilet habits. You ought to
find out what the breeder has been doing to
paper-train him. Has he been staying in the
crate + pee pan? Or in a play pen?
If yes, is he successfully peeing and
pooping in one area and sleeping in another?
Did you observe him? If not, you will not
know.
If he has just arrived at the puppy seller's
place, he may not be doing what I describe.
Some puppies just can't do it. But most will
be able to pee and poop as far away from
their crate as possible.
3. Assuming you have not observed his
previous toilet habits, then you have to
start new. There are 2 layouts commonly
used by Singapore's puppy owners:
3.1 Playpen.
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A Playpen is
basically 4 panels of fencing to confine the puppy.
Newspapers cover 100% of the flooring for the first week.
You will see that the puppy will eliminate in one corner,
usually the back half. Gradually reduce the paper cover
till the puppy just eliminate onto the newspapers.
Around 2 weeks later, take away the play pen. Allow the
puppy inside a confined area e.g. the kitchen for
the next week or two. The kitchen entrance is shut by a
baby-gate or panel of fences so that the puppy cannot run
free to all over the apartment.
The puppy should run back to the papers to eliminate.
After week 2-4, let the puppy out to the living room and
observe that he goes to the papers to eliminate. If not,
confine him back to the kitchen area and start again.
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Confine him in a playpen
with 4 panels of fences. That is my
recommended advice for first-time puppy
owners in Singapore.
Cover the floor with newspapers 100%. Put
the water bottle at the left front. Feed
bowl to be given to the puppy during feed
times 2-3X per day. Let the puppy eat within
10 minutes and remove the feed bowl. Or feed
the puppy in a confined area outside his
playpen.
His sleeping area is the left half of the
playpen. His toilet area will likely be the
right half, in most cases.
Paper-shredding. Some puppies shred
newspapers and step all over the stools on
the first few days. You need to be patient
and change the papers as frequently as you
can, without shouting or beating the puppy. If nobody is at home, it cannot be
done till after work. Some owners tape the edges of the
papers.
3.2 Crate and Pee Pan.
The following pictures show the crate
and pee pan sets usually sold by various pet
shops and breeders for first-time puppy
owners in Singapore.
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Not possible to shred
newspapers and therefore dirty himself unlike the
situation of being housed in a Playpen. In addition,
the floor tiles of the apartment does not get stained
by puppy's pee and poo as the Pee Pan catches the waste.
The water bowl should be in the front left half in this
Crate + Pee Pan set. Otherwise the puppy eliminates
in the front half area and steps on the stools while
greeting the owner. |
|
Puppy stools may drop
into the Pee Pan preventing some puppies from eating
stools and their paws from soiled by stepping on stools.
In this picture, the puppy will eliminate on the left
half of the Crate and keep his drinking and eating and
sleeping area clean. |
|
Puppy's paws are much
cleaner using the Crate + Pee Pan set as the puppy pees a
lot of times and the urine flows down into the Pee Pan.
Stools are removed by the owner immediately and the soiled
floor area is cleaned up fast. |
The same layout and general advices
given for the Play pen applies to the Crate
and Pee pan.
In this case, the puppy lies on
the wire flooring (floor grate). He is likely to pee and
poop far away from his sleeping and eating
area. Now, some puppies are very active,
e.g. Jack Russells.
Positioning of the water and feed bowls.
If you put his feed bowl
or water bowl (assuming you don't use water
bottle or feed him outside the crate) in the
back
half of the crate, you will expect the puppy
to pee and poop on the front half.
Therefore, the puppy steps on his stools
when he runs to greet you.
The newspapers on the pee pan is meant to
absorb the urine and therefore is of not
much use in paper training the puppy using
this method.
Various outcomes of toilet training from
reports by Singapore puppy owners.
However, some puppies, after
2-4 weeks of inside the Crate and Pee pan,
can just walk onto the newspapers (urine
smell of puppy) now placed on the pee pan
and just eliminate him there. The Crate is
then kept away.
Other puppies happily run inside the Crate
to eliminate. The owner just remove the
stools and clean up the floor grate.
Otherwise the puppy refuses to get inside to
eliminate.
Yet there are puppies that sleep inside the
Crate and will never eliminate there. There
is such a variety of cleanliness
personalities that it is hard to say how
your Cavalier King Charles will react to the
Crate + Pee Pan set.
The advantages of the Crate + Pee Pan is
that the puppy's paws are dry and cleaner
than using the Playpen type of housing. Many
owners still have to wash the paws of the
puppies at least once a day but they don't
need to see dirtied paws smelling of stools.
Some stools may drop into the Pee Pan
through the floor grate but this is rare.
4. Remember: It takes
2-4 weeks of confinement to be
successful. It is not possible to provide
you the various scenarios as this takes a
lot of time.
5. I have recorded real case studies of
toilet training by Singapore owners
in in:
www.bekindtopets.com. Goto:
Dr Sing's Toilet-Training Cases for
first-time puppy owners.
About 600 cases of toilet training are in my
blog and you may have to read through to
find out which scenario is appropriate for
your case. Many owners read through and
discover for themselves what they have had
missed doing by reading what others have or
have not done during toilet-training. The
blogs are:
The Crate & Pee Pan set
sold to you by the Puppy Seller is one of the two
housing
layouts frequently recommended by the
Singapore
pet shop and Puppy Sellers. Unless
your crate (cage) is extremely small, it does work
to train your Cavalier King Charles very
well on the floor grate which is the wire
flooring. Below the wire flooring is the pee
pan. On the pee pan, the Puppy Seller
recommended that you put the newspaper.
But what you
want is to paper-train your puppy.
Therefore, the set you purchased is not
appropriate for paper-training as the puppy
has no direct contact with newspapers.
The playpen, confinement to a small room,
area
fenced up or tethering your puppy to a small
area are 4 of the methods you need to do
paper-training. The Crate + Pee Pan
set is not suitable.
More details are in the blogs mentioned
above.
In addition, success depends on
time spent, patience, perseverance and the
use of food treats and praises as
motivational factors. I have owners who
tell me that their new puppies just go to
the newspapers or grate + pee pan to
eliminate on the first day. "Such
intelligent puppies," the owners said.
Some owners shake their heads and after 2
months post-purchase, the puppy is still not
toilet-trained. In such cases, the owners
are usually both working couples with no
time to confine or train the puppy during
the most important first 2-4 weeks after
purchase.
I hope this feedback helps. Let me know your
progress and e-mail me
judy@toapayohvets.com if you have more
queries. |