Paper Training Adult Dog Whippet

TOA PAYOH VETS
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Date: 19 November, 2009

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Car Sickness & Toilet Training A New Spitz Puppy
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
First written: Nov 19, 2009.

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009

I don't know whether the present crop of vets are trained in answering questions on puppy toilet training as every puppy home management and situation is not the same. I illustrate the following case of "a couple with child" as an example.

Puppy: Japanese Spitz, Male, 4 months
Seller: Commercial Breeder, Singapore-based. Purchased 3 days ago.
Buyer: Couple in their 40s. One 10-year-old child. Expatriate.
Equipment sold : Crate + grated floor + pee pan. Bed. "The puppy prefers the grated floor," the wife commented.

Consult: Vaccination voucher. 3rd vaccination.

Problems:
1. Car motion sickness. Puppy was fed. Vomited inside carrier bag in a taxi to Surgery.

What is the solution? Short trips and food treat as a possible solution.

1. No feeding before vehicle travel.
2. Short car rides e.g. 5 minutes. Give food treat at the end of travel.
Expat has no car as car ownership is very expensive in Singapore, so it is not a surprise that the expatriates have no car but live in a prime area.
3. Buses and subway travel - dogs are not permitted. I suggest putting puppy in a big lady's bag. Go up the bus. Alight after one bus-stop. Food treat after alighting. This may focus the puppy's mind on the treat. Repeat for 2 bus-stops and so on.
4. Tranquilisers. Available from the vet.

2. "Toilet training. How to do it?," the Asian wife wearing a hat with flowers asked me.

Here are my advices:

1. Do you want to paper-train the puppy or to use the floor grate method? Usually puppies from commercial breeders in Singapore are used to the floor grate method. The couple said that the puppy shreds newspapers instead of eliminating on them. "The puppy does not know what the newspapers are meant to eliminate," the husband concluded correctly.

1. History: The puppy had been crated and the breeder had sold the couple a crate with a floor grate + a pee pan below. However, no instructions or book on how to use it effectively.

2. Confine to the crate for 2 weeks most of the time. Feed the puppy outside the crate. Ensure he finishes his food within 10 minutes. If not, take away the bowl and put him back into the crate. He will poop within 15 minutes after eating as in most puppies not distracted. Water bottle hung on the crate or a water bowl.

3. Distraction means a child or adult petting him while he eats. The couple and child were guilty. So, the puppy poops at unknown times in the apartment. He was free to roam. So he pees and poops everywhere.

4. Location of crate. In the living area where he can see everybody, except the area where the couple has meals. The kitchen (recommended by me) is too small. This location is not conducive for toilet training as there are too many distractions. I suggested the bathroom for the puppy during meal times (breakfast and dinner). A bathroom with a baby gate will be ideal in this case during meal times to shut out distractions and for the puppy to poop.

5. "How about taking the puppy downstairs twice a day?" the husband was told by the breeder not to take the puppy outdoor till the 3rd vaccination. Yet this dog must socialise and be used to public noises and traffic at this age.

"This puppy can go outdoors provided he does not go to the areas where dogs have been, in case of parvoviral infections from other dog's stools. Parvoviruses do kill puppies. Take the puppy out after he has pooped. Normally, the puppy poops 2-4X at this age." The wife said 3X including overnight.

6. "This puppy pees too many times," the wife asked if there was a way to reduce the times. Pee will flow through the grated floor into the pee pan.

"At 4 months of age, the puppy pees around every 3 hours (N-1 formula where N=months). So, he will pee 8 times in 24 hours. This formula is a guideline. Control of the bladder muscle will take another 2-4 months."

Take away the water at 8 pm. I forgot to tell the lady as there were so many questions. It is best to get all advices written down. This will take a book to properly record everything.

7. Clean area (sleeping) and dirty area (elimination). The elimination area inside a crate will be distant from the clean area.
No normal puppy will eliminate on sleeping area or soiled elimination area. I advised prompt cleaning of the elimination area though the stools and urine usually fall through the grate. In this way, the puppy is encouraged to use the floor grate for elimination.

By week 2, let the puppy out into an extended area which may be 2-4X the floor area of the crate. The puppy should be jumping into the elimination area inside the crate to pee and poop. Eating, drinking and possible sleeping area will be outside the crate.

By week 3, the puppy is free to roam one or two rooms. All bedrooms are out of bounds.
By week 4, the puppy has been either floor grate trained or will be eliminating in one particular spot in the bathroom. Each puppy is different and so it is hard for me to predict.

Dr Sing's comments: In conclusion, toilet training has to start immediately with a routine of feeding, drinking, exercise and food treats for successful performance. No distractions from children and adults during the first week or two. In this case, the wife sought my toilet-training advices. Talking about the new "baby" is a favourite topic of first-time puppy owners.

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