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 04 Feb &
have kept puppy confined to his
playpen. Please see attached
photo.
The play pen is too big for
the new puppy?
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 DATED
FEB 13, 2010
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 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.
UPDATE ON MAY 15, 2010
Rarely am I able to follow up on
e-mail queries. However, I saw the
owner and the dog in May 2010 for
neuter. The dog is barking loudly
at 8 am daily, disturbing
neighbours in the apartment block.
She mentioned that she had
e-mailed me about the grate
training challenges in February
2010 (above e-mail).
Grate training is successful but
it took her a lot of time and
patience. "Successful
relationships whether in love and
marriage takes a long time to
build," I said. This applies to
house-breaking of a puppy too.
The lady had bought another grate
+ pee pan a month after my e-mail
reply to her. It took her several
weeks but now the dog is
successfully grate-pee-pan
trained.
I have summarised the
tips for success from the kind
fair lady owner in the illustrations
below and hope all first-time
puppy owners will benefit from her
hard work.
Feb 2010
14 weeks old with 2 grate-pee-pan
layout
Mar 2010
14 weeks old with 2 grate-pee-pan
layout
Jun 2010
6 months old. Success in
grate training. I advised to
remove one grate-pee-pan
UPDATE ON JUN 13, 2010
E-MAIL ON JUN 12, 2010 FROM DR
SING TO DOG OWNER
1. Please let me know why
Cookie still needs to be confined
to the playpen? Is it because he
urine-marks if unsupervised? This
is the main reason for other
owners.
I put Cookie in the playpen
as you mentioned you needed
a photo with him in it.
2. Is he confined only at night
to sleep inside the playpen?
Yes, confined from 8pm
onwards when family have
dinner & retire for the
night.
3. Does he poop on the pee tray
within 30 minutes of eating?
Yes (about 90% of the time).
4. How many times does he (at 6
months of age) pee and poop
nowadays?
Pee : about 6x (I wonder why
he still pees so many times
as I read that a 7mth old
puppy should be able to hold
his bladder for about 6hrs?)
- water available from
7am-8pm
Poop : 3x
(7.30am/11.30am/7.30pm) -
meal times 7am & 7pm
5. Can the playpen fencing be
taken away and he just goes to the
pee tray when he needs to? This
happens to other owner's older
dogs since the dogs know where to
pee and poop.
No, he sleeps in playpen at
night. I leave it open & he
knows to go to the tray to
pee during day time.
6. Does Cookie chews and destroys
furniture?
No, he chews on socks,
slippers, & floor rug.
E-MAIL ON JUN 13, 2010 FROM DR
SING TO DOG OWNER
Excellent photo. Thanks for
detailed info.
With reference to your Point No.
4. He is urine-marking as this is
a behaviour of adult male dogs.
After neutering at a young age at
6 months, the urge to urine mark
may disappear or become less
urgent. Pl observe him for the
next 12 months and if possible,
let me know.
A dog that chews home furniture
needs to be confined in the
playpen for his own good when he
is unsupervised. Dogs are known to
swallow many objects and may need
stomach surgery to remove the
objects. This dog is confined in
his playpen at night for his own
good. He feels more secure too.
TIP
Pooping after eating is a good
habit. When the puppy is not
distracted by the owner or the
children during eating and the
food is not left in the bowl all
day long, he will poop soon after
eating and the owner can then
clear away the poo. Give food for
20 minutes. If the puppy does not
eat it, take it away.
For very small breeds like
Yorkshire Terriers and Chihuahuas,
you need to be careful about
hypoglycaemia (low blood
sugar) developing. Such breeds are
finicky eaters and will rather not
eat unless they get the owner's
attention.
This
is another configuration of a
grate + pee pan sold in Singapore
pet shops. There is a real pee pan
below the grate.
BE
KIND TO OLDER DOGS & CATS --- GET TUMOURS REMOVED
EARLY --- WHEN THEY ARE SMALLER. More case
studies, goto:
Cats or
Dogs
TOA
PAYOH VETS
