TOA
PAYOH VETS
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On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 7:22 PM, Emily > Hi Judy, > > I hope this email finds you well. > > I'm a first time puppy owner and I've bought my very first male silky terrier when he was 3 months old from a pet farm. > > Since day one, we have been researching and trying to get him house broken. However, he's still eliminating around the whole house for the past 6 months. We've been advised by the pet farm owner to get him a small play pen and pee tray when we bought him. > > We've tried dabbing his pee onto his pee tray, let him sniff his urine, bring him to the correct spot (his pee tray inside his play pen) and told him to "pee pee" there instead. Things finally made a turn after 2 months. He recognize the pee tray as his toilet area when he's confined. However if he's roaming around in the house, he still choose to eliminate elsewhere except his pee tray. I must say he's a very smart dog. If any of us is near his pee tray, he will eliminate at the right place as he knows we will treat him for sure. > > This issue is very frustrating for all of us as it seems nothing will work. We signed him up for obedience class, neutered him lately and we even upsized his playpen by buying extendable fencing to increase the space of his playpen. Yet things did not even improve. > > Can you please kindly advise what should I do next? I'm at my wits end. > > Please help me. > > Regards > Emily A > 96XX-XXX > > Sent from my iPad |
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EMAIL REPLY FROM
DR SING DATED JUNE
22, 2013
Thank you for your
email. I am Dr Sing
Kong Yuen from Toa
Payoh Vets.
I assume your dog is
now 9 months old and
he was neutered
around 9 months of
age. Your complaint
is that he pees
anywhere when not
supervised.
Elimination refers
to peeing and
pooping. I presume
you have no
complaint about
pooping.
There is no easy
solution to your
problem as each dog
and his environment
is different.
However I will
attempt to give you
some advices which
may or may not be
useful.
1. Your dog is
likely to be an
alpha male dog in
personality. He
needs to mark his
territory inside the
house and so will do
it at every
opportunity. If he
was neutered at a
younger age e.g. at
6 months, he would
have less urge to do
urine marking.
2. He is a smart dog
in that he will
eliminate in the pee
tray for rewards and
praises.
3. What some
Singapore owners do
to resolve this
problem in my survey
are:
3.1 Make the male
dog wear diapers
for 24 hours/day
so that he will not
soil the house when
he is roaming
around.
3.2 Crate the
dog when the
owners are not at
home esp.
overnight.
4. What I have
proposed to some
owners in similar
situations are:
4.1 OUTDOOR
ELIMINATION.
Give the dog a
routine. Take the
dog out for exercise
in the morning and
evening daily
without fail as a
routine. At the
beginning, bring his
urine-soiled
newspapers so that
he will pee
outdoors. Use your
positive
reinforcement
training i.e. treats
and praises when he
has succeeded.
Treats can be given
when he goes home
after successful
housebreaking. Remove
the poo outdoors to
keep the environment
clean.
4.2 Crate the dog
when nobody is at
home or he cannot be
supervised for the
next 1-3 months.
4.3. TIME OUT
METHOD. If he
misbehaves, put him
inside the crate on
seeing his
anti-social
behaviour for around
30 minutes. You need
to do this
consistently and
repeat this
punishment within a
few seconds of his
misbehaviour, not
long after that.
.
4.4 Family members
must adhere to your
training commands.
4.5 Some family
members such as
parents, sabotage by
giving other
commands or giving
treats even if the
dog misbehaves. You
need to educate
them.
4.6 You need to
spend time to
re-train the dog
again.
4.7 Neutralise all
the urine-stained
areas inside the
house using white
vinegar + water at 1
parts to 3 parts
after you have
started either of my
two proposed
solutions which may
or may not work in
your case. Usually
it is the owner who
has no time to
re-train the dog and
I presume you are
one who works long
hours and have
little time to spend
with him every
morning or evening.
Get somebody to do
it consistently.
4.8 VETERINARY
EXAMINATION of the
urinary system. Get
a urine analysis to
check if he has
infections or
urinary stones.
As each management
of the dog differs,
please let me know
if you succeed after
3 months. Best
wishes.
