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HDB APARTMENT PUPPIES - CHALLENGES OF TOILET TRAINING IN SINGAPORE PUPPIES IN 2008 AND BEYOND

CASE STUDY
Silkie Terrier puppy will not pee or poop onto the pee pan in the guest bathroom. Why?

JAN 26, 2006 E-MAIL

Dear Judy,

I bought a 5-month-old Silky Terrier 3 weeks ago. We toilet train her from the first day at our home. We confine her in the guest bathroom with her toy, bed and pee tray.

Whenever she had "accidents", we will bring her to pee tray but she still does not get the idea that the pee tray is her toilet. She will sometimes sleep on her pee tray although we put her urine there.

Now we even sit near the guest bathroom to wait for her to eliminate, but she will hold for as long till we leave in about 1 to 2 hour's time.

Then she pees on the floor or her bed immediately. We really don't know what to do with her. We bring her out every morning before we going to work and in the evening after work. She will poop outdoors but she will also poop and pee in the house when let out of the guest bathroom to play.

We bought puppy potty training spray from the pet shop, but it no useful. Please help!!!!

Thank you very much.

Regards

JAN 25, 2006 E-MAIL REPLY

To: <...@yahoo.com>

1. Some puppies take a much longer time to toilet train because the owners are not free. Some take 2 months. Three weeks of part-time toilet training is not sufficient. I presume you work the whole day, so you did not have much time to toilet train her.

2. As each case is different, I can only speculate that you have confused the puppy by putting her into a guest bathroom with lots of urine smell.

The guest bathroom is a big space from the puppy's point of view. She would have found a place to pee and poop by herself in the first 7 days (in most cases) if you had not introduced a pee tray with urine smell.

But you want her to pee in the pee tray as you had sprayed the puppy potty training spray spray. The bathroom is full of urine smell. So, the puppy got no particular toilet area with urine smell to use as her toilet.

The puppy potty training spray available from the pet shop may not be useful because some puppies dislike the pungent smell.

Other puppies have been toilet trained successfully using this spray.

Neutralise the urine smell in the "accident" areas too.

Watch for signs of wanting to pee, carry the puppy to the pee pan. Say "pee pee". If she does that, praise a lot and/or give a treat. Repeat many times.

For your case, 3 weeks of part-time toilet training are not sufficient for success.

Distractions
When you are outside the guest bathroom after a hard day's work, your puppy just wants to socialise with you. So she controls her bladder for the 1-2 hours you distract her.

Especially if you have had brought her outdoors to pee and poop after coming home.

E-mail to me a schedule of the puppy's daily activity, e.g. time to wake up, go downstairs, feeding, playing, sleeping so that I can advise further.

Try the following:

Neutralise the urine smell in the guest bathroom floor and toilet bowl with vinegar:water 1:2 thoroughly and daily.

Make the pee pan the only place with urine smell.

I presume you put newspapers onto the pee pan?

4. After "accidents", your puppy does not understand why you put her onto the pee tray. You need to watch for signs of wanting to pee or poop and put her onto the pee tray before she eliminates.

Lots of repetition and hard work is needed to make her understand.

COMMENTS ABOUT THIS CASE.

Knowing the history of how the puppy was housed would be useful. If she was kept in a Singapore pet shop, the ideal housing would be a wire crate with wire flooring and door. The pee tray would be below the crate. When the owner works, the puppy is kept confined in the crate. When the owner is back, she is let out in the guest bathroom but nowhere else, for the first 2 - 4 weeks. This depends on whether she is using the crate as her toilet.

If she does that within a week, almost all toilet training problems are resolved. The puppy will just jump into the crate to pee and poop.

But the puppy was housed in a guest bathroom. So, she was given a larger space to roam. She did not know exactly where she should go to the toilet since she was also taken outdoors to pee and poop.

Probably there was no fixed time going outdoors too as the owner is busy working. In this case, the puppy would rather not pee or poop while the owner was around as this was the time to socialise and play with the owner when she is back from work. The dog is a pack animal and needs company.

How to toilet train the Silkie in this case? Get a fixed schedule of outdoor exercise, feeding and spend time monitoring the puppy.

Confine the puppy. In this case, the Silkie Terrier was confined in the guest bathroom.

Neutralise the urine smells. Accidents will occur.

Watch for signs of sniffing, turning, circling to prevent "accidents". Put the puppy onto the pee tray before the puppy pees or poops.

Praise and/or treats on successful performance.

In many cases I encounter during my research of 300 puppies in Singapore, there is no fixed schedule for feeding, exercise and toilet training for the puppy.

The owners are busy working or are not aware that there must be fixed times for feeding and outdoor exercise.

So the toilet training can be successfully completed in the shortest time.

E-MAIL TO DR SING, JAN 26, 2006

...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi Dr Sing,

Thank you very much for the quick reply. My puppy was vaccinated by you when she was still in the pet shop.

My puppy's daily schedule: (Weekday)

wake up – 7.00am

1st feeding – 7.30am
go downstair - 7.50 am
playing - 8.30 - 9.00 (play a while at home)
sleeping - after i leave for work, most of the time she sleeps. ( i on classical music for her whole day so that she won't feel bored).

2nd feeding - 7.30pm
go downstair - 8.00pm
training (sit, come, stop...) - 9.00pm (at home).

Play until 12pm then sleep

My puppy's daily schedule: (Weekend)

wake up - 10am

1st feeding - 10.30 am

During Weekend, we will bring her out longer to the nearby park and basically she will have free roam for the
whole day when she is at home.

She will sleep underneath sofa
and then wake up to play again, there is no specific
time of playing and sleeping.

2nd feeding - 8.30pm

Sleeping - 1.00am

E-MAIL FROM DR SING, JAN 26, 2006

Dr Sing wrote:
Thanks for e-mail.

The puppy is toilet trained outdoors twice a day during week days. So, she is used to this routine. When you go to work, she pees on the bathroom floor. When you are home in the evening, she has already eliminated outdoors as you brought her outdoors.

A 5-month-old puppy can generally not need to pee for around 4 hours. Is that what your puppy is doing?

To make her pee on the pee tray is difficult because of the conflicts of too many urine smells and the timing. She may not need to urinate till 4 hourly while you waited outside the guest bathroom waiting for her to do it.

However, neutralise all urine smell in the bathroom as advised in earlier e-mail. Confine her to a small bathroom area of 3 feet x 3 feet with the pee pan + soiled urine newspapers when you want to train her to pee on the pee tray. No coming out of the
bathroom for the first 2 weeks (too late for you?).

If the puppy is out, you need to monitor for signs of wanting to pee or poop. Say "pee pee" when you put the puppy on the pee tray, praise for performance. All these take a lot
of time in the evenings.

As for the weekend routine, the puppy's toilet training schedule is upset. For the first 2-4
weeks, new puppy owners should have confined the puppy to the small area to toilet-train. No outing to the parks. A fixed schedule of feeding and exercise 7 days a week for at least 2 weeks is a key to success. Withhold water after dinner.

Let me know if you succeed in pee tray training, Indoor and outdoor toilet training may be too much for your puppy as you do not give her a fixed timing, especially during weekends! So, expect 4 - 8 weeks to succeed!

E-MAIL TO DR SING, JAN 28, 2006

Dr Sing.

Yes, she only pee around 5-6 times a day. I think I will re-schedule the puppy's routine. Once succeed, i will let you know, but why is she sleeping on the pee tray since most dogs don't like soil their bed? Is there any way to prevent her from sleeping in the tray?

Thank you so much.

E-MAIL FROM DR SING, JAN 28, 2006

Dr Sing wrote:

Some puppies sleep on the "bed" and the pee tray is now a bed for her. She does not pee on the pee tray, if I am not mistaken. Is this correct?

REVIEW
In retrospect review on SEP 19, 2006, the puppy sleeps on the pee tray because the owner had placed a foot mat onto the pee tray. It is more comfortable and cleaner than the soiled areas of floor tiles of the guest bathroom. The owner had not taken leave to toilet train the puppy at that point of time. So, the whole bathroom floor is soiled, from the puppy's point of view. The cleanest place is the pee pan with the floor mat (see picture).

E-MAIL TO DR SING, FEB 3, 2006

Dr Sing,

thanks for your help!!! my silkie had already know to pee in her pee tray. I took one week's leave to monitor her, and reschedule her ( confine her in the guest toilet longer and give her a specific timing to come out to play). she is now more obedient too, and
stop jumping around like before. This morning when i point to her pee tray and say "pee pee" she immediately pee on the tray and i let her out to play. But she still will not go back to guest toilet to pee unless i bring her.

E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING, FEB 4, 2006

Dr Sing wrote:

It will take time for her to go the the guest toilet automatically depending on the motivation for the puppy.

Did you give her "treats" as rewards when she pees on the pee tray? Praise and treats usually work very well. Some owners told me that the puppy waits and
barks to get the treats on success.

E-MAIL TO DR SING, FEB 5, 2006

<...@yahoo.com> wrote:

yes, i did give her treat and praise her, and i know it takes time for her to go to the toilet automatically. There is one morning when i need to wash the toilet. I let her out and put her pee tray just beside the toilet door, I saw her pee in the tray. And from that moment i am very sure that she recognise the pee tray.

E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING, FEB 6, 2006

Incredible but true success story due to you taking leave to train the little one. The pee tray has the urine smell. So the puppy now uses it as a toilet. Can you e-mail a picture of her inside her housing plus pee tray?

E-MAIL TO DR SING, FEB 7, 2006

<...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Please see attached the pictures. I didn't use newspaper but floor mat and wash it everyday, because she will shred newspaper. I find it very hard to stop her from shredding. The pee tray is at the entrance and she sleep behind near toilet bowl.

cheers

Case updated: 29 Jan 2009 Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS

Case updated: 29 Jan 2009
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS