41. Focus on one house-breaking method for first 2-4 weeks to succeed

DRAFT

E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING DATED APR 28, 2010

Thank you for email. It is best that you email 2-4 pictures of Cookie's crate + pee pan with the positioning of water bottles, bowls and sleeping area as every puppy is housed differently.

The following is my reply to you:

On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 5:36 PM, ...yahoo.com.sg> wrote:

Hi Dr Sing,

I’ve been reading up your toilet training blog and find it very useful when toilet training my puppy. However, I still have a few queries. I’m a first timer raising up a puppy and hence has been quite stress up. I’ve accompanied my puppy for the first 3 days (almost keeping him within my sight) and observed the following:



My puppy is a mix breed of Chihuahua and Pomeranian, 3 months named XXX. He was with us since 24 Apr 10.



The pet shop owner came with a crate with wire flooring and a pee pan below. Initially I try to carry XXX to the bathroom after nap/food with newspapers laid on the floor but was unsuccessful. Cookie usually poos twice a day, 1 in the early morning and another one in weird timing. I realized that he only pees in the middle of the crate; I supposed it’s due to the urine smell. He pooed everywhere though.


XXX IS USED TO THIS WIRE FLOOR SYSTEM. HE WAS IN THE PET SHOP WITH SUCH A SYSTEM. AS TO POOPING EVERYWHERE, ARE YOU SURE? Where is his sleeping area? Is the crate too small?



Qn 1: Do you think XXX will poo in the middle like where he used to pee if I spray those anti-pee/anti-poo spray (given by my friend) on those area that I don’t want him to do pee/poo? The spray has a strong smell and I'm contemplating to use it.

YOU CAN TRY. THE BEST IS TO ENSURE THAT HIS SLEEPING AND EATING AREAS ARE FURTHEST AWAY FROM THE POOPING AREA AND THE MIDDLE OF THE CRATE.



Qn 2: It seems like he’s trained to pee/poo in the crate. Is that a good idea? It’s ideal for us since we are working. However, if we bring XXX out eg. to a friend’s place, will he pee/poo everywhere since there’s no crate?

YOU MAY NEED TO BRING YOUR CRATE ALONG. XXX WILL PEE AND POOP ANYWHERE IF LET ALONE FOR THE FIRST 2-4 WEEKS as he is not fully house broken.



Qn3: XXX seems to be stepping hard on his own poo when all of us are asleep. He’s also seems to be shifting them around. I can see portions of it at different areas of the crate. We also caught him eating his own poo once. How do we prevent such action from happening especially when we are all asleep?


EATING STOOLS IS A COMMON COMPLAINT. YOU MAY NEED TO REMOVE STOOLS PROMPTLY. IF NOT PRACTICAL, YOU MAY NEED OTHER METHODS I had mentioned in my blog. These are not guaranteed to succeed.



Qn4: When I let him out to play in the living room, will it be better to leave the crate door open and let him run to the crate to pee/poo? YES. HOWEVER, MONITOR HIM CLOSELY SO THAT HE DOES NOT PEE/POOP OUTSIDE THE CRATE. KEEP ALL DOORS OF BEDROOMS CLOSED.


Or will it be better to lay newspapers on a pee pan (given by my friend) with Cookie’s urine smell at a corner so he can pee/poo when he’s out playing and need not rush back to the crate? DECIDE ON ONE METHOD - CRATE WITH WIRE FLOORING OR NEWSPAPERS FOR THE NEXT 2-4 WEEKS IF YOU WANT EARLY SUCCESS. In the Crate method, your dog will then use the Crate as the toilet area and outside as his den in 2-4 weeks, in most cases. So, you just clean the crate. Later, you can buy the GRATE + PEE PAN which is actually the same as the lower half of your present crate, without the enclosed vertical walls.





I've let him out of the crate twice on 26 Apr and surprisingly, he climbs back to his crate when he's thirsty after running a few rounds. I see that as a good sign of recognising his own den?


FOCUS ON CRATE TRAINING FOR THE NEXT 2-4 WEEKS, SINCE YOU ARE WORKING AND HAVE NO TIME. IF YOU START PAPER-TRAINING, YOU WILL NEED TO FOCUS ON PAPER TRAINING. The puppy gets confused as to what you want.



Sorry for the long post and thank you for the time to read my email, I would be very much delighted to receive your reply J



Regards,