On November 30, 2008, I had 3 different cases of toilet-training of puppies. The details are written down and photographed for ease of reading by readers.

Significant Findings

1. It takes a lot of time and hard work (perseverance and consistency) to toilet train a puppy. Success in paper-training in one case required keeping a close eye on the puppy. As the owners were working, it took 2 months to successfully paper-train.

2. Confinement. The earlier the puppy is confined (lst day home), the higher the success rate. Confinement can be inside a playpen, room (balcony in one of the 3 cases but kitchen is used by many owners) or tethering by a leash. Singaporean owner seldom thinks of tether as the puppy seller seldom recommends this method.

3. Clean toilet area. This means changing soiled newspapers promptly or cleaning grate/pee pan many times a day. If the couple is busy at work, this is not possible. So, the couple thinks that the puppy deliberately pees "off target". The couple thinks that the puppy can't urinate on the toilet area but does it outside the pee pan/newspapers or grate. The real reason is that the puppy does not want to step onto a soiled toilet area and since the owner has not cleaned up, the puppy eliminates on the fringes.
 

4. Tough Love.  Spanking on the backside is not advised, but owners report success in such negative reinforcement training.   

5. Positive reinforcement training. Food treats are still great motivators although lavish praises and play after compliance are used. Say "good pup" or any phrase and then give a food treat and praise.

There are various other factors involved in successful toilet training. So much depends on the family interactions, distractions and the intelligence of the puppy to assess the owner's "dominance" or lack of.   

Barking for attention as the puppy does not want to sleep alone is a big challenge to new puppy owners.

I advise re-locating the new puppy and his play pen to the bedroom for the first few nights.

However, some puppy sellers advise ignoring the barking. Unfortunately, the owner should not play with the puppy on the first day. Let him settle down in his crate/playpen on the first 2 days and nights. How many owners can resist a new puppy and not show it off to neighbours and friends?

Once the owner plays and spends much time with the puppy, the intelligent puppy tends to bark at night for a long time.

The   owner comes out to peek and maybe scolds the puppy (giving more attention). The puppy barks more and more, disturbing the neighbours.

In one of my mini-Maltese cases, the owner could not  bring the puppy into the bedroom (her husband is against this idea) and on the 3rd night of barking, the Maltese fainted, had fits and was sent to a vet past midnight. He was comatose.

The groggy puppy came to me the next day via a referral from the pet shop puppy seller. The puppy recovered after more than a week of being warded and treated at Toa Payoh Vets. He started barking at the Surgery but we ignored him. However, we ensured he was hand fed and not get hypoglycemic (low blood sugar). He was not keen on eating for the first 3 days and we had to hand feed him. Otherwise he would develop fits and lapse into a coma that would be hard to cure the 2nd time. 

The Maltese went home and tested the lady after 7 days at Toa Payoh Vets. At night, he started barking for attention as he had to live in the living room where the maid and owners passed by. Bark and bark. He was used to sleeping alone at night at Toa Payoh Vets for the past 7 days so his barking for attention to test the psychologist (human) was not getting him the peeks and attention as in his previous experience. 

Fortunately, the owner was able to ignore him on the first night home and there were no problems and financial expenditure for the lady! He is now well adjusted to living in the living room and coming out to play at fixed times. Give the puppy a daily routine for feeding and playing and this will lead to success in toilet training.  

Many Singapore owners do not get barking puppies but this problem is a serious one as it has anti-social nuisance in apartment living.

Therefore, the best way is to get the puppy home and not start playing with it for a long time. Then expect it to sleep alone. Some do. Some don't and those that don't give the owners and their family members lots of headaches.

Leave the puppy alone for 90% of the time on the first 3 days at home and the puppy should not be barking throughout the night as he knows his lower hierarchy in the human pack. 

Till he grows up at 6 months of age and start his nonsense of humping pillows grabbing people's legs and urine-marking! Female puppies don't usually urine-mark but male ones need to be properly trained or neutered early to prevent anti-social problems for the owner and family members.      

Ignoring a barking small breed puppy like the Chihuahua, mini-Maltese, Yorkshire and toy poodles is not be good advice.

They just don't eat the next day and by the 2nd or 3rd night, become hypoglycaemic. Soon they become comatose and it is extremely difficult to treat them when the owner delays seeking veterinary treatment in the middle of the night. Once in a deep coma, the brain is damaged and the puppy dies after a few days.