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"Believe me, all sorts of masking tape had been used to ensure that the Miniature Schnauzer cannot shred the newspapers," the young man said. Half of the playpen floor was covered with newspapers which are taped at all 4 sides. Still the puppy shreds them. So, paper training was not possible for one month.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I bought a floor grate with pee pan below from another pet shop. Put urine smell on the pee pan and put the whole set inside the playpen. Now the puppy just eliminate on the floor grate. No more dirty paws," the owner was satisfied with the solution.

Shredding papers is a common complaint of many pups home alone. In this case, the floor grate with pee pan resolves the problem.

The owner remarked, "The Miniature Schnauzer would stand upright, front legs against the playpen to poop onto the floor grate. Is this normal?"

"No," I said. "A pup will squat to eliminate. He does not want to step onto the soiled floor grate."

"I don't think so," the owner thought it was part of the personality of the puppy or breed to stand and poo.

It is difficult for the puppy to communicate with us that he does not want to dirty his paws. The urine in the floor grate may be soiled, according to his highly developed sense of smell. The owner would not think so as the urine would have had flowed into the pee pan.

"The only support for my saying this is that another owner with the same situation and breed has the same behaviour of the puppy standing upright against the playpen panel to poop onto the floor grate."

CASE STUDY 3: PARTIAL SUCCESS - HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY GRATE + PEE PAN TRAIN YOUR PUPPY

First written: June 14, 2008

Summary: The grate and pee pan set has been used by many Singaporean puppy owners with varying degrees of success. This case describes the partial success in getting a small breed dog to step up onto the grate to pee only. The puppy poops elsewhere unlike a successful case described in case study 4.

The grate and pee pan set has been used by many Singaporean puppy owners with varying degrees of success. This case shows success in getting the small breed dog to step up onto the grate to pee but not to poo. How did the owner do it?

Positive reinforcement training for the puppy using verbal commands and food treats whenever the puppy shows signs of elimination (squatting, sniffing). For the working couple in this case study, it took a lot of time of many weeks. Training would be done when they returned home from work.

Clean grate is important. "My dog is very clean. He does not pee onto the grate if I do not wipe off the urine after he had peed onto it. I wash the grate with detergent at the end of each day."

I was impressed as it is not easy as most Singapore owners failed to get the dog to walk up and step onto the grate to eliminate. "Does he poop onto the grate too?"

"No," she said. "He poops on the tiled floor in the balcony or kitchen. I just remove the poop, washed the floor with vinegar:acid spray. It was a good idea to use a spray bottle.

I know of many owners whose dogs just use the grate for peeing. The reason may be that the grate is too small or not cleaned after the puppy has had peed. The lady owner whose left finger had a splint and plaster while trying to save her dog from being killed by a big dog at the park, probably did not wipe the grate after the dog had peed, at the beginning of training. The dog is now over 1.5 years old.

Once the dog is used to pooping onto the tiled floor, it is difficult to re-train him.

"Why don't you put newspapers onto the two frequented floor spots where the dog poops so that you can just throw away the soiled newspaper with the poop?"

The lady said: "The dog used to shred newspapers when he is alone. So I do not use newspapers.

"The dog has grown up and may not shred newspapers," I proposed she does paper-training.
In any case, the young couple is very happy with the dog. He does not urine-mark inside the apartment despite being a male dog.

SUGGESTION
STAGE 2
But there is some area for reducing her cleaning workload if the adult dog can be paper-trained to pee and poo since she is no longer working.

For example, put newspapers on the pee pan. Let the dog use the pee pan to pee and poop. Use a larger pee pan.

Shredding newspapers may or may not be the adult dog's habit now. Who knows until we try. If the dog can be paper-trained, so much washing and mopping is avoided! But many dog owners have not thought of this 2nd stage as they are quite happy with the status quo.

"Vinegar: water at 1:4 spray bottle is a good idea. It is meant to neutralise the urine smell in the pee pan or floor," I explained to the happy couple who loved this little rascal whose jugular vein was attacked by a big dog during exercise in a park. The grate was washed or wiped by laundry detergent. It seemed to work too as the dog continues peeing onto it.