Stop messing about! Useful toilet training sites for pets
By Lim Tri Santosa
JAKARTA (JP): Pets are adorable but when it comes to their waste, they can create trouble. Just imagine: you return home from a tiring journey and find your beloved pet's waste in your living room, or worse, on your new couch. Pets, just like kids, need training on how to pee and poop properly.
About 3.6 billion pounds of dog waste per year is produced in the United States alone, according to a Lipa USA Inc. media release on April 5. This is equal to 800 football fields piled one foot high with poop.
Every year hundreds of dogs, especially puppies, are bought as Christmas or birthday presents and many of these dogs are neglected. The young puppies are left in boxes or bags on door steps while the older ones are left to roam the streets. But its not just dogs that are bought as presents that are neglected.
A dog is for life, not just for Christmas. The majority of owners do look after their dogs, but too many owners do not take appropriate care of their dogs. The owners are not only responsible for taking care of their dog, they need to ensure their dogs are not upsetting the public. The biggest cause of upset is dog fouling. Dog owners should realize that dogs cannot be blamed for having to go to the toilet and should train their dog to go to the toilet at home.
If your dog does foul in a public place like the pavement, a park, a grass verge or wherever, you are responsible for cleaning it up. Poop scoops, or even a plastic bag, should always be carried when taking your dog for a walk. A poop scoop can be bought at pet shops or you can make one yourself. Check out www.scooperdoggie.com/action.html.
If dog dirt is not cleared up, it can cause toxocara canis, a disease that affects humans and dogs. Among humans it brings on stomach upsets and headaches, and, in more severe cases, asthma, worms, blindness and liver infections. For dogs, it can be fatal if not treated immediately.
Dog owners should be responsible for clearing up their dog's poop. Punishing a dog for messing up your home will only make it wary of you. Instead, anticipate when your dog needs to relieve itself. When a dog suddenly puts down its nose and starts to sniff intently, it is usually a signal that it wants to go. Other fixed times are soon after it wakes up, after a meal or drink and before going to sleep.
Now, how does it apply to you as pet owner? Well, maybe you live in a condominium or apartment and need to have more control over where you toilet your dog. Maybe you are in a hurry to get to work, and don't have 30 extra minutes to let the pooch smell every tree and bush in your neighborhood.
Maybe you want the dog to toilet in a particular place in the yard. But then again maybe it is raining outside.
The problem is how we can manage the time and teach our pet toilet training. It means we teach our pet to use a regular toilet bowl for pees or poops. The benefit of this is that the pet owner will never have to clean a litter box again, or use newspapers with sand inside the house to clean up the mess. It is weird idea, but, believe it or not, there are some websites giving advise on how to toilet train your pet. The best one is www.rainfrog.com/mishacat/toilet.shtml.
The central idea is that the transition from litter box to toilet is accomplished in stages. You make a small change and then give your pet time to adjust before you make another small change. If at any time your pet gives the whole thing up and pees or poops on the floor instead, you're pushing him too far too fast; back up a stage or two and try again, this time slower.
My friend and I managed to teach his little white poodle Fido to use the toilet. It was very difficult to train this cute puppy in the beginning. We know Fido can do it, as he has experienced successes once or twice. But we have also found "presents" on the floor as well.
Begin by moving the pet's current litter box from wherever it is to one side of the toilet. Make sure he knows where it is and uses it. Next put something, a stack of newspapers, a phone book, a cardboard box etc, under the litter box to raise it, say, about an inch. Continue this process until the bottom of the litter box is level with the top of the toilet seat.
Now move the litter box over so that it's sitting directly over the toilet seat. Take away the stack of phone books. Lift the seat on your toilet and measure the inside diameter of the top of the bowl at its widest point. Change the litter box with a metal bowl of that diameter and rest it on the toilet bowl rim.
By the way, you have to teach the pet proper squatting posture. After your pet is comfortable with the whole thing, you get to perform the last bit of magic. Take the metal bowl away, leaving the toilet. Voila, your pet is now toilet trained.
Just be consistent and patient, that is always the key to pet training. But don't hold out too many hopes that it will ever be able to learn how to flush!