66. The 7-year-old Jack Russell needed urine-stained newspapers

He had a sad face now greying with white whiskers on his chin. He had the unusual multiple brown spots like a Dalmatian, but he was supposed to be a Jack Russell and yet he did not look exactly like one. He had more of the elongated head of a Bull Terrier.

He would not make eye contact in the surgery for microchipping. Singapore's new law regarding a $5,000 fine if you are caught without a dog licence was biting hard at the population. Mark, the dog trainer told me that a newspaper report last Sunday said that the people just simply abandoned over 400 dogs rather than risked being fined $5,000 for keeping a dog without a dog licence and a microchip.

Previously the fine was just $500 and I thought it was very stiff fine. Now, it was 10 times. Singapore is not known for being a "fine" city for nothing.



"Can you still remember how you toilet train this Jack Russell?" I asked the lady owner who was in her fifties. "It is so long ago!"

"I remember very well," the lady said. "This dog was adopted at 6 months of age. He had been crated. So, during week 1, he would always go inside the crate. From week 2 to 3, I took out the urine-soiled newspapers and put it inside the bathroom. After some time, he would just go to the bathroom and has been doing it for the past 7 years!

That was good news. I thought, "This Jack Russell is successfully paper-trained."

"Does he go to pee on the newspapers whenever you visit friends?" I asked.

"I always bring a piece of newspaper with his urine smell with me when I visit my son or friends. Otherwise he will pee anywhere."

"Can't he just pee or poop on a fresh newspaper?" I was surprised. I can't imagine anyone carrying a soiled newspaper during visits.

"No," the lady said. "At home, the bathroom would have his urine smell and so he just went into the bathroom."

So, this Jack Russell was not really paper-trained in the strict technical sense. He needed the smell of his urine to eliminate. He proved that all dogs are unique in toilet training.

"Does he urine mark at home?" I asked.

"No," the lady owner said. "Otherwise we would have given him away."

"That's good news," I said.

The husband added, "The dog understands what we tell him."

"Really? What do you mean?"

The husband explained, "If we don't talk to him when we go out, he will spray urine onto the washing machine. When we come home, he would run away to hide!"

What a strange behaviour you would think. This dog must be angry for being left home alone.

The husband explained, "We said to him 'If you are naughty, we will not buy back some food for you. When we said that, he would not mess up the apartment with his urine."

Talking seemed to work for this dog. It was good news. I don't know whether it was talking or the positive reinforcement training of a food reward for being a good dog?