Toilet Training 101

This article was published in Bangalore Mirror; Date: Feb 18, 2014; Section: City; Page: 4

Imagine you find yourself in the midst of aliens and you had no idea how to communicate with them... and you have to pee! How do you go about it? You see the aliens pee on some strange structures, but you are not sure — should you or should you not follow their lead? And when you follow their actions, their reactions seem to be arbitrary — sometimes they ignore you, other times they yell at you and at times they even hit you. It seems like you just cannot pee in peace; without the fear of being beaten or yelled at. Bleak? Well, that’s the state your new doggy is in when he comes to your home for the first time. So give your little family member a break! You can toilet-train him and it does not have to involve fear. This, my dear friends, is Toilet Training 101.

Understand that dogs have an inherent preference to pee on porous surfaces. That includes soil, sand, grass and unfortunately, carpets, mattresses and newspapers. Hence, it’s a good idea to dog-proof the house for the first few weeks by removing all porous surfaces off the floor. Roll away the expensive carpets. Time for some cold hard surfaces.

Dogs tend to return to the same spot they have already peed at in the past, using scent to identify the spot. So if your dog pees on a newspaper, use that to your advantage.

Leave the paper there. Praise him every time he returns to the spot to pee on. Then slowly move the paper towards the toilet or balcony or wherever you want doggy to ‘go’.

Predict, to some level of accuracy, when your dog will need to pee. Dogs often need to pee after a good snooze and want to poop after a meal. Pups pee at a certain frequency. A two-month-old puppy is likely to pee every two hours and poop every four hours. A three-month-old pup is likely to pee every three hours and poop every six hours. You get the math, right? Just make visits to the designated area at these predicted intervals.

Here are some tips that worked for me with Nishi. At the predicted intervals, I would go sit in the balcony with her and a good book and just wait it out. Once I waited for two hours and that was it. I never had an accident in my house again. To catch her when she woke up, I put a little bell on her collar. When she peed where she should not, I just soaked up the pee with a newspaper and put it in the designated area to guide her with scent. When she peed in the designated area we had a major ‘Pee Party’ — loud cheering, lots of treats and loads of petting. Nishi was made to feel like she graduated from a top university. To this day, when she pees, she is excessively happy.

But accidents happen. If your dog pees in the wrong place, just understand that the dog just does not know better. Say nothing and clean it up with vinegar. The likes of phenol and dettol do not get rid of the odour, but vinegar neutralises it. No matter what happens, DO NOT punish ‘accidents’.

Channa Nut Torte

In India, not all of us are comfortable cooking non-vegetarian food at home. So, I have been on a quest to identify vegetarian alternatives to essential nutrients in a dog’s diet like for example, chicken. As most people are aware, chicken is a rich source of protein. But just replacing one form of protein with another is not sufficient. We need to delve a little deeper. When we say protein we use the term loosely to refer to several amino acids. The brain converts one such amino acid, tryptophan, into the snooze-chemical, serotonin. It is this chemical that kicks in after that heavy feast and makes us full, happy and sleepy. So if you are looking for your dog to be a bit less hyper and settle into a happy siesta after a meal then you need to replace chicken with ingredients that are rich in tryptophan.

The Channa nut torte is rich in this specific type of protein. Make a few batches of it and store it in the fridge. You can feed your dog some torte half an hour before a meal rich in carbohydrates — raagi or rice. Then sit back and watch your dog drift into blissful slumber.

This recipe makes a dense cake, hence I am calling it a torte. My doggies love it and beg for it even as the tortes are being baked.
INGREDIENTS:

• 4 eggs cups tsp til cooked / seasame channa oil 
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds, til 
• 2 tsp  seasame tsp dried dried thyme or basil even a mix of all)  
• honey 30 gms to butter taste.

METHOD:

Grind the channa in a mixer adding the oil and eggs slowly. Soften the butter, cube it and add it to the ground channa. Knead well. Fold the nuts, honey and herbs into the mixture. Line a baking dish with butter or oil and then with butter paper. Pour the mixture in, about 3/4 inch deep. Bake at 210 degree C for 35 - 40 mins. Turn off the oven and let the torte rest in the hot oven for 10 minutes. Finally, remove the torte, and let it cool before cutting it into cubes.

SERVING:

Cut the full cake into four big portions; slice each portion in eight cubes. For every four kilo body weight of the dog, serve one cube of torte per day. So if your dog is about 15 kg, then feed around four pieces a day; perhaps two pieces before each meal. If your dog is 20 kg, then feed your dog five cubes a day.

This article was published in Bangalore Mirror; Date: Feb 25, 2014; Section: City; Page: 4

Is it just a dog?

Been thinking about getting a dog? Think again! Before you get yourself a cute little fur ball or tie a ribbon around it’s neck and gift it to an unsuspecting friend, STOP! Think long and hard about it. Even if you grew up with dogs, this is still going to be different. Gone are the days when a dog was kept outside the home in the garden and fed leftovers. Dogs today share small living spaces with us and become family. So, do indulge in some long hard thinking. And when you are done thinking, research. Find friends who share your lifestyle and have a dog. Have long conversations with them about the joy and challenges of having a dog. Visit them frequently. Pet-sit if possible. Foster a puppy from a shelter, if possible. Experience what it’s like to have a puppy, a juvenile and a grown dog at home. You can never be too prepared.

You will most likely outlive your dog! Yeah, I’m stating the obvious. But it’s the implications that matter. You will be seeing your dog from the potty training days through to the adult-diaper days. From the teething days to the toothless feeding days. From the growth pain days to the arthritis days...you get the drift. Yes, dogs go through all

those and no, the amenities are not there and the few amenities that are there cost a bomb. Now then, if your wallet, brain and heart have reached consensus on the matter of getting a dog, then welcome to my club — Pet Parenthood. I enjoy every facet and moment of it and am happy to be sharing a slice with you.

The very first question on your mind is perhaps, “Which puppy do I get?” Dogs come in as many personality types as one can imagine. Aloof broody ones, clingy needy ones, frisky ones...I wanted an interactive cuddly dog. My husband wanted an interactive frisky one. Nishi is our interactive but not too cuddly one. Tigger is our cuddly one. If you remember that they are personalities, you will find a compatible companion.

To get that perfect dog you will need to visit the dog several times. Just like us, dogs too have good and bad days. Construction next door, a sibling who got adopted yesterday, the nanny on leave, just before a meal, just after a meal — all of it can make a big difference. And while you are making several trips to the breeder, do consider visiting a shelter too. You never know, your ideal dog may not be a puppy, but a cute labrador teenager or a shy old boxer. Adult dogs will also spare you the hassle of toilet training and the destruction of teething. Keep your mind open and look not for the ‘label’, but for the ‘soul’ when looking for that soulmate. Which of us does not have the picture of sitting with our dog watching the sunset on the horizon?

Here’s a parting thought: I advocate adoption. But if you decide to buy, do spare a thought to the fact that “breeding” is infact the “business of creating life”. So engage with the breeder. Ensure that the breeder understands and respects the sanctity of this business, thus handles it with utmost and due care. Have a pawsome week!

This article was published in Bangalore Mirror in February 2014