Training of hygienic habits

The best method for setting hygienic habits for your dog is called "error-free learning". The purpose of this technique is for the puppy to relieve itself correctly as many times as possible, while giving it less opportunity to do so in an inappropriate place.

Patience and understanding of possible puppy "errors" are critical and must be present at all times in your mind, because voluntary control over urination and defecation does not become complete until the puppy is four or five months old.

In case you are able to supervise your pet, you know that there are certain times during which it is more likely for the dog to defecate and/or urinate: after every meal, after playing and waking up. It is important to monitor the dog, so that at the slightest hint you can take it to the appropriate place – either its local newspaper area or to the street. Once there, you must wait for the dog to answer nature's call and reward it with a treat immediately and with the words ““very good””. This way, the puppy will associate the reward with the action of urination and/or defecation in that place. If you see the puppy sniffing, you must divert its attention with a slap.

If instead you cannot supervise it, as when it is left alone, you must prepare a small area with a space that can be occupied by the dog, such as the kitchen. We will place the food, water and dog cushion in a corner, and at the opposite angle some newspapers that we will collect frequently and replace with new ones.

We should never punish a puppy for relieving itself in an inappropriate place. In addition, some "traditional" systems like rubbing the dog's nose in the urine are totally ineffective.

If we want to accustom the dog to taking its hygiene habits to the street, we must make meals coincide just before the time for talking a walk. It is important to get the puppy to the street whenever one of the "risk situations" mentioned above is present, and the more it goes out the better.
We must also reward the dog's behaviour if it relieves itself once outside and we must not finish the walk the same instant that it finishes doing so. As a highlighted note, it must be remembered that the puppy should go out to the street carried in your arms until it has completed the vaccine schedule.