When a puppy arrives at our home, a stage of responsibilities begins. As we would do with any child, the owners of companion animals have to educate our puppies so that they learn certain guidelines that help coexistence at home.
One of them concerns your needs. Biologically, it is the puppy’s mother who teaches him the importance of hygiene and guides him in his learning. As it will still be early to take him out for a walk, we will have to assume that role with our puppy so that he learns the proper place to urinate and defecate.
What guidelines should we follow?
One of the essential requirements to get our puppy to relieve himself in the place that we have enabled for it is perseverance. We must be persistent to achieve our goal and be aware that the road will be slow.
- Identify the place. The first thing we will do is establish a space for the needs of the puppy. We have to think that it will be a temporary passage, a transit site until we can take it out for a walk. Therefore, it is important that we look for an easily identifiable space for the animal but that can easily associate it with the place where it will urinate when it grows up.
- Watch the puppy. For the animal to be clear about where it can relieve itself, we will have to put it, from time to time, in the place we have chosen, since puppies tend to urinate and defecate a lot. If we want, we can use simple commands to associate them with his new habits, such as “pee,” “pee,” or any similar word.
- Restrict the area of the puppyto the space where the designated place for their needs is located. If we cannot monitor the animal for a long period of time, it is best to place its bed with its toys and feeders, in a place close to the place defined for its needs.
- Move the place to the street. As we have done before, once we can go out for a walk with our little one it is important that we define the change of place. At first we will take him out often and show him where he can defecate and urinate on the street.
As in any stage of transit, while the puppy gets used to his new routine, it is important that his resting place is not too far from the space provided for his needs.
Teach, yes, but from love
Like any living being, puppies learn lovingly. Therefore, it is important that while this stage lasts we learn to reinforce our orders with prizes. Both at home and on the street, it is essential that the dog knows when it has relieved itself in the right place. Caresses, food, a long walk or games, accompanied by words that show happiness and congratulate their attitude, are essential for the puppy to associate what is correct with what is not.
You have to congratulate him when he does it well, but never punish him when he fails. We have to motivate them, teach them … Like any learning, there will be times when we will achieve our goal and others when we will not. We don’t have to lose our cool. And much less punish him.
In a process as complex as the teaching of a habit, punishments can have the opposite effect to what we are looking for. Therefore, they must be avoided at all costs.
