The first contact with the puppy.

From the beginning we should become aware of the fact that we actively and extremely highly contribute to the assimilation of the character that our dog will present in the future. Provided that we have decided to include a dog as a member of our family, we will have to be patient, stable and persistent. It is important for all the members of the family to agree to and to stick to the same diligent tactic, by simply following some basic certain principles.

Finding a name.

The first thing that a dog should learn is his name. We should pay great attention in connecting his name with something very positive, so that he corresponds immediately after each call. We seek to call him 10-15 times daily and each time he corresponds and comes to us, we award him with a treat, showing at the same time how much he pleased us with strokes and a sweet tone in our voice. When we call him we should pronounce his name with a soft and tender tone and we should also have in mind to lower in his height. Progressively, we have to decrease   rewarding with treats and limit it in strokes.

Meal time.

First of all, we should stabilize the hours of his meals, which means that we feed the puppy in determined hours and leave him a time margin of 10-15 minutes to eat his meal. In this way we achieve to check and stabilize, at some point, his eliminations. We should also stick to the following constant tactic: immediately after every meal, as well as after every intense game or long sleep, we should take the puppy to the balcony or to a selected space covered with newspapers or diapers. We should leave him outside until he urinates and then we get out and award him with a treat or a stroke and we take him back into the house.

Elimination control.

An alternative solution is the folding parks, specifically designed for this purpose, one can find in the market. Their advantage is that the puppy can be in our space and we can check him, so that we reward him at the appropriate time; immediately after the elimination. We also avoid the stress that is likely to be caused due to the exterior isolation, leading to delayed littering. The basic principle is to never allow the puppy to enter the house or get out of the park, if he has not litter.

Scolding and reward.

Scolding and reward should happen at the very same time with the action we want to prevent or reinforce. Our dog does not have the ability to memorize. For example, if our doggie litters inside the house when we are away, we should not yell at him when we return, trying to tell him that what he did was wrong, because we will succeed in having our puppy running to hide every time we enter the house. What our puppy has basically understood is that he has done something wrong, but not exactly what.

Regarding scolding, we must try to limit it in the tone of our voice. This means that, we are supposed to adjust the tone of our voice in different levels, increasing it according to the gravity of each situation. We never hit our puppy on the face, not even with a newspaper, because this can cause to him fear of the hand. As a result, he bends in fear every time we approach in order to pet him. Beating and excessive scolding destroy the relationship between the dog and the owner.

Rules and exceptions.

A unique exception is if our puppy gets angry or bites us when we attempt to take his food or another object. We do not seek to come in juxtaposition with our dog, but on the contrary we should keep a balance between us. If phonetic scolding does not work, we should jerk him from the neck once, always combined with a constant, imposing and rigid tone of voice. At this point the episode should end. We should never have a fight with our puppy, cramming him in a corner in order to scold or strike him repeatedly. Most likely, his sense of safety and fear and the instinct of self-defense will function and he will start to become  fierce and he might bite us. By no means you should let the dog impose his own will.

Respect his space!

Our puppy needs a space where he will feel absolutely safe and secure. For as long the puppy rests in his place, we do not disturb him with games or strokes. We respect his rest and we give him essential independence, so that he will respect ours in demand. That is to say, when we sit in our couch and he comes asking for strokes, we do so only when we are willing to. Otherwise, later on, the puppy becomes demanding and particularly annoying. Clearly show to your puppy that you are the leader of the herd. Pet him whenever you want and stop when you wish.

Play with him!

We start and end games whenever we want. This can be easily achieved, if we initially establish some progressive intervals. That is to say, for example, in one hour of game, every 10 minutes we stop completely for about 2 minutes and then we start again. During the day we do not leave all his games exposed to him, but we give him one per day, when we want to. Otherwise, he will get bored and he is likely to seek relaxation of his boredom on our own staff, when we are away. Every time we return home, we do not pay attention to him (strokes and sweet talk) for the first 5 minutes; as long as it takes us to leave our bag, to change our clothes etc. This will help to avoid jumping on us in our entry, demanding strokes, but it also gives us the required time to relax. Thus, we avoid having him bothering our visitors, who are probably not eager to deal with our dog and the possibility to soil their clothes, when they enter our house.

Prevention of problems.

To prevent our dog from jumping on us or on others, we should never pet him when he is raised on his two legs, but to wait until he stands on all four or even better, when he sits. Both in our entrance and in our exit from the house, we do not pay any attention to our dog for the last five minutes before our departure and we do not farewell him with hugs and sweet talk. Doing so, we may create a sentimental burden and he is likely to begin crying when we exit the house. In any case he cries or barks because he demands something, e.g. to let him in or out of the room he is left alone, we pay absolutely no attention to him for as long he does so. As soon as he stops, we award him and we open the door.

Brush your dog!

One of the habits we should establish is the brushing of our dog, which should be done daily, beginning from a small age. In this way, we remove all parasites and dead hair that has come off. Moreover, we offer our puppy a good massage that strengthens his circulatory system. Thus, we will always have a dog with healthy and bright hair and skin, and we will in the same time develop the relationship of bond and confidence we have between us.

Walk, a need of vital importance.

One of the most important factors in our dog’s life is his walk. It should be clarified that letting the dog outside to walk and smell, is a need of vital importance and cannot be substituted by the possible enormous balcony or garden we have in our house. When the circle of vaccination is completed and after a thorough talk with the veterinarian for the morphological particularities of our dog’s breed (concerning the frequency and duration allowed), we can start the walks with him. An important factor of the walks is also that of socialization. His first contact with the outside world should be a long walk, so that he has the opportunity to overcome, in some degree, the stress that is likely to be caused by this unusual experience. In general terms, most dogs need about 1:30 hour of walk daily, shared in three phases, one of which should have almost the double duration of the other two. We seek to go to as busy places as possible, in order for our dog to progressively get in touch with all the real stimuli he will come across during his life (dogs, cats, children, people, cars, bikes etc).

Do not wake up violent instincts.

This also applies to the owners of large breeds, who intend to have a guardian dog. They should reject the fable that a guardian dog has to be isolated, tied up for long periods of time and not petted by strangers. A proper and harmless guardian is first of all, a dog that has been fully socialized, is controlled by his boss, considering him the leader of the herd, and later on is led to the experienced instructors of protection training. Moreover, we should not, in any case, wake up aggressive instincts to our dog, prompting him to chase and dash cats or other animals and we definitely do not play with him allowing him to bite our hands. As a puppy, his playful and harmless bite may not bother us, but growing up his teeth will grow and his jawbone will strengthen; it will be, by no means, easy to cut him off this habit. Therefore, we allow to those who want, whether in the walk or in our house, to pet our dog and at the same time we try to protect him from any negative experience. We spend as much time as possible in busy places (parks, play areas, cafeterias, markets etc) and we also seek to cross many main roads with him, being particularly careful to avoid any negative experiences, like car accident, cat attack, dog bite, shock by deafening noise etc, because it may create the relevant phobia to the dog.