A puppy is unable to restrain himself before the age of 3 or 4 months. It is thus necessary to privilege the maximum of exits:

• Mainly in the morning when he wakes up and in the evening when he goes to bed, after the digestion cycle;
• or if you see him drinking a lot after physical activity (play, for example) or a prolonged nap;
• starting very early to take him out in places where many dogs pass to stimulate his marking instinct, letting him sniff as much as possible will always be the best and quickest solution. As soon as you notice your puppy begins to respond to odorous stimuli during walks and to request the exit (agitation, squirming, approaching the door), start a brief training session:
  • congratulate him for asking, then open the door or go for a walk. At the same time, to reinforce this request, if you see him forgetting himself, say a “no”! Say a firm (but not nasty) “no”, with a hand gesture that supports what you are saying (even better), and then open the door very quickly or go for a walk.

You should know that it is useless to:

• Congratulate a dog for doing outside or not doing at home;
• trying to get droppings on command (specific order or word);
• punish a dog who solicits you without any response from you and who will forget himself. If he can hold himself back for a while, don’t exaggerate, it is not a robot (especially if he is fed with industrial croquet).

Misconceptions and attitudes to banish

Faced with a dog who forgets himself, human attitudes are sometimes inappropriate or even traumatic for the animal. The following reactions must therefore be banned:

• Putting the dog’s nose in his excrement. The dog’s relationship to excrements of all kinds is far from being the same as ours. Indeed, he does not feel any repulsion to it and even spends a lot of time analyzing its chemical components or even consuming it. Therefore:
• Forcing his nose into his own cannot be understood in any way by him. This gesture will only make us appear brutal, incoherent, and unreliable. And he will never know why we mistreat him;
• do not clean up his forgetfulness in his presence. That might make him think we enjoy his excrement, but it’s just the opposite:
• On the one hand, by showing the dog that we can remove the associated odors, he will be surprised, and he will prefer to spread them where they have a chance to settle (the marking reflex). On the other hand, this could also be conceived with the droppings whose disappearance would likely reassure him (avoid attracting attention), except that it is not natural for a dog to defecate on his living place as a grey wolf;
• don’t use bleach. Because its smell does not attract dogs, it is unpleasant, worrying and he will try to cover it with his urine to reassure himself;
• do not express dissatisfaction once the incident is over. Going home and finding a dog all perky (or perky) next to a good packet of still-smoking poop or seeing the carpet with a large halo is likely to make us go out of our way. Nevertheless, punishing him, reprimanding him, marking our displeasure, locking him in a room to make him think about what he has done will not bring any benefit. He will not be able to understand as such, and this will not teach him anything.
• you may also seek help from First Coast Scoopers for Commercial Poop Scooping, Pet Waste Station Sales, Pet Waste Bag Sales, Pet Waste Station Service, and Residential Waste Cleanup.

Hope this post helps you. Remember to share your experience in the section below.

You can read more here:

• Adopting a Dog? Here’s Everything You Need to Know!
• Does Your Dog Suffer From Coprophagia?
• Cleanliness of a Puppy: The Marking Reflex
• The Handy Dog Accessory: Dog Poop Scoop
• The Ultimate Pet Poop Removal Solution in Jacksonville!