As soon as a new puppy arrives, you have to start thinking about training it.

Once in your home, it has to learn how to live in its new “pack”. Every pack has a dominant dog and submissive dogs. If the master doesn't quickly take on the role of dominant “dog” and lead the pack, the puppy will do it instead.

With puppies, it's either yes or no; there's no room for grey areas. Anything you allow your puppy to do will quickly become a habit that you'll have a really tough time breaking. The tone of voice you and the other members of your family adopt when reprimanding and commanding your puppy must be consistent.

As soon as your puppy arrives, decide where it will relieve itself, be it indoors or outdoors. If you choose indoors, pick an easy-to-reach spot that's somewhat secluded and lay down some newspaper or absorbent puppy training pads (ask your Mondou specialist about them). Most importantly, make sure the spot is far from the puppy's food. For outdoors, it's a little more complicated. You have to watch out for the signs, such as your puppy turning in circles and sniffing around the house. That's when you need to provide verbal stimulation to draw your puppy toward the door. Of course, patience and consistency are a must. Once your dog has done its duty, remove the feces quickly, but without your dog noticing. This last bit is very important, otherwise your dog will want to do the same and will develop a coprophagia problem, wherein the dog eats its own feces.

To correct your dog, you have to do it the second the offence is committed. Don't correct your dog if you didn't catch it in the act: it won't understand why it's being reprimanded. Correct it with your voice, using a tone that the puppy will recognize as “blaming.” Clean up the mess using the appropriate product. Don't use household cleaning products that have a marked scent, because the puppy will quickly return to the spot.

For the first few months, your young puppy will try to bite or chew on everything in its path. This is normal behaviour: your puppy wants to play, and it's also teething. Your job is simply to make your puppy understand that this is not acceptable behaviour. As soon as you catch it in the act, put a toy in its jaws and say NO firmly to discipline it. This discipline must immediately follow the bad behaviour. And similarly, it's equally important to congratulate your puppy and give it a treat (food or attention) when it behaves well.

From the outset, do not allow barking or growling. Your puppy is testing you. It must be disciplined immediately and firmly.

Toys are for playing with, and bones, for chewing. If it chews its toy, replace it with a bone immediately, otherwise buying your puppy toys will cease being fun.

Your puppy's crate should be its home, not its punishment. Otherwise, it will acquire an aversion to the crate, and when you have to go away, you'll have a hard time getting it to go inside.

It's crucial that you socialize your puppy from an early age, preferably before it's four months old. Bring it to a variety of spots: the street, crowded areas, the park, etc. By the time it reaches that age, it should have already seen and experienced everything it's likely to encounter in its lifetime: adults (men and women), children, pets (cats, dogs, etc.), objects (bicycles, umbrellas, etc.) and noises (thunder, trucks, etc.).