Feeling overwhelmed in raising your new pup?

Get a puppy they said. It'll be fun, they said. It's a perfect time since you're home all the time... they said.

Sound familiar? Hey now, don't get me wrong. A puppy is a great investment into your future but that's just it. It's your future. It's your puppy's future. It can be overwhelming to know where to start! 

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A week-by-week plan for training your new puppy!

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​Here are some of the questions I've been getting...

• What can they learn at 8 weeks?
• How soon can you start training?
• How long does potty training take?
• How can you socialize, especially as I'm writing this - 2 months into the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Do you have a pandemic puppy? Well, talk about adding more overwhelm when the puppy raising you thought you knew looks so much different! You can't accompany your puppy into the vet's office. You can't go to in-person puppy social classes. If you don't have kids at home, how can you socialize your puppy to kids? Group classes are less accessible than usual. Most training is online, which is such a wonderful resource to have available to you but without a plan, it can be hard to know where to start!

So in this post, I'd like to break down some of the training tasks that puppies are most receptive to early on.

So let's dig in to your initial couple of weeks!

8 Weeks Old

The infant phase!
It's a very exciting time! I know all you'll want to do is snuggle, play, and do all the things!
If you just brought your puppy home, it's incredibly important that you give your puppy time to decompress.
​What does that mean? That means you let your puppy guide the way. Now, let me be clear here. We want our puppies to explore and adjust to his new environment but it's important that you keep his world very small. Have a collar and house-leash on your pup. A house leash is just a very light leash or rope with the loop cut off. This will be important for being able to redirect your puppy if he's doing something he shouldn't be, if he sneaks under furniture, if you need to quickly bring him outside. Part of the decompression is going to involve having a chat with the kids, if you have them. Puppies can be very exciting and kids are going to want to play with them, snuggle them, pet them, love on them. But kids can also be very overwhelming for puppies. While we want your pup to get used to being around the kids, the noises they make, the movements they make, etc... we don't want them to feel trapped by the kids at any point in time. This is likely going to be the hardest part of the decompression stage. 

Here are some tasks to focus on and prioritize:

• Socialization
• Potty Training
• Crate Games
• Hand-feeding good choices
• Yes Marker

A few key points I'd like to make about those tasks

Socialization: It does mean inserting them into crowds of people or someone else's arms. It means allowing them to discover new sights, new sounds, new people, new environments, handling, car rides, etc. 

• Pandemic Puppy Owners: Check out the puppy socialization stations in the linked video. Go for car rides. Go to the grocery store parking lot. Use as much distance as you need to and give your puppy yummy treats whenever he can see a new person. Watch traffic drive by. 

The YES marker: The marker is a novel sound you make (like a clicker) that marks the behavior you like and precedes the treat and thus, encourages your pup to keep offering that particular behavior. It really clears things up for the puppy helps them figure out which behavior they earned the treat for.

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9 Weeks Old

Here are some tasks to focus on and prioritize:

• Name Game
• Luring Game
• Collar Handling
  
• Body Handling
  
• Capture and Reward Sitting
  

Luring Game: Teach your puppy to follow a treat in your hand. Get them moving to different places, in different directions, around objects, on different surfaces, etc
Collar Handling: You're going to be handling your pup's collar a lot over the years. Start getting your puppy used to having his collar touched and held so he doesn't show avoidance whenever you reach out. Don't forget the treats! Touch the collar, treat your pup!
Body Handling:

• Foot and Toe handling - spread the toes, tap them gently with small objects
• Open your pup's mouth - inserting a treat
• Check out your pup's ears or brush your pup while they lick peanut butter off the wall

Capture and Reward Sitting: This should be your pup's way of saying please and a default behavior to offer, instead of jumping, barking, or other attention seeking choices.

Puppy Plan Freebie

A week-by-week plan for training your new puppy!

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.