Dog Development and Training Windows

Dogs develop in a predictable ways, for the most part. When you know what to expect and when, training can be easy. When you know when to teach what and what to wait on, training can be easy. Let me tell you my training recommendations for training according to the age and development of a puppy.

One week before you bring home the puppy: Time to learn, plan, and prepare.

• Create house rules with all members of the family. How will the puppy receive his food? How will puppy receive attention? How is the family allowed to touch him and play with him? Kitchen rules? Furniture rules? Where will he sleep? These are just a few ideas.

• Get a plan for housetraining. Let’s be done with this by 4 months!

• Know how you will use confinement and teach puppy to tolerate his time alone. Get a crate, playpen, gates, etc. before you need them.

• Choose great chews and toys and know how and when you will use them for good behaviors. Also, decide as a family, how you will respond when puppy picks up a household item rather than a toy.

• Learn how you will respond to puppy biting. Yelling and shoving is not a good plan.

• Learn about the breed you have chosen; how much exercise will it need? What behaviors is your pup predisposed to perform? Does it have grooming needs?

• Do you have a groomer, vet, trainer, dog sitter picked out?

  *Recommendation: All the above can be taught in one, at-home training session. You will receive an e-book too, with written instructions to keep you going strong in the first few weeks.

  2-4 months: Time for peeing, pooping, vet visits, biting, crying, biting and more biting!

• Housetrain puppy.

• Crate train puppy.

• Establish a schedule of feeding, bathroom, sleeping, chewing, training, exercising, crate time and free time.

• Teach house rules by being consistent with your responses to biting, jumping, chewing innappropriate chewing, digging, relations with people and other animals in the home, etc.

• Get puppy used to collar, harness, leash, and car rides.

• Take puppy out and about! Beach, playground, parks, vet clinic waiting room, puppy classes, etc.

  *Recommendation: One, at-home training session for housetraining, crate and schedule if you didn’t already do this. One at-home session for biting and chewing (or a group class if the topic is available), One at-home session to introduce equipment, start leash and get puppy to jump in car.

  4 to 7 months: Your puppy is growing from a puppy into an adolescent. He is teething and learning about his world. Don’t let him learn to jump, dart out the door or pull on leash!

• Train basics - sit for manners, down for calmness, come when called, leash, door manners and guest manners.

• Transition puppy from lots of confinement to more and more freedom.

• Make sure puppy gets enough rest, exercise, training, social outings and continue teaching house rules consitently.

• At 6 months, go from three meals a day to two.

• Take a few more group classes to have healthy social outlets and challenge your training.

  *Recommendation: One, at-home session to learn door/guest manners, learn how to calm dog down, and leash. One, at-home session to learn come when called, discipline and leash. One more, at-home session to troubleshoot problems and more leash.

  8-18 months: You now have an adolescent dog. You will see the breed really kick in, dog will be more powerful, independent, willful and hormonal.

• Possibly spay or neuter your dog.

• Train dog to be ok at home alone and out of confinment.

• Clean up any house rules that are still in conflict.

• Continue to work on leash skills, behaviors out in public and socialization.

  *Recommendation: Take a few group classes to keep your dog social during adolescence. At this age, training is customized to your needs: you may need to review the basics, get the family back in agreement about house rules, settle disagreements between dogs in the home, clean up any training that was slack and review leash skills.

  Let’t tally my recommendations:

  Six, at-home sessions and classes sprinkled throughout the first 2 years. That’s a total of $900 for at home training and between $45 and $65 per class.

• 4 puppy classes for $180 and 18 adolescent classes for $1,170.

• Grand Total: $2,250 over 2 years.

• If your dog lives to be 13 years old, that’s $173.08 per year.

• Worthy investment!!

  If you did not get a puppy, you will still need all the same training, but you will have to play catch up. Take a combo of classes and at home sessions every 2-3 weeks until you and your dog have the needed education and skills.