6-14 Weeks: The Golden Age of Opportunity

When is the best time to start training your puppy?  

The day you pick them up! Most people get their new puppy at about 8 weeks of age which is already 2 weeks into peek learning.  Since they are already in high learning mode it’d be a big mistake to take them home and just play with them and lavish on the love and kisses.  Don’t let their cuteness distract you from training on the first day home with a few short (3-4 minute) learning lessons.  In reality, they have been learning all kinds of things from their litter mates and mother. For example, they have learned that they now eat grown up food and drink water.  Hopefully they have also been practicing having quiet time in a crate and going outside to potty.  So when you get home feel free to love on them AND show him/her it’s crate, food and water dishes, toys and the potty bells (hopefully they are hanging on the door they will use to go outside to take care of business).  Depending on when you get your puppy, you only have a few weeks to pack a lot of learning in until he/she is 14 weeks old.   It doesn’t happen naturally so be ready to hit the boards running to make the most of the Golden Age of Opportunity (6-14 weeks old).

What tools do I need on hand to use during training?

You don’t need much, but this is what I use all the time 

• An appropriately sized crate for quiet time in the house and safe travel in the car
• A bag of small sized, easily eaten treats for rewarding positive results 
• A flexi-leash
• Potty training bells

How much time does it take?

Think in short increments (3-4 minutes) during the course of the day with a total learning of about 15 minutes per day.  

What if your puppy is easily distracted or easily excited?

Try to work in a more quiet space to help them concentrate.  It doesn’t have to be totally quiet but you don’t want to compete with other activities, like going to a dog park.  That’s too big of an environment to train in for a young puppy.

What should I focus on doing during the Golden Age of Opportunity?

• • go for walks with your puppy on a flexi leash allowing it to walk freely but to learn to go in the direction you are going.
  • take your puppy for lots of car rides.  Sometimes go to a park or somewhere fun for the puppy and sometimes you just go for a ride and the puppy doesn’t get out to go anywhere, they are only riding in the car but ALWAYS in a crate (aka their seatbelt).
  • introduce good hygiene by brushing teeth and doing their nails weekly.  I suggest you do this with the puppy up on your washer or a grooming table.  
  • begin teaching the 5 basic commands (sit, stay, down, come, heel).  Keep it positive and fun.
  • introduce your puppy to other dogs and people of all ages to socialize them. Make sure the other dog is one you know will be calm and gentle with your puppy.

The more you do now, the less you will have to deal with later.  Puppies are eager, naturally inquisitive and uninhibited until about 14 weeks old when they have a short time (about 2 weeks) of being afraid or leary of new people and experiences.  Don’t worry, it’s just part of their development. Relax your training during this time and just have fun together.  With you leading the way and providing positive reinforcement your puppy will grow leaps and bounds in how to do good things.  You will learn from each other and create an awesome bond of trust. This will come in very handy as you move along with more advanced training techniques (like asking your dog to Come at a dog park and they do it willingly!).  

Cheers!

Julie

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