Puppy Training Tips: How To Train Your New Puppy

Between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks, your puppy training should be focused on two areas: the first being social skills inside the home, and the second is starting to build the foundation for your puppy’s obedience training. 

Toilet Training

The first big thing to sort is toilet training, which needs a clear routine and lots of patience. This can be done by setting phone alarms, creating toilet patterns and also taking your puppy out at specific times in their day, such as after eating, sleeping, for exercising. This should be reinforced with positive praise and a command word, which helps your puppy to understand what you want and that a reward will come from doing it. 

Food Routine

Most fussy eaters are created within the first two weeks of being in their new home.

It is important to be disciplined and stick to the same feeding routine the puppy had with their breeder. Due to the big move and change of environment, don’t be surprised if your puppy is picky or doesn’t eat in the first few days. This is completely normal, and you shouldn’t need to worry. 

Changing routine early on can cause long-term lifestyle and training problems. Keep offering the food within the routine, give your puppy a good opportunity to eat it, and then take it away again. Treats should be an addition to a healthy lifestyle, so ensure your dog has a healthy relationship with food before having too many treats. 

Socialising

We all love cuddles with our puppy, especially in the first few weeks, although it is important to make sure they don’t become overdependent on you as an owner. This can be done by allowing your puppy to become used to being on their own for various periods of time. It can be difficult to leave them, but this is a crucial step to prevent separation anxiety. 

It is important your puppy develops relationships with friends and family, especially in this early stage, but make sure this is done in small groups and for short time periods. This will help your dog develop these relationships without becoming overly tired or stimulated. 

Mouthing is typical of dogs at this age, but it should not be encouraged. To avoid your puppy growing up to expect fuss and be overly excited by visitors, ask guests to ignore your puppy for a while after arriving. Keeping interactions low-key and brief will help your puppy grow up stable and calm around visitors. 

Cuddles should always be on your terms. Set your boundaries early on to avoid any unwanted behaviour further down the line. 

Nighttime Routine

Keep the same routine for the first few weeks. This will help your puppy to settle and know what to expect. Dogs take comfort in routine. 

Before your puppy goes to bed, make sure they have enough exercise throughout the day, (don’t overstimulate them just before bedtime), and that they have gone to the toilet. Then if they cry, you will know it isn’t because they need the toilet. 

Ensure their sleeping area is in a quiet and low-light area. As a rule of thumb, don’t sleep downstairs with your dog or take them to bed with you. It may feel good at the time, but in the long run, it will cause problems that will outweigh this. Just like babies, puppies can cry when they are left alone. Learning to self-soothe is a massive life skill, so be strong and allow them to learn this. It usually stops in the first week or so. 

Foundations For Obedience Training

Training with food is a great way to bond with your dog. You can do this at least three times a day at meal times. The first thing your dog needs to learn is how to eat nicely from the hand. Teaching your puppy good manners makes the training more enjoyable. It saves you from having to throw treats on the floor to prevent nipping from your puppy when feeding. 

Take a large handful of the puppy’s food and close this in the palm of your hand. This presents a large scent pattern to your puppy. If your dog simply sniffs and licks your hand, release bits of food, like a slow feeder. Once your dog is eating, praise them with a calm voice. 

If your puppy naturally eats nicely, you can move on to other training. However, if your puppy engages with its teeth, trying to find a way to the food in your hand, use a firm, sharp “no” command and at the same time, move your hand (and the food) away. Immediately start again. Timing is key, as soon as the puppy engages with your hand using its nose, or licking, calmly praise them. Keep repeating this process until you can hand-feed a whole meal pain-free. 

Focus training

Once your puppy learns to eat nicely, move on to focus training. This isn’t just good fun, but it’s a way to teach your puppy to solve problems by focusing and engaging with you, and it’s a good foundation for further training. 

Once again, grab a handful of food, closing it in your palm. Let your puppy sniff your hand, and then take it slightly out of reach. Your puppy will stare and maybe try to get to your hand. Once the puppy looks up at you, mark this behaviour with an upbeat, positive “yes” or a click, rewarding with food at the same time. 

Top Tip! When using food in training, don’t use one bit of food for one action or behaviour.

This repetitiveness can be predictable for your dog and can become boring. Instead, try releasing varying amounts of food as rewards. Your puppy will try harder if there are jackpot rewards throughout. Repetition is key and will teach your dog that the solution to the problem is to look at you. 

Ultimately, this is going to teach your puppy the impulse control to look away at a strong distraction towards you instead. 

Leash Socialisation

Develop a healthy association with the lead before your puppy is cleared by the vet to go for public walks.

Create this through putting the lead on your puppy multiple times a day for random time periods. Positively associate the lead by clipping it on and off whilst pairing it with a food reward. Pair the training with a command like “lead”. This should reduce excitement and help develop positive vibes with the leash. 

The best training advice for dogs at this age is all relationship based. Ensure that rather than a free vending machine, your puppy sees you as a resource that they need to work around to gain the things they love in life.