Dog Training: Understanding Puppy Growth Stages - Part 2

Dog Training

To make sure you give your puppy the opportunity for optimum social development, he really needs to be left with mom and siblings until seven weeks of age and preferably even longer.

TIP: The best time in a puppy’s life to learn social skills is between three and sixteen weeks of age, that’s the best window of opportunity you have to make sure your puppy grows up to be a well-adjusted dog...


Hi Dog Loving Friend,

It’s extremely important to leave your puppy with Mom and his siblings during as much of this transitional period as possible.

It's best to not discipline him for play fighting, housebreaking mistakes or mouthing.

That’s all pretty normal behavior for a puppy at this stage...so give him plenty of room to move, explore and learn.

Why?

Well, he is now entering the stage where he becomes fearful, unsure or timid of his environment and surrounding:

• Eight weeks to three months marks the “I’m afraid of everything” and is characterized by rapid learning which usually starts around eight to ten weeks
• Not all pups experience this, but most do, and they’ll appear terrified over things that they took in stride before
• This is not a good time to engage in any form of hard discipline, loud voices or traumatic events
• At this time your puppy’s bladder and bowels are starting to come under much better control, and he’s capable of sleeping through the night
• You can begin teaching leash training and simple commands like shake hands, come, sit, stay, down, etc

It’s important not to isolate your puppy from human contact at this time, as he’ll continue to learn behaviors and manners that significantly impact him in later years.

At last, “I don’t have to listen to you!” lol, so now you can start to get some rest as he enters his juvenile between three to four months:

• During this stage your puppy is most like a toddler
• A little more rebellous and independent as he might start ignore your commands
• He’s only recently learned to exert his newfound independence
• Just be patient, firm and gentle with reinforcing direct commands
• Let him know through daily training what he is required to do
• He starts feeling playful and confident, might even play biting you or even a real attempt to challenge your authority
• A sharp “No!” or “No bite!” command, followed by several minutes of ignoring him, should take care of this problem
• Continue to play with him and handle him on a daily basis
• Don’t play any agressive games like tug of war or wrestling with him
• He may perceive tug of war as a game of dominance, especially if he wins...

Playing wrestling is another game that can rapidly get out of hand as his strength grows, he’s going to want to challenge you, test his strength and play-fight to see who’s stronger.

Even if you win the message your puppy receives is that it’s ok to fight with you, and that's not what you want because he will take advantage at every opportunity.

Four to six months have now passed as he enters the "I'm the brat"...it’s during this stage your puppy will demonstrate even more independence and wilfulness:

• You may notice a steady decrease in his enthusiasm to spend time with you
• A disinterest in obeying your commands and a decline in his urge to please you
• General rule is to expect to see more attitude as he “tests the limits”
• He is also restless because of his teething cycle during this time
• He'll be looking for things to chew on to relieve the pain and pressure
• Frozen doggie bones can help sooth him during this stressful period
• Look out for behaviors taht may try to assert his new “dominance” over other family members, especially younger children
• Continue his training in obedience and basic commands, but make sure to never let him off his leash during this time unless you’re in a confined area.

Don't go away because I've got another exciting piece of the puzzle for you.

So stick around as we continue into part 3.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate you.

Dog training...success made easy and fun!