When Should You Start Training Your Puppy?

It is the question we get more than any other, usually from someone whose puppy has been home a week and has already destroyed something. The answer is that you can begin as soon as they arrive, and around eight weeks old is ideal.

Training starts before you think it does

People tend to picture training as a session: a set time, a set place, treats in a pouch. That is part of it, but a puppy is learning constantly from the moment they walk in. Where it is acceptable to toilet, whether jumping up gets attention, whether barking makes someone appear. Those lessons are being learned whether or not anyone is teaching them.

Starting early is not about drilling a young puppy. It is about making sure the things they learn by accident are things you would have chosen to teach.

What the first few weeks should cover

Housebreaking and crate comfort come first, because they are what make living with a puppy sustainable. Alongside those, work on name recognition, a simple sit, and being handled all over: ears, paws, mouth. That last one pays for itself at every future vet visit.

Keep it short. A puppy has a few good minutes of focus at a time, and five useful minutes beats twenty frustrating ones.

What if your dog is already grown?

Dogs of any age can learn new behaviors and skills. An older dog with established habits may take longer to change course than a puppy forming habits for the first time, but the process is the same and the results are real. We regularly work with adult dogs whose owners were told they had missed the window. They had not.