Puppy Training Schedule By Age: A Guide to Raising a Well-Behaved Dog in 12 Months

Your puppy's imprinting window is so short (seriously, five months feels more like 5 minutes). Wouldn't you want to make the most out of this crucial time in your puppy's life? When training and socialization is approached right here, it can go a long way in helping you raise a well behaved, and well mannered, confident puppy that can easily adjust to your day to day life.

Having raised the perfect puppy into the perfect adult dog for life and for sport, here is a sample of her puppy training schedule by age of the pet obedience skills (she had a whole other list for her sport career, but that's for another day) that I wanted to make sure she had completed from puppyhood all the way up until her 1 year old birthday.

2-3 Months

Establishing potty training basics.

House training basics. We'll introduce some basic manners in the house.

Introduction to marker training.

Introduction to beginner level interactive toys. I also use these to help introduce basic manners in house training.

Introduction to vet visits.

Introduction to Learning How to Learn.

Introduction Engagement and Automatic Focus.

Mindful Handling socialization. This is preparation for learning to accept grooming and handling your vet would need to do with her.

Harness/collar conditioning. Teach your pup to come to you to have their harness being put on.

Learning how to play (tug, two toy, and food chasing). Here, she will learn to play some training games with me, including the rules of each game.

Crate Training.

3-4 Months

Maintaining potty training.

Increasing puppy's boundaries in house training.

Introduction to more difficult interactive toys

First overnight visit away from home and from me

First imprinting of attitude for the Come command

Introduction to basic obedience commands

Structured socialization with new people, environments, and other dogs

First groomer visit

4 -5 Months

Increasing puppy's boundaries in house training

Maintaining potty training

Continued structured socialization sessions

Introduction of leash pressure on the collar

Applying leash pressure to basic obedience commands

5-6 Months

Increasing puppy's boundaries in house training

Learning to be sent to her potty area from the house

Structured socialization sessions

Introducing leash feedback on the collar

Introducing low level distraction proofing

Increased focus and concentration time in obedience and increased distance in obedience reliability

6-9 Months

Increasing distraction proofing levels

Increasing focus and concentration time in obedience

Introduction to off leash and out of sight obedience

9-12 Months

Proofing obedience to real world high level distractions

First outings in real world high level distractions with proofed obedience applied to day to day routines

By diligently following this schedule, you can nurture your puppy into a well-mannered, well-behaved, and confident member of your family and community within the first year of their life. If you'd like to learn more about each step in our puppy training schedule by age, be sure to subscribe to our blog for in-depth insights and details. We're here to support you every step of the way with raising and training your puppy!