USEFUL INFO: <\/strong>Puppies are always learning, from the moment they\u2019re born. Their mother teaches them their first set of valuable skills to set them off for their new lives with you such as how to feed, where to go to the toilet \u2013 and their littermates teach them how to play.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n How wonderful is that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now your puppy is home, it\u2019s your job to continue their mother\u2019s teachings on how to live in the human world. Let\u2019s make her proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0 Just like people do to be honest, puppies thrive when they have a routine. Routines help make a little more sense of the world as it becomes predictable; yet never boring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It also helps them gain confidence in themselves, as they know how to deal with new experiences and situations better and better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a puppy training schedule will help you to<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a few you can include in your puppy\u2019s daily training schedule: <\/p>\n\n\n\n We know what you\u2019re thinking \u2013 it definitely looks way too much for a small puppy. And there are so few hours in the day! But there\u2019s nothing to worry about. We\u2019ve kept in mind how everyone\u2019s lives and schedules are different in our guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our \u2018sample day\u2019 guide is there for you to print, use and change as you see fit! Your schedule is likely to change and be adjusted the more you and your puppy settle in and train together anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welcome to the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Positive Reinforcement training, alongside management protocols, is the latest and most modern training method. This is the one we\u2019ll be guiding you with \u2013 let us explain why we trust it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reward based system of Positive Reinforcement training has been scientifically proven to effectively encourage the behaviors that you want to see your puppy do, and to give them confidence when entering a new situation. To put it really straight forward \u2013 more rewards mean more good behavior. More good doggies, more happy humans!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we mean by \u2018good behaviors\u2019 could be anything like having our pups sit, lay down, settle, or come back when we call out their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rewards can be all sorts of things such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Management is all about controlling the situation and environment around your puppy to help them avoid making mistakes or getting into sticky situations (can be meant literally, if they have a toilet-related accident). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although you might think management makes you look like the fun police, it\u2019s quite the opposite in the long run really. Management will help them familiarise themselves with the rights or wrongs by setting them up for success, rather than learning by mistakes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a few examples of how you can practice management with your puppy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, no. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Punishing puppies is way behind the times! Doesn\u2019t really make sense to expect your puppy to know the ropes straight away anyway, right? There\u2019s plenty of research <\/a>in puppy development that shows how punishment methods are just dodgy too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With positive reinforcement, you\u2019ll learn how to teach them correctly so that rewards aren\u2019t withheld, and corrections needn\u2019t be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not gonna lie, our training philosophy is quite similar to Seal\u2019s Love is Powerful: Train them with love, kindness and consistency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the day. At the beginning you\u2019ll have to adjust your personal schedule to set time aside to train your puppy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The easiest times<\/strong> to remember to train your puppy are usually:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see by our collection of nicely organized bullet points, puppy training relies on repetition and consistency. And patience. Learning (for any kind of living organism, to be fair) works best with a groundwork like this; which we\u2019re more than confident you\u2019ll be able to get the hang of eventually. Once you start seeing the progress with your puppy, we assure you that the excitement will only make you want to keep going further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah, you ask all the right questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Below, you\u2019ll find a 24-hour sample puppy training schedule. It includes everything you\u2019ll need to do for the day to get yourself (and the little one) into a smart routine. We\u2019ve colored-coded (how organized are we) all the potty breaks you\u2019ll have to get through in the day (surely you don\u2019t want poopy floors), nap times, play times, and training times too, to get you right on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s up to you. First, have a look at the schedule and test out how you and your puppy adjust around it. In broad brushstrokes, one of the most important things to implement is opportunity for potty breaks, especially after playing, training, napping and eating. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PRO TIP: <\/strong>If you have them outside of their crate or confinement area, we recommend going for a potty break every 15 minutes to begin with. Don\u2019t worry, you won\u2019t have to do this for very long at all. As they get older and wiser, toilet breaks will happen less frequently. But for now let\u2019s keep them as constant as possible to steer clear of smelly accidents.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Besides beautiful, it looks kind of like this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our 8-week training plan includes several socialization exercises, life skills training and husbandry tasks (what a term) you can aim for as the weeks go by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Glad you asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Push, Drop, Stick, is a way of systematically raising the difficulty of an exercise or behavior you want to see happen. It\u2019s one of our favorite ways to see when puppies are ready to move on in their training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s think about it this way \u2013 keeping things simple and the same can make your progress slower as your puppy can get stuck at a certain level of difficulty, instead of moving onto bigger things. We want to keep raising the bar enough so that our puppy doesn\u2019t get bored, but not so much that they find it too difficult and give up when they aren\u2019t rewarded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To prevent puppies from being in a jam, we can use a system called \u2018Push Drop Stick\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s all about maintaining enough momentum so that your puppy stays excited and motivated about winning some good treats; but not so much that they aren\u2019t thinking about how to be rewarded by trying harder and eventually quit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Does it seem a tad like slot machines? Possibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does it work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s do 5 repetitions of an exercise, and keep track of how many your puppy gets right. Based on how they perform we\u2019re going to choose whether to do which of the following \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n Push \u2013 go to the next level of difficulty (raise criteria)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drop \u2013 back to the previous level of difficulty (drop criteria)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stick \u2013 stay at the current level of difficulty (stay with current criteria)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\ud83d\ude42\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/14.0.0\/svg\/1f642.svg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy do I need to have puppy training schedules and routines?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What should I include in my puppy\u2019s daily training schedule?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What kind of training methods will I be using?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What does Management mean in Puppy Training? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Do we use punishments?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
At what time should I train my puppy?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What does a day in the life of my puppy look like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Time<\/td> Activity<\/td><\/tr> 5-7am<\/td> Wake up and potty Time! We\u2019ve put this in the same box because they\u2019ll happen almost at the same time. As soon as your eyes open, go straight to your puppy\u2019s bathroom area. Take your puppy with you when you do this, of course (we know the struggles of a sleepy head in these early mornings). <\/td><\/tr> 5-7am<\/td> See if your puppy will go back to sleep after their early bathroom break. If not, well, get the coffee on to start your day as well. <\/td><\/tr> 7.00<\/td> Breakfast \u2013 In an activity feeder or Kong to keep them busy and unbloated. <\/td><\/tr> 7.15<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 7.30<\/td> Play and Training<\/td><\/tr> 8.15<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 8.30<\/td> Naptime<\/td><\/tr> 10.30<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 10.45<\/td> Training<\/td><\/tr> 11am<\/td> Brunch<\/td><\/tr> 11.15<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 11.30<\/td> Play and Training<\/td><\/tr> 11.45<\/td> Toilet Break<\/td><\/tr> 12.00<\/td> Play and Training<\/td><\/tr> 12.30<\/td> Naptime<\/td><\/tr> 2.30<\/td> Toilet Break<\/td><\/tr> 2.45<\/td> Play and Training<\/td><\/tr> 3.00<\/td> Dinner Time<\/td><\/tr> 3.15<\/td> Toilet Break<\/td><\/tr> 3.30<\/td> Play and Training<\/td><\/tr> 3.45<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 4.00<\/td> Naptime<\/td><\/tr> 6.00<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 6.15<\/td> Training<\/td><\/tr> 7pm<\/td> Supper Time<\/td><\/tr> 7.15<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 7.30<\/td> Play and Training<\/td><\/tr> 7.45<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 8.00<\/td> Relaxation and wind down<\/td><\/tr> 10.45<\/td> Bathroom Break<\/td><\/tr> 11pm \u2013 midnight<\/td> Bed Time<\/td><\/tr> 3am<\/td> Wake up and take your puppy to the bathroom. Yes, you read correctly, 3:00 am. Not forever though!<\/td><\/tr> 3.15<\/td> Calmly go back to bed.<\/td><\/tr> 5-7am<\/td> Good morning! Start all over \u2013 first stop, potty area. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Do I have to follow the schedule you\u2019ve set for me?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What does a puppy training schedule look like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Example of an 8-week puppy training schedule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Week 1<\/td> Socialization exercises <\/strong>
\u2013 Letting your puppy explore the yard
\u2013 Teaching your puppy about surfaces
\u2013 Watching the world go by outside your house
\u2013 Visiting the vet with your puppy<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Teaching them their name
\u2013 Sitting (without a cue yet)
\u2013 Recall
\u2013 Crate Training
\u2013 Potty Training<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Brushing
\u2013 Hand touch<\/td><\/tr>Week 2<\/td> Socialization exercises <\/strong>
\u2013 Meeting the vacuum cleaner
\u2013 Fireworks
\u2013 Watch the world go by
\u2013 Playing dress up (so they get used to seeing people with different clothes)
\u2013 Sitting in the car
\u2013 Meeting new people (friends who come for a visit)<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Alone Training
\u2013 Crate Training
\u2013 Potty Training
\u2013 Name \u2013 in the yard
\u2013 Recall \u2013 in yard
\u2013 Playing fetch
\u2013 Drop
\u2013 Sit \u2013 add a cue word in<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Handling \u2013 start by checking their ears and eyes
\u2013 Playing with paws
\u2013 Grooming
\u2013 Getting used to a collar<\/td><\/tr>Week 3<\/td> Socialization exercises<\/strong>
\u2013 Visiting the pet store
\u2013 Playing dress up
\u2013 Discovering new scents
\u2013 Going for a drive
\u2013 Surfaces
\u2013 Write a puppy socialization checklist<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Recall \u2013 adding a cue word
\u2013 Sit to Greet \u2013 as opposed to jumping up
\u2013 Playing Tug
\u2013 Alone Training
\u2013 Crate Training
\u2013Potty Training
Down
\u2013 Sit \u2013 different locations<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Harness fitting
\u2013 Grooming \u2013 let\u2019s stick with brushing for now.<\/td><\/tr>Week 4<\/td> Socialization exercises<\/strong>
\u2013 Attending a puppy class
\u2013 Write a puppy socialization checklist
\u2013 Meet more people<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Settling on a mat
\u2013 Alone Training
\u2013 Crate Training
\u2013 Potty Training
\u2013 Leash walking
\u2013 Recall games
\u2013 Push\/drop\/stick on known exercises<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Handling with puppy on a table \u2013 vet game<\/td><\/tr>Week 5<\/td> Socialization exercises<\/strong>
\u2013 Go to the bar \u2013 this one\u2019s for you.You deserve it!
\u2013 Meeting children
\u2013 Tick 3 things off your personal socialization checklist<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Alone Training
\u2013 Crate Training
\u2013 Potty Training
\u2013 Retrieve games
\u2013 Recall \u2013 outside using a long line
\u2013 Settle on a mat \u2013 different locations
\u2013 Leash walking \u2013 outside
\u2013 Push\/drop\/stick on known exercises<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Pretend nail clips
\u2013 Grooming<\/td><\/tr>Week 6<\/td> Socialization exercises<\/strong>
\u2013 Going on longer car journeys
\u2013 Meet a friend\u2019s dog
\u2013 Tick 3 things off your personal socialization checklist<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Down \u2013 outside
\u2013 Leaving toys
\u2013 Following on walks
\u2013 Watch me
\u2013 Push\/drop\/stick on known exercises<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Checking your puppy\u2019s mouth
\u2013 Starting teeth cleaning<\/td><\/tr>Week 7<\/td> Socialization exercises<\/strong>
\u2013 Puppy Parkour
\u2013 Going for a swim
\u2013 Tick 3 things off your personal checklist<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Down \u2013 with distractions
\u2013 Waiting
\u2013 Walking with a friend\u2019s dog
\u2013 Alone training \u2013 5 minutes
\u2013 Recall \u2013 off the lead
\u2013 Push\/drop\/stick on known exercises<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Pretend ear and eye drops<\/td><\/tr>Week 8<\/td> Socialization exercises<\/strong>
\u2013 Tick 3 things off your personal checklist
\u2013 Joggers and Cyclists<\/td>Life Skills Training<\/strong>
\u2013 Leash walking in busier places
\u2013 Practicing exercises in different locations
\u2013 Teach a hand touch
\u2013 Introduce nose work
\u2013 Push\/drop\/stick on known exercises<\/td>Husbandry Tasks<\/strong>
\u2013 Nail trims<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBuild your own schedule through \u201cPush-Drop-Stick\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is Push, Drop, Stick?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n