Training guide
Puppy Training Schedule by Age: 8 Weeks to 12 Months
What to work on as your puppy grows, from the first weeks at home through adolescence, with a link to the guide for each skill.
Short answer
Start gentle, reward-based training as soon as your puppy comes home, usually at about 8 weeks.[1][2][3] In the first weeks, focus on a daily routine, house training, crate time and calm, positive experiences, with simple cues such as sit and come. Then add down, stay, leash skills and short spells alone, and expect setbacks in adolescence, when patience and practice matter most.[1][4][5][6] The ages are a guide, not deadlines: every puppy develops differently.[1][7]
This guide fits you if you want a simple plan for what to teach, and when, during your puppy’s first year.
Look elsewhere if you need step-by-step help with one skill or problem (each stage links to the guide for it), or your puppy has a health or serious behavior concern. Ask your veterinarian about vaccinations and when your puppy is ready for classes and public places.[4][8]
How to use this schedule
Sources describe what usually happens at each age, but they also say that milestones vary with the individual puppy, the breed and your surroundings.[1][5][7] Use the ages as a map: if your puppy needs more time at one stage, stay there.
The schedule at a glance
The age bands follow VCA’s schedule and the AKC’s timeline. Where they differ, the sections below show both.[1][4]
- About 8 to 10 weeks
Focus: a daily routine, house training and crate time; name, sit and come; gentle handling and calm, positive first experiences; redirecting play biting to toys.[1][4][8]
Guides: Potty Training, Crate Training, Socialization, Biting & Chewing, Feeding Schedule
- About 10 to 12 weeks
Focus: down; sitting and waiting before meals; the leash and harness indoors; everyday noises; meeting many kinds of people.[1][4]
Guides: Basic Obedience, Socialization
- About 3 to 4 months
Focus: stay and leave it; walking nicely beside you at home; structured play such as fetch; puppy classes when your veterinarian agrees.[4][8]
Guides: Basic Obedience, Leash Training
- About 4 to 6 months
Focus: practicing cues in new places, short walks, coming when called, short spells alone, polite play while teething, and steady progress with house training.[1][4][7]
Guides: Leash Training, Recall Training, Separation Anxiety, Jumping
8 to 12 weeks: settling in
Start the day your puppy comes home
Most puppies go to their new home at about 7 to 8 weeks.[7][8] Training can start straight away,[1][2][3] and VCA notes that waiting until 6 months, as was once common, is a poor time to begin.[2]
Routine, house training and the crate
House training comes first.[4][8] Take your puppy out first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and after meals, naps and play, and praise them when they go in the right place.[8][10] A predictable daily schedule, with naps and some time in a crate or pen, helps a puppy know what to expect and learn to be alone when necessary.[4][10] The Puppy Potty Training and Puppy Crate Training guides cover both step by step, and Puppy Feeding Schedule covers meal times, which are part of the same routine.
VCA gives a rough guide to how often puppies need to go out: about every 2 to 3 hours at 10 to 12 weeks, every 3 to 4 hours at 3 to 4 months, and about every 4 hours at 4 months.[4]
Calm first experiences
The first few months are when puppies most readily accept new people, animals and situations, so safe, positive experiences now matter most.[1][4][8][11] Sources describe this sensitive period differently: VCA gives about 7 to 14 weeks,[11] the AKC says it ends by about 16 weeks,[1] and the Merck Veterinary Manual stresses 2 to 4 months.[8] Keep introducing new things gently after it, too.[4][7]
Keep each experience safe and positive, let your puppy set the pace, and avoid frightening or painful experiences.[4][7][11] The Puppy Socialization guide explains how.
Some puppies become warier of new things in these weeks. The AKC describes a fear period at about 8 to 12 weeks, when it is especially important to avoid frightening experiences,[7] and VCA notes that after about 3 months fear responses may start to outweigh sociability.[4] If your puppy is frightened, make things easier rather than pushing on.[7][11] The Puppy Fear Periods guide explains how to help.
First cues and gentle play
Name recognition, sit and come can start now, using rewards.[1][4] VCA adds down at 10 to 12 weeks.[4] A simple first habit is asking your puppy to sit before meals and before play.[1][4] Discourage play biting by stopping play and redirecting your puppy to something they may chew.[1][4] See Puppy Basic Obedience and Puppy Biting & Chewing.
3 to 6 months: building skills
Puppy classes
Sources differ on when classes can start. VCA, following the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, says socialization classes can start as early as 7 to 8 weeks, with at least one set of vaccines and a first deworming at least 7 days before the first class.[4] The Merck Veterinary Manual says some classes accept vaccinated puppies from 8 weeks,[8] and the AKC describes about 16 weeks as a good time to sign up.[7] The common ground: choose a reward-based class that requires vaccination, and ask your veterinarian when your puppy is ready.[4][8]
Down, stay and leave it
From about 3 months, VCA suggests adding stay and leave it, and practicing walking nicely beside you at home, in the driveway or on the sidewalk before short walks.[4] By about 6 months, the AKC says puppies should be working on sit, coming when called, polite play and basic impulse control.[1]
The leash and short walks
Introduce the leash and harness indoors first; VCA says it is not yet time for long walks at 10 to 12 weeks.[4] Growing puppies shouldn’t overdo exercise: Blue Cross warns against doing more than their bodies can manage, and VCA advises getting classes that involve a lot of exercise approved by your veterinarian.[4][5] The Puppy Leash Training guide shows how to build up.
Time alone
Teach your puppy to be comfortable alone for short periods, in a crate or another safe, enclosed space.[1][2] If they will be alone for longer than they can hold their bladder, set up a pen with a place to relieve themselves, or arrange for someone to take them out.[2][10] The Puppy Separation Anxiety guide covers building alone time gradually.
Coming when called
Make recall a game. The AKC quotes a trainer who says that early on, the important thing is that your puppy loves coming to you.[1] Once vaccines are complete, VCA suggests practicing cues outside the home: on walks, at the park and in pet-friendly places.[4] The Puppy Recall Training guide covers it step by step.
Teething and chewing
Permanent teeth come in during these months, so expect plenty of chewing and provide chew toys.[5][7] Your puppy should be learning which things are toys, and that hands and clothes are not.[1][4]
Fading the treats
If you have been consistent with food rewards, VCA says you can begin to reward with food less often, using praise and affection while still giving treats now and then.[4]
6 to 12 months: adolescence
Adolescence usually starts somewhere between about 5 and 12 months and can last until 18 months to 2 years. Blue Cross says around 5 to 6 months; the RSPCA and VCA say between 6 and 12 months.[5][6][12]
It is common for a young dog to seem less obedient, ignore cues they knew and come back less reliably.[5][6][9] The RSPCA explains this as a dog finding it hard to control their impulses, not stubbornness or an attempt at dominance.[6] Adolescence is also when some dogs are given up, but this phase passes.[6][9]
Keep training, with better rewards
Keep practicing with positive reinforcement. VCA suggests rewarding more often, or with higher-value rewards,[9] and Blue Cross says to be persistent and consistent with reward-based training.[5]
Recall setbacks
A young dog may find the world more rewarding than coming back to you.[5][9] If your dog stops returning when called, Blue Cross suggests a long line attached to a harness for freedom with safety, and going back to practicing recall where there are fewer distractions.[5]
Energy, frustration and enrichment
Adolescent dogs need more activity: structured play, scent and searching games, and puzzles.[5][6][9] Frustration can show as barking, jumping up, nipping or biting the leash.[6][9] See Puppy Barking and Puppy Jumping.
A second fear period
Some young dogs suddenly become afraid of things that never bothered them.[5][12] Go back to gradual, positive exposure at your dog’s pace, keep life predictable,[5] and don’t punish fearful behavior.[5][6] See Puppy Fear Periods.
Changes to check with your veterinarian
A young dog shouldn’t lose house training; VCA advises a medical check if this happens.[9] If nothing seems to help, the RSPCA says to have a vet rule out medical causes first, then ask for a referral to a behavior expert.[6] Talk to your veterinarian about spaying or neutering, too: Blue Cross and VCA both treat it as a decision to make with them, and Blue Cross says it won’t change behavior that isn’t sexually motivated.[5][9]
Toward adulthood
The Merck Veterinary Manual says most dogs reach adulthood at 9 to 12 months, while large and giant breeds can take almost 2 years,[8] and the AKC says most dogs reach emotional maturity between 12 and 18 months.[7] By the end of the first year, the AKC lists the basics to be making progress on: sit, down and stay with distractions, coming when called, loose-leash walking, and drop it and leave it.[1]
What not to do and when to ask a professional
- Waiting until 6 months to start
Check Whether you are holding off training until your puppy is older.[2]
- Punishment, scruff shakes or rollovers
Check Whether you are telling your puppy off or correcting them physically.[2][6]
Try Teach what you want instead and reward it; these techniques can lead to fear and anxiety.[2][5][6]
- Treating the ages as deadlines
Check Whether you are comparing your puppy with a timeline rather than watching how they cope.[1][7]
Ask your veterinarian about vaccinations, readiness for classes and public places, exercise, spaying or neutering, and any sudden change in behavior or house training, because medical problems can affect behavior.[4][6][9] If fear, aggression or guarding is intense or getting worse, ask your veterinarian for a referral to a qualified, reward-based behavior professional.[6][12]
Sources
- Puppy Training Timeline: Teaching Good Behavior Before It’s Too Late (opens another site)
- Getting Your Puppy Started Off Right (opens another site)
- Teach Your Puppy These 5 Basic Cues (opens another site)
- When should you start puppy classes? (Puppy Training Schedule) (opens another site)
- Adolescence in dogs (opens another site)
- Managing your puppy through adolescence (opens another site)
- A Puppy Growth Timeline: Transitions in Puppyhood (opens another site)
- Puppy Care (opens another site)
- The rebellious teenager year (Puppy Teenage Phase) (opens another site)
- Puppy Schedule: Daily Routine for New Puppies (opens another site)
- Puppy Behavior and Training Basics (opens another site)
- Normal vs. Abnormal Puppy Behavior (opens another site)