This puppy training schedule covers the first year and shows you what to work on with your puppy at every stage, beginning at eight weeks old and ending with a dependable young dog at one year. Simply enter your puppy’s current age into the planner below to find out which skills to focus on this week, the weeks that follow, and how long each session should be. The plan also comes with a printable checklist.
Puppies can begin learning as soon as they arrive home. The error isn’t in starting too early. Rather, it’s trying to teach too much all at once, or drilling obedience while the short socialization window is quietly closing. A schedule fixes the order: a few skills per week, each skill building upon the previous ones, with the time-sensitive items up front.
Puppy Training Schedule Planner
Enter your puppy’s age to see what to work on this week and for the weeks ahead.
Move on when your puppy gets a skill right about four times out of five. If a week feels too hard, repeat it. There is no prize for finishing early.
Puppy Training Schedule by Age
| Age | Main focus | Skills to teach | Session length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 to 10 weeks | Settling in and trust | Name, potty routine, crate, handling, sit, come indoors, bite inhibition | 3 to 5 minutes |
| 10 to 12 weeks | Manners and impulse control | Down, leave it, drop it, wait for food, lead indoors, settle on a mat | 5 minutes |
| 3 to 4 months | Stay and the outside world | Stay, loose-lead walking, recall with distractions, place, calm greetings | 5 minutes |
| 4 to 6 months | Strengthening | Longer stays, long-line recall, fading treats, settling in public | 5 to 10 minutes |
| 6 to 9 months | Adolescence | Rebuilding recall, emergency stop, calm on walks, consistency | 10 to 15 minutes |
| 9 to 12 months | Reliability | Off-lead recall in safe areas, busy-place manners, advanced cues | 10 to 15 minutes |
Week-by-Week Puppy Training Schedule: 8 to 16 Weeks
| Week | Focus | Teach this week | Socialization goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Settling in | Name game; Potty routine on a schedule; Crate; Gentle handling of paws, ears and mouth | Household sounds, different floor surfaces, every member of the family |
| 9 | Coming when called | Recall game between two people indoors; Wear a collar or harness and trail a light lead indoors; Alone time; Bite inhibition | Five new people, including a child and someone wearing a hat or glasses |
| 10 | Lead and manners | Down from a sit; Trade game; Lead walking indoors and in the garden; Short car rides | The car, the vacuum cleaner, the doorbell, gentle vaccinated adult dogs |
| 11 | Impulse control | Leave it with a treat in a closed hand; Wait for the food bowl; Settle on a mat; Brushing and nail-touch practice with treats | A vet visit just for treats, umbrellas, bikes and scooters at a distance |
| 12 | Stay and new places | Stay for 3 to 5 seconds; Loose-lead walking in the garden or a quiet street; Recall with mild distractions; Go to bed or place on cue | Three new places, carried or on clean ground until vaccinations are complete |
| 13 | Building duration | Stay for 10 to 15 seconds; Leave it with food on the floor, on lead; Alone time up to 30 to 45 minutes; Walk past people without pulling towards them | Traffic from a distance, a market or school gate, dogs of different sizes |
| 14 | Adding distance | Stay while you take three steps back; Recall on a long line outdoors; Settle on a mat while you eat; Lead walking past another dog at a distance | Last weeks of the prime socialization window. Fill the gaps on your list |
| 15 | Taking it outside | Sit, down and stay in three different places; Recall away from a mild distraction; Settle on a mat at a café or on a bench; Wait at doors and gates | A busy pavement, public transport or a pet-friendly shop |
| 16 | Proofing the basics | Stay for 30 seconds while you walk around; Loose-lead walking on an ordinary street; Leave it on walks; Recall from play, then release back to play | Keep adding new experiences every week. The window is closing, but learning does not stop |
The early weeks contain very little formal obedience, and that is by design. At eight weeks, the most important lessons are that people are safe, that the crate is a good place, and that going potty happens outside. Sit and down can be taught at any age. Confidence around strangers, traffic and other dogs is much more difficult to add once a puppy is older.
How Long Should Puppy Training Sessions Be?
Short. A young puppy can pay attention for about 3 to 5 minutes and an older puppy for 10 to 15. Several short training sessions spread throughout the day teach far more than a single long one. Stop each session while your puppy is still keen and has just got something right, even if that means stopping at 2 minutes.
- Aim for three to five sessions a day for puppies under six months.
- Train before meals, when your puppy is hungry, and use part of the meal as rewards.
- Work on one or two skills in a session, not five.
- Start in a quiet room. Add distractions only when the skill works there.
- Say a cue once. If your puppy does not respond, make it easier instead of repeating it louder.
- Finish with a game. Training should be the best part of your puppy’s day.
The Socialization Window: The One Deadline in Puppy Training
A puppy’s brain is unusually receptive to new experiences from approximately three weeks to fourteen weeks of age. Things met calmly during this time are typically accepted for life. Conversely, things never met during the same period may become frightening at a later date. Many professional trainers believe the window remains open until approximately sixteen weeks of age; however, it narrows on a weekly basis. This is the reason the schedule places exposure to new sights and sounds ahead of perfect stays.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior states that the first three months are the most important time for socialization, and that puppies can start classes as early as 7 to 8 weeks, one week after their first vaccines. The puppy vaccination chart shows how to fit this around shots.
- Aim for variety: men, women, children, beards, hats, uniforms, wheelchairs, pushchairs.
- Cover surfaces and sounds: grass, gravel, metal grates, stairs, traffic, thunder recordings, the hairdryer.
- Keep it positive. Pair each new thing with food, and let your puppy approach in their own time.
- Watching from a distance counts. A puppy does not need to greet every dog and person.
- One calm new experience a day is better than a crowded outing once a week.
Many puppies have two fear periods. The first usually occurs at around 8 to 11 weeks, when something they paid no attention to yesterday suddenly becomes a worry. A second is often seen in adolescence. Never push the issue. Move further away, allow your puppy to look, give rewards for calmness, and try again another day. For a full plan, see how to socialize a puppy properly.
What to Teach a Puppy First
- Their name. It gets attention before every other cue.
- Where to toilet. Start the routine the first hour home. The potty training chart sets the times.
- That the crate is safe. See crate training a puppy.
- Soft mouths. Teach bite inhibition before the adult teeth arrive. See how to stop puppy biting.
- Come. Recall learned as a game at nine weeks is the foundation of off-lead freedom later.
- Sit. A puppy that sits for everything they want is asking politely instead of jumping.
Training Through Adolescence: 6 to 12 Months
Between 6 and 9 months many puppies seem to forget everything. Recall goes first, followed by lead manners. This is adolescence, and it is entirely normal. Hormones, increased self-confidence and a vastly more interesting world all compete with you for their attention. Their skills remain intact but need rebuilding around greater distractions.
Go back to the basics without getting frustrated. Put the long line back on, increase the value of your rewards, and practice in easier places before moving back to harder ones. Keep the same rules as before, give more exercise and sniffing time, and avoid repeating cues that your dog is ignoring. The majority of dogs come out the other side by twelve to eighteen months. If progress stalls, see how to fix inconsistent puppy training progress and what to do if your puppy refuses to listen.
Fitting Training Into the Day
Training does not need its own hour. Five minutes before each meal, a recall game in the yard, and settling on the mat while you watch TV are more than enough. Tie sessions to things that already happen in your day, and they are less likely to be skipped. The puppy schedule planner builds training blocks into the day alongside naps, meals and toilet trips.
Related Reading
- Best Age to Start Puppy Training
- How to Socialize a Puppy Properly
- Leash Training for Puppies
- Teaching Impulse Control to Puppies
- Signs Your Puppy Is Learning Training Correctly
FAQs
At what age should you start training a puppy?
Begin training the day your puppy arrives home, usually at around 8 weeks old. A young puppy can learn his or her name, sit, come and where to toilet straight away, as long as sessions are short and reward-based. Formal puppy classes can begin at 7 to 8 weeks of age, one week after the first set of vaccinations.
What should I teach my puppy first?
Start with the puppy’s name, the toilet routine and being relaxed in the crate, followed by coming when called, sit and gentle mouth manners. Alongside those, socialize your puppy every single day, since the socialization window shuts at about 14 to 16 weeks and cannot be opened again.
How many times a day should I train my puppy?
Three to five short sessions a day works well for puppies under six months, each lasting three to five minutes at first and building to ten. For older puppies, two or three sessions of ten to fifteen minutes work well. Also remember that everyday moments, such as waiting at doorways, count as training too.
What commands should a puppy know by 4 months?
By around sixteen weeks of age most puppies can respond to their name, sit, lie down, come when called indoors and in the garden, leave it, and stay for a few seconds. They should also walk on a loose leash for short stretches and settle in a crate. Do not worry if one or two of these are still shaky.
Is it too late to train a 6-month-old puppy?
No. Dogs can be trained at any time in their life, and a six-month-old has a longer attention span than a young puppy. Begin with the same basic skills and expect to move through them faster. The one area that is harder to make up is early socialization, so introduce new experiences gradually and keep them positive.
Why has my puppy stopped listening?
If your puppy is between six and twelve months, it is most likely adolescence. Distractions are now much more interesting, and impulse control dips for a while. Return to easier versions of each skill, use better rewards, keep a long line on for recall, and stay consistent. The earlier training has not gone away.