Puppy raising
A puppy training schedule by age
Families ask what to teach when, and our trainers give the same answer whether the puppy is a Lab in Katy or a doodle in the Heights: the stages below, in order, with the socialization window and the adolescent year as the two that decide the adult. Here is the schedule.
Last reviewed September 11, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
Why it matters
Two windows decide the adult: eight to sixteen weeks, and six to eighteen months.
A puppy's training is not evenly spread across its first two years. Two windows carry most of the weight: the socialization window from eight to sixteen weeks, when the puppy files the world as normal or not for life, and the adolescent year from six to eighteen months, when the puppy tests every rule it has and decides whether they are real. A family that does the right things in those two windows can be casual about the rest; a family that misses either spends the dog's third year fixing it. The schedule below is built around them, with the foundation laid before the first, proofed before the second, and held through it.
- Eight to sixteen weeks: the world filed for life
- Six to eighteen months: the rules tested
- The foundation before the first window
- Proofing before the second, holding through it
The schedule
Five stages, in order.
Sessions are two or three minutes with food, many times a day, and stop before the puppy is tired. The crate and the potty schedule run underneath every stage. Everything below assumes the vaccines are done around sixteen weeks and the vet has cleared the sidewalk.
Eight to twelve weeks: the crate, the potty schedule, the name, handling of every paw and ear, a lured sit, a place bed, the greeting rule, the leash dragged in the yard, alone time in minutes, and the world from a lap, two or three new things a day
Three to four months: a few seconds of duration on the sit and the place, the leash held in the yard with food at the knee, a wait at the bowl and the door, the car, a cart at the store, one calm adult dog at a time, the first storm and fireworks recordings at dinner
Four to six months: the sidewalk a minute at a time, the structured walk on quiet streets, the recall on a long line in the yard and a field, the first store trip on foot, a quiet patio for ten minutes, sound work continued, the mouth rules held as the adult teeth arrive
Six months to a year: adolescence, with the leash and the long line back on, distances shorter, no dog park, no greetings on leash, place with real duration through guests and meals, the walk proofed past dogs at a distance, freedom in the house earned room by room
One to two years: proofing everywhere the dog will go, the patio at a busy hour, the trail past bikes and dogs, the vet and the groomer, the holiday table, the recall around real distraction, and freedom earned a piece at a time as each holds
Every stage: the rules on the fridge, kept by everyone in the house, and a call at the first lunge, growl or panic rather than the tenth
Every summer: the outdoor work at dawn and dusk, the curriculum indoors, and the pavement test at the door
The mistakes
Waiting until six months, drilling a puppy, the dog park at four months, and freedom at seven months.
Waiting until six months to start training, on the old advice, misses the socialization window and produces an adolescent with fluent bad habits. Drilling a puppy, twenty-minute sessions of sit and down, bores it and teaches nothing; the sessions are two minutes and the puppy is left wanting more. The dog park at four months is where fear and reactivity are learned, and it is not on this schedule at all until the recall exists. And freedom at seven months, off leash, the couch, the whole house, because the dog is bigger and seemed ready, is the mistake that turns the adolescent year into a lost one; the leash goes back on at six months and freedom is earned back over the following year.
A puppy that arrives at four or five months having learned nothing starts at stage one, faster, with more to undo. It is not too late; it is later.
- Start at eight weeks, not six months
- Two-minute sessions, never drilling
- No dog park on the schedule
- Less freedom at seven months, not more
- A late arrival starts at stage one
Proofing around Houston
A spring puppy's adolescence lands in the fall, and a summer puppy's window lands in the heat.
Houston's calendar shifts the schedule: a puppy that comes home in spring hits adolescence in the fall, exactly when the weather allows the long walks and the trails, and the family takes a seven-month dog to Millie Bush at the moment it is least able to handle it; the autumn is for proofing at a distance, not for testing. A puppy that comes home in summer runs its socialization window indoors and from a cart in the store aisles along 290, and meets the sidewalk in October already knowing what it is. Hurricane season, July 4 and the first spring storms each land somewhere in the first year and each has a page on this site. Our trainers run the bundle's four sessions across stages one to three and take adolescents into a stay at stage four.
- Spring puppies: adolescence in the fall
- Summer puppies: the window indoors and from a cart
- Hurricanes, fireworks and storms in the first year
- The bundle for stages one to three, a stay for stage four
When to call
The first lunge, growl or panic, a stage that is not holding, or a family that wants the plan run with them.
The schedule is for a family doing the work at home, and the moment to call is the first lunge at a dog, the first growl over a bowl, or the first panic when left, rather than the tenth, because each is a short project early and a long one late. A stage that is not holding, a five-month puppy still going inside or a seven-month puppy that has stopped listening entirely, is a call too. The Puppy Development Bundle, four sessions at $550 in Cypress or $750 in your home, runs stages one to three with the family; a Gold stay at $2,500 or Platinum at $3,750 takes an adolescent through stage four in the training home with field trips and a go-home session. The adolescence answer on this site covers stage four in detail.
The programs
Programs for each stage.
The puppy bundle for stages one to three, Gold for the adolescent that stopped listening, Platinum for the adolescent that turned reactive or fearful.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
What should a puppy know by 4 months?
The crate and the potty routine, its name, a sit and a place bed with a few seconds of duration, handling of every paw and ear, the greeting rule, the leash in the yard with food at the knee, a wait at the bowl, and a world met from a lap and a cart. The sidewalk opens after the vaccines around sixteen weeks.
What should a puppy know by 6 months?
Everything above plus the structured walk on quiet streets, a recall on a long line, a first store trip and a quiet patio, and the mouth rules held through teething. Six months is also when adolescence begins and the leash goes back on.
When can I start real obedience training?
At eight weeks, in two-minute sessions with food. Real obedience is the sit, the place, the name and the greeting rule taught then; duration, distraction and the busy street are added stage by stage. Waiting until six months is the old advice and it produces the adolescents we fix.
How long are training sessions for a puppy?
Two or three minutes, many times a day, stopped before the puppy is tired or bored. A puppy learns more from ten tiny sessions than from one long one, and a session that ends with the puppy wanting more is the one it remembers.
Keep reading
Free consultation · 10% off this fall
Two windows decide the adult.
Tell our team how old your puppy is and which stage it is in. The free phone consultation is a direct call.