There are few things more magical than watching a puppy grow.
If you’re really keen to get in on all the action from day 1, you’ll watch in awe as they open their eyes, carefully (and sometimes not so carefully) explore the environment around them with their nose and gradually grow into those oversized paws.
To help you know what to expect during the most adorable weeks of a puppy’s life, we asked an expert veterinarian to share key happenings and care information through a puppy’s early stages—from day 1 to 48 weeks.
Stage 1: newborn to 3 weeks old—silent senses
You might think interacting with a puppy early on only benefits you—by optimising the cuteness on all your social media channels—but, according to experts, there are benefits for the puppy, too. During the first 3 weeks of its life, a puppy is almost devoid of senses. Its eyes, ears and nose won’t work properly until week 3, and they won’t respond to stimuli from humans until then, either. Puppies sleep most of the time, which is vital for their development. Nevertheless, tactile stimulation can still foster a puppy’s development.
Tactile stimulation is something that puppies need, but you should also always be respectful of the puppies’ mother. There are actually studies showing that a few minutes of stimulation and handling newborn puppies benefits their development and makes the puppy more resistant to stress. This may be due to the puppies being touched, or it might be that touching puppies stimulates the mother’s licking of them. Whatever it boils down to, handling puppies is important for their development.
Training during this period
You won’t actually be training this adorable ball of fluff for a few weeks to come, but there are ways you can set puppies up for success, specifically by exposing them to background sounds that are typical of their environment.
Puppies should gradually be exposed to various stimuli that will be part of their life. For example, let’s say a dog is born in a very quiet environment, like the countryside or the suburbs, and then later moves to the city: it may have problems adapting to its new environment.
The expert we asked recommends playing smart with your puppy during this time. If you play with your hands and the puppy goes bananas, you know that, at some point, the puppy is going to bite you. A puppy’s little teeth are really sharp, so a bite can be quite painful! If this happens, punishing them might cause anxiety and stress for the puppy. So, the best way to set the puppy up for success is to play with something other than your hands if you know they’re going to bite you.
Stage 2: 3 to 8 weeks old—socializing with siblings
The first 3 weeks of a puppy’s life are a sort of “sleepyhead phase,” which changes completely when they get a bit older! By the 4th week, the pup should be able to walk. There are important goings-on between mother, puppy and siblings—strengthening the case for puppies staying with their mothers as long as possible in their early stages of life. Mom begins weaning the pups and starts teaching discipline. The pup will socialize with its siblings; the puppies will be biting each other and learning bite inhibition through this form of play-biting—skills that will come in handy later as they age.
Their senses—sight, smell and hearing—all start to mature, so the dog can reach out to stimuli from the environment. This is when socialization starts. Their fear threshold is still very high; like children, they’re not afraid of anything. They see something and immediately want to throw themselves at it, whether it’s a big dog or another animal. Mother Nature keeps the fear threshold high so that the puppy can be exposed to specific stimuli that would be part of their normal environment. Still, maternal care is the key component here.
Don’t forget to start giving them their jabs during this time. Talk with your vet to determine the right puppy vaccination schedule for your pooch.
Training during this period
To help the puppy grow into a well-behaved dog, it’s important to start exposing them to stimulation, under the careful supervision of mom.
What you should do is hold the puppy, handle it briefly, and start to have it get used to being touched and to our smells. At around 8 weeks, they start to become more playful, so it’s possible to engage in gentle play with them.
Careful interaction is key here. You should aim to keep handling and interaction below their fear threshold. If we do something that the puppy thinks is scary, this isn’t a good way to socialize a young dog. Rather, expose them gradually to an environment that they have to get used to, but always keep them below the fear threshold. This is crucial in the 3rd stage of life, because after 8 weeks is when the fear threshold starts to decrease and puppies start to become more and more wary.
It’s worth noting that socializing with other dogs will usually start within the same litter, and once a puppy leaves its siblings—usually occurring between this stage and the next—socialization with other puppies can begin.
However, this should be done in a safe environment where all the puppies are in good health. Dog parks should be avoided, but reputable puppy socialization classes in a clean environment can be a great opportunity..
Stage 3: 8 to 12 weeks old—fear of what’s new
That adorable ball of fluff is becoming more independent and starting to really get the hang of physical coordination by now. They’ll continue to learn about everything around them, like what’s safe and what’s unsafe.
Puppies soak up everything like a sponge at this time, according to our expert, who recommends that a puppy’s adoption take place between stage 2 and this stage, at around 8 weeks old.
At 8 to 12 weeks old, the fear response starts to become more pronounced. So, if you wait too long, it’s going to be more difficult to acclimate the puppy to its new environment.
The owner or care provider should try to make the puppy’s experiences during this period as positive and comforting as possible, because they can be hypersensitive to upsetting incidents.
Training during this period
From about 7 to 8 weeks of age, owners can start promoting some independence in their puppies.
At the beginning, this can be as simple as giving the dog a treat or toy to chew on while laying on a mat away from the owner, but in the same room. This time of independence can then progressively be increased, but it’s important to keep in mind that puppies need plenty of social interaction and shouldn’t be left alone for hours on end.
If a dog owner plans on getting a puppy and then needs to go to work for 8 to 10 hours a day, then they should really reconsider whether getting a dog is a good idea.
House training your puppy can begin at 8 weeks old, and other training methods by 9 weeks old. Negative experiences can have an impact on the pup, so take care, just like their mother would.
Many people think that having guests come in and handle the puppy helps it become comfortable around people, but this isn’t necessarily the case. If someone handles the puppy and it gets scared, for example, because they pick it up too quickly and it loses contact with the floor, or because a young child has accidentally hurt it, these negative experiences can leave a profound impression. This is very, very important to be aware of in stage 3 of a puppy’s life.
Something else to be aware of: Don’t encourage forms of play that are inappropriate. The puppy has to learn that there is a way of playing with humans that doesn’t involve biting their hands. So, instead of playing rough with a puppy with your hands, use toys.
Stage 4: 12 to 24 weeks old—chewing everything in sight
With the puppy’s first permanent teeth making their appearance at this stage, chew toys are a must-have.
Chewing is an exploratory behaviour, so puppies naturally chew a lot. They start to become extremely proactive in this stage. This is the time when they are more likely to leave their mother’s side and just go around and explore.
Our expert recommends an exercise pen or an area with limited space where you can supervise what the puppy is getting up to. Be sure to provide them with enough stimulation, enough toys, human contact and interaction. Fill toys with some food to stimulate their chewing behaviour.
This is also when you can enrol your puppy in its first training class, like a puppy socialization class. It’s a good time to have the puppy gain exposure to people again in a controlled way, where you can observe your puppy a lot, start to pick up their body language and understand when they’re feeling uncomfortable in certain situations.
Training during this period
This is the age to start practising some easy training.
The expert says you can start to work, for example, on calling out to the puppy with a happy voice. Puppies and dogs, in general, are much more likely to listen to us if we use a happy tone of voice, and there are studies that back this up. They want to interact with positive stimuli where they expect the outcome is going to be good. It’s a good idea to work on gentle recalling and then giving the puppy a treat.
This is also a very important time for house-training, especially for toilet training a puppy. Take them out when you anticipate that they’re going to do their business, usually every 2 to 3 hours, but definitely after meals, when they’re excited or when they wake up.
You can also start a puppy crate-training schedule during this stage, which can help with toilet training and separation anxiety.
If they pee or poop in their crate, just clean it up; getting upset about it won’t fix anything. This is the time puppies should get used to staying in the crate.
It’s a good idea to make the crate a fun place in the beginning to enforce positives rather than negatives.
The dog should not be locked in the crate and left alone, as they won’t associate the crate with a fun place if you do that. Instead, it will feel e more like a prison to them. You should put interesting toys and water in it—never deprive dogs of water, especially puppies. The crate should be a nice environment, not a timeout.
Stage 5: 24 to 48 weeks old—teenage dog-hood
At this age, your pup is old enough to have regular walks outside, and even their toilet training might be complete. The more the dog matures, the more the training can be intensified, because their attention span will have increased.
Exploratory behaviour is important at this time and a part of the learning process. Allow the dog to sniff the environment when you take it out for walks. It’s OK for your dog to explore the area and start recognising smells, because dogs communicate through scent. By letting them sniff around, they’ll learn how many dogs there are nearby. Allowing your dog to explore the environment at this age is very important.
Typically, spaying or neutering of your puppy is done at 6 months old. Talk with your vet about timing.
Training during this period
At this point, you can move on to more advanced training. Maybe try to start exposing the dog to more professional training, for example, if you want them to be a working dog or an agility dog.
It’s also important to help your puppy acclimate to receiving regular veterinary care. When the dog goes to the vet for its first vaccines, it should be exposed to positive things. Some vets use baby food a lot with their patients. While the pets focus on eating the food, the veterinarian administers the vaccines. This type of gradual exposure should continue throughout future stages of life, too.
You can also try getting the dog used to the vet’s waiting room by doing what our expert calls “happy visits.” This is where you sit in the waiting room, give the dog some treats, and then go home again. You need to get the dog used to the vet at this stage, when it’s still easy to handle. Otherwise, when it gets big, vet visits might cause trouble.
