πΆ Everyday life Β· Guide
The First Year
Month by month towards the dog you want to live with
A practical guide
The First Year
Month by month towards the dog you want to live with
Your name
A4 Β· this is a layout preview in the βWorksheetβ design. When you generate, the studio writes every chapter in full, paints the cover and chapter art, and composes a downloadable A4 PDF with your name, bio and store link on it.
Almost everything people find difficult about adult dogs was decided in the first year, usually by accident. This guide runs from the week before your puppy arrives to their first birthday, one stage at a time, and concentrates on the handful of things that shape the rest of their life. Nothing here needs special equipment or an hour a day.
What's inside
- 1Before they arrive, and the first nightYou set the house up so the puppy can only make choices you are happy with, and decide in advance where they will sleep and who gets up. After this chapter the first night is a plan rather than an ordeal.
- 2Weeks one to four: toilet training and sleepYou take the puppy out on a schedule rather than waiting for signals, and learn what to do about the accidents that will still happen. The chapter also covers night waking and how quickly it usually settles.
- 3Socialisation: the window that closesYou plan deliberate, calm exposure to traffic, stairs, umbrellas, hoovers, other dogs and unfamiliar people while your puppy is still young enough to accept them easily. After this chapter you have a checklist of experiences and a rule for stopping before your puppy is overwhelmed.
- 4Teeth, chewing and the biting stageYou handle the weeks when everything, including your hands, goes in the mouth, without punishing a stage that is entirely normal. This chapter gives you three responses to biting and a rotation of things that are allowed to be chewed.
- 5Lead walking and recallYou teach walking on a loose lead in the hallway before you try it on a pavement, and build recall as a game you always pay for. After this chapter you have short daily drills that take five minutes.
- 6Being alone without distressYou build up time alone in small steps from the first week, rather than discovering the problem the day you go back to the office. The chapter covers the signs of real distress and when to get professional help.
- 7Adolescence: months six to twelveYou get through the stage where a well-trained puppy appears to forget everything, without deciding the training failed. After this chapter you know what to hold firm on, what to let go, and what to expect by the first birthday.
A sample from chapter one
Set the house up before the puppy sees it
A puppy is not disobedient when they chew a rug, they are simply in a room where chewing the rug was possible. The most useful work happens before they arrive. Shut off the rooms you do not want to supervise, move cables and shoes out of reach, and decide where the bed goes and where they will be fed. Fewer options means fewer arguments you cannot win.
Then decide the household rules and get everyone to agree on them tonight, in words. Is the sofa allowed. Who gets up in the night. What happens when someone knocks at the door. A puppy can learn any set of rules, but not four different sets held by four different people, and the arguments this prevents are mostly between the adults.
- Close off any room you are not willing to supervise for the first fortnight.
- Write down five house rules and get every adult to agree to them before arrival day.
- Put the sleeping place where you intend it to stay, rather than moving it later.
- Register with a vet and book the first appointment before the puppy comes home.
Key takeaways
- Most early problems are management problems, solved by changing the room rather than the dog.
- Rules that differ between people take far longer to learn than strict rules everyone keeps.
- The first night goes better when someone has already decided who is getting up.
The studio writes every chapter from this outline, paints the art and hands you a PDF you can sell the same afternoon.
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