Most puppy owners sit down at some point and wonder whether they're doing the right amount. Too much training and the puppy shuts down. Too little and the important window passes without the foundation being laid. The question that actually matters isn't how often to train. It's what to prioritise at each age, and what "training" means in the first place.
Luke Buchanan, Owner of The Toe Beans Co and Sydney's Puppy Trainer, works with puppies from 8 weeks onward across Sydney. The owners who come in with a puppy already settled and responsive are almost always the ones who followed a structured week-by-week progression rather than either drilling commands or waiting until something went wrong. This is that structure.
Why a puppy training schedule matters
A schedule matters because a puppy's brain and body change week by week in the first few months. What's appropriate at 8 weeks is different from what's appropriate at 12 weeks and again at 16. The types of stimulation that build confidence at 9 weeks can overwhelm a puppy at 8. Commands that are unrealistic at 10 weeks are straightforward at 14. Training without a developmental framework means you're either under-investing in the window or over-asking from a puppy that isn't ready.
The Relational Leadership framework runs throughout. The schedule below isn't just about what to teach. It's about when the leadership dynamic should be established, when socialisation is most impactful, and when to begin expecting the behaviours that matter for real-world reliability. The 5 Golden Rules aren't something you introduce at week 12. They start from day one.
Before you start: the session principles that apply at every age
Sessions are short: three to five minutes, two to three times a day. Always end before the puppy loses interest, and always end on a success. If something isn't working in a session, drop back to something the puppy already knows to close on a positive note. Never push through a session when the puppy is frantic, overtired, or distracted by something you can't manage. The puppy learns more from three good sessions than from ten sessions where the last seven were forced.
Puppy training schedule: week by week
- Weeks 8 to 9 — Foundation and Leadership. The first week is not about commands. It's about: establishing the 5 Golden Rules in the household, beginning name response (say the name once, treat when the puppy looks), starting marker training (one word, "yes," mark and treat for any offered calm behaviour), and managing the environment so the puppy isn't rehearsing unwanted behaviours. If you do nothing except establish calm greetings and begin name response in week one, you're ahead of most new owners.
- Weeks 9 to 10 — Sit and focus. Introduce sit through luring. Three to five repetitions per session. Add the verbal cue only once the lure-based movement is reliable. Begin rewarding eye contact in daily life: anytime the puppy looks up at you without being prompted, mark and reward. Start short settling periods: ask the puppy to settle on its mat and reward for even 30 seconds of calm. Begin desensitisation to common sounds and surfaces if you haven't already.
- Weeks 10 to 12 — Settle and impulse control. Build duration on settle: from 30 seconds toward 3 to 5 minutes with you present. Introduce the concept of waiting at doorways: puppy sits or stands calmly, you go through first. Not a rigid command yet, just the beginning of the pattern. Continue proofing sit in two or three different locations. If the puppy is beginning to mouth and nip, apply the redirect-to-toy protocol every single time.
- Weeks 12 to 14 — Proof and recall foundations. Sit should now be reliable in at least three different locations. Begin adding mild distractions: another person in the room, background noise. Introduce recall in a low-distraction environment: long line, puppy's name once, reward heavily when it arrives. At this age, recall is about the association between coming to you and something good happening, nothing more technical than that. Continue settling and begin building duration toward 10 minutes.
- Weeks 14 to 16 — Leave it and real-world exposure. Introduce leave it: treat in closed fist, wait for the puppy to stop trying and look away, mark and reward. Build to treat on the floor, covered by your foot, until the puppy looks at you. Begin applying commands in real-world contexts: sit before meals, wait before car doors, name response on a walk. The commands should be shifting from training sessions into daily life by this point.
- Weeks 16 to 20 — Consolidation and generalisation. Every command should now be proofed in at least five different environments. Begin building stay as a formal exercise: sit, stay, take one step back, return, treat. Build gradually. Recall with a long line in a park. Loose lead foundations: mark and reward for walking beside you without tension on the lead. Reduce treat frequency for commands the puppy knows well — begin using a variable reward schedule for sit and name response.
- Weeks 20+ — Ongoing proofing and real-world reliability. The foundation is in. The work now is proofing under higher distraction and in more demanding environments. Recall should work with another dog nearby. Settle should hold for 10 to 15 minutes with guests present. Leave it should work for food dropped on the pavement. This stage continues for life, but the biggest gains are made in these first twenty weeks. The Complete Puppy Program covers this full progression with detailed guidance for each phase.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Training too much in the first week is a pattern I see from enthusiastic owners. Everything seems important and the puppy seems responsive, so sessions run longer and more frequently. By week two, the puppy is slower and less engaged. Back off. Two short sessions a day in week one is plenty.
Skipping the socialisation window while focusing on commands is the structural mistake. Between 8 and 16 weeks, exposure to new sounds, surfaces, people, and animals matters more than commands. A puppy that has solid sit but hasn't been properly socialised will have more behavioural problems at a year than one who knows no commands but was well exposed. Socialisation and commands aren't competing for time. They happen in different types of interactions.
Abandoning the schedule when the puppy seems to "get it" is what produces the 6-month plateau. Owners who stop proofing after the first week of reliable sit end up with a dog that sits perfectly in the kitchen but nowhere else. Keep working the progression. Generalisation requires deliberate effort.
How to know it's working
By week 10, name response should be reliable in the house in most normal circumstances. By week 14, sit should hold across at least three different environments. By week 16, the puppy should be offering calm default behaviours in familiar situations: sitting at the door, waiting before meals, not demanding attention by jumping or barking. These are the milestones to measure against. If you want week-by-week guidance and a community to check in with, the free Toe Beans Co SKOOL community has both.
Want help putting this into practice?
The Toe Beans Co runs a free SKOOL community where Sydney dog owners get access to training guides, Q&As, and direct support from Luke. It's free to join.
Upcoming Puppy Schools in Sydney
If you're based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and want structured, in-person guidance, Luke runs regular puppy schools across Bondi, Paddington, Surry Hills, and surrounding areas.
Check upcoming dates and book your spot
Frequently asked questions
Q: How many times a day should I train my puppy?
Two to three sessions per day, three to five minutes each. More frequent, shorter sessions produce faster results than fewer, longer ones. The puppy's attention window is short, and ending before it drops means every session is a positive one. If you can build training into your daily routine, around mealtimes, walks, and doorways, that daily-life reinforcement matters as much as formal sessions.
Q: What should a puppy know at 12 weeks?
At 12 weeks, with consistent work from 8 weeks, a puppy should have reliable name response in most household situations, sit on a verbal cue in at least two or three environments, and the beginnings of settle on a mat. Recall should be forming as a positive association but isn't reliable yet. Most importantly, the puppy should be showing voluntary attention: checking in on walks, pausing before going through doorways, offering calm behaviour without being asked.
Q: Can I follow a puppy training schedule if I'm working full time?
Yes. Two short sessions per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, covers the formal training requirement. The daily-life reinforcement, requiring sit before meals, applying Rule 3 on returns home, practising wait at doorways, happens naturally throughout the day. The Complete Puppy Program's 26 modules are designed to fit into a working schedule, with most sessions under five minutes and all guidance available in writing and video.
