Important for developing a pup who can generalise training to different environments.

First thing in the morning you'll need to take your puppy out to toilet. For the morning toiletting we recommend you take your dog onto different surfaces e.g. concrete, bark, grass, grates over bases of trees, fine gravel, tarmac, soil etc. When your dog is grown up and working as a therapy/assistance dog they might need to toilet on a variety of surfaces so it's good to get your dog used to this from a young age - you'd be amazed how many dogs I've met who will only toilet on grass then their poor owners are searching around the city to find some grass to toilet their dog! 

Socialisation

Important part of developing a confident and emotionally secure pup

I recommend you use your puppies breakfast as an opportunity to expose your dog to a variety of sounds. Simply play the sounds through a device/ turn on a noisy device (e.g. hoover) then chain hand feed your dog while the sound plays, stop the sound before the last 3 pieces of food then give the final 3 bits of food. 

Game - PUSH IT DOWN! 

Great for confidence building, optimism in the face of novelty and confidence in trial and error learning.

You need to be very careful though about what items you use as your puppy will be able to chew, choke and injure themselves more easily. Here's the link: https://vimeo.com/804125866

Socialisation

Vital for creating emotionally stable, confident & optimistic dogs.

I highly recommend taking some time in the afternoon to socialise your dog to the world around them. Even if your dog is pre vaccination there is loads of socialisation you can do at home. For socialisation you just want to add different settings, objects, people, animals and smells to your dog at an intensity your dog is comfortable with. Let your dog explore the items at their own pace and if they wish, don't lure your dog towards them or move them closer to your dog. 

A few good items to start with are:

- toys with wheels (e.g. kids toy car)

- foil blanket

- umbrella

- mirror

- plastic bags

- you wearing different things like hats, camouflage, sun glasses etc.

Recall game

Great for proximity, recall & engage- disengage

For this recall game, you will need some food, kibble is fine or puppy friendly training treats.  You'll need your dog in their collar or harness but no lead for this.

1) sit beside your dog on the floor if possible or chair, holding their harness.

2) Toss 1 piece of food in front of your dog.

3) Say 'get it' and let go of your dog as they start to move towards the treat.

4) As soon as they've eaten the treat, give your recall cue (e.g. Pepsi come).

5) Once they reach you hold harness/collar and toss out the next treat & repeat the exercise. This should be a speedy game. The first few times you do this game you'll need to reward them with you but after 3 or so days of this game, stop rewarding the return, the reward for returning becomes being allowed to chase after the next treat.