From my dog training website I got the question where a reader wanted to know “What to train a dog at 7 weeks.” I am guessing they want to know what a puppy can learn when it is only seven weeks old. This is a great question because it’s during the formative early weeks that training has the biggest effect on future behavior. Most of the important social skills for living with humans are acquired during the early weeks.

The skills we can start teaching our puppies at seven weeks are socialization, potty training (house breaking). It’s particularly important that potty training is done correctly at an early age to prevent housebreaking problems. Other life skills a young puppy can learn are not to jump on people, proper play behavior, not to bite hard, and to come when called. I also like to begin very gentle leash conditioning sometime also called leash breaking. I generally don’t like using the word breaking for dog training, but it does have a long tradition in animal training.

Even more advanced skill like tracking can be started at a very young age. When I used to have German Shepherd puppies I would try to start them in the beginning phase of tracking at around eight (8) weeks old.

While group training classes do have some advantages for socialization. However, a 7 or 8 week old puppy has not had the required vaccinations to be in a group class. Most of the important life skills are best taught with an in home puppy training program.