07/30/2026
Share this with someone who recently welcomed a puppy into their family! And if you have any questions about raising a puppy, drop them in the comments! ⬇️
Puppies are adorable, but they’re also a lot of work and a big responsibility! 🐶
This graphic shares some great information to help set realistic expectations and prepare your family for life with a puppy.
🐶 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗣𝘂𝗽𝗽𝘆
Every single day I see posts like…
❌ “My 10-week-old puppy won’t stop biting.”
❌ “My 12-week-old puppy still isn’t toilet trained.”
❌ “My puppy barks all the time.”
❌ “My puppy keeps digging holes.”
❌ “My puppy won’t settle.”
❌ “My puppy follows me everywhere.”
❌ “My puppy chews everything.”
❌ “My puppy won’t listen.”
And I often find myself wondering…
🤔 𝙳𝚘 𝚠𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚢𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎?
Somehow, we’ve started expecting babies to behave like fully trained adult dogs.
The reality?
A puppy 𝑖𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒．
⚠️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.
🍼 8-10 weeks
Your puppy has just left everything they’ve ever known.
🫤Their mother.
🫤Their littermates.
🫤Their familiar environment.
They’re now living with complete strangers.
What is normal?
✽ Crying at night
✽ Following you everywhere
✽ Mouthing and biting
✽ Toileting indoors
✽ Sleeping 18-20 hours a day
✽ Exploring everything with their mouth
✽ Short attention span
✽ Easily becoming overtired
✽ Feeling overwhelmed by new experiences
〽️ What they need now :
• Predictable routine
• Plenty of sleep
• Gentle socialisation
• Toilet trips every 30-60 minutes when awake
• Safe chew toys
• Patience
Not punishment.
🦷 10-16 weeks
This is where many owners think something has gone wrong…
It hasn’t. 😜
Your puppy is simply becoming 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕.
You may see
❂ Harder biting during play
❂ Zoomies
❂ Barking
❂ Jumping up
❂ Digging
❂ Chewing furniture
❂ Picking everything up outside
❂ Stealing socks
❂ Short bursts of “forgetting” everything they’ve learned
✅ Their brain is developing rapidly.
Impulse control?
➡️ Almost non-existent.
Focus on teaching :
✅ Bite inhibition
✅ Appropriate chewing
✅ Recall games
✅ Calmness
✅ Sleep
✅ Positive exposure to the world
Not expecting perfection.
🦷 Around 4-6 months
Teething begins. 🦈
Imagine having sore gums for weeks…
🫤 Now imagine people telling you to stop chewing. Chewing helps with dental pain in puppies.
Normal behaviours
✔ Increased chewing
✔ Mouthing
✔ Frustration
✔ Difficulty settling
✔ Reduced concentration
✔ More interest in the environment than you
Offer lots of appropriate chews ❣️
Manage the environment ❣️
Don’t expect perfect obedience from a puppy whose mouth is uncomfortable ❣️
🌍 5-6 months
Your puppy starts becoming more independent.
This is healthy.🤗
It doesn’t mean they “don’t respect you.”
You may notice ⤵️
✔ Selective hearing
✔ More interest in smells
✔ Pulling on lead
✔ Testing boundaries
✔ Increased confidence
✔ Excitement around people and dogs
✅ This is the perfect time to continue rewarding behaviours you want.
⛔️ Not adding punishment because they’re becoming adolescents.
🎢 Around 6-8 months
Welcome to adolescence. 🫣
Many owners say…
“My puppy was perfect… then suddenly everything changed!”
Yes.
⚠️Because their brain is changing.⚠️
➿Hormones begin influencing behaviour.
➿Learning becomes less consistent.
➿Emotions become bigger.
You might see ⤵️
✔ Reduced recall
✔ More barking
✔ More excitement
✔ Frustration
✔ Fear of things they previously ignored
✔ Increased independence
✔ More energy
✔ Bigger emotional reactions
This is incredibly common.
🔺It doesn’t mean training has failed.
🔺It means training needs to continue.🔺
So… 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙥𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙮𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙?
✅ Manage the environment instead of expecting perfect choices.
✅ Reward the behaviours you want to see.
✅ Prevent rehearsal of unwanted behaviours where possible.
✅ Ensure plenty of quality sleep.
✅ Meet their physical, emotional and mental needs.
✅ Keep training sessions short and enjoyable.
✅ Be consistent.
✅ Remember that development isn’t linear.
Some days they’ll amaze you.
The next day they’ll appear to have forgotten everything.
That’s completely normal.
The biggest mistake?
🤔 Expecting maturity before the brain is mature enough to deliver it.
🔻A puppy doesn’t know your house rules.
🔻They don’t understand furniture, shoes, gardens, electrical cables or expensive rugs.
🔻They have to be taught.
🧡Kindly.
🧡Patiently.
🧡Consistently.
❤️ Before bringing home a puppy, don’t ask…
“How quickly can I train them?”
Ask instead…
“Am I prepared to guide a baby through months of learning, mistakes, development and change?”
Because puppyhood isn’t about creating the perfect dog overnight.
It’s about building the foundations for the dog you’ll live with for the next 10-15 years.
And remember…
⚠️ The behaviours that frustrate us most during puppyhood are completely normal developmental behaviours.
The goal isn’t to stop a puppy from being a puppy.
💖 The goal is to help them grow into a resilient, confident, emotionally healthy adult dog.
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