Puppy Training Online: A Realistic Week-by-Week Plan for the First Month

The first month home shapes the next fifteen years. The good news: puppy training online, done in your own living room, is exactly how the foundational skills are meant to be taught — short sessions, familiar environment, zero pressure. Here's a realistic plan for the first four weeks.

Week 1 — Settle in and start the clock

Resist the urge to teach "commands." This week is about safety and routine:

• Potty routine starts hour one. Out after every nap, meal, and play session. Reward outside, within two seconds of finishing. (Full schedule in our crate training guide.)
• Make the crate a good place — meals in the crate, door open, no locking yet.
• Handle everything gently: paws, ears, collar. Pair each touch with a treat. Your future vet and groomer will thank you.

Week 2 — Charge the marker and the name

This is the highest-leverage week of your puppy's life. Teach two things:

• The marker. Say "yes!" (or click), then treat. Repeat ten times, twice a day. Soon "yes!" means that exact thing you just did earned the reward — the single most useful communication tool you'll ever have.
• Name response. Say the name once; the instant your puppy looks at you, mark and reward. Never use the name for scolding.

Week 3 — First cues: sit, down, and the two-second stay

With a charged marker, sit takes about a day: lure the nose up, rear drops, mark, reward. Add the word only after the motion is reliable. Down follows the same pattern with the lure to the floor. Stay starts at two seconds — literally two — and grows by one second per success.

Week 4 — Take it on the road

Dogs don't generalize. A sit in the kitchen is not a sit in the yard. Repeat everything from week 3 in three new places, and start loose-leash foundations in the driveway. Begin structured socialization: one new surface, sound, and gentle stranger per day, each paired with treats. (More on this in our enrichment ideas post.)

The rules that make it all work

1. Sessions are 3–5 minutes. End while the puppy still wants more.
2. Reward what you like; ignore or manage what you don't. Punishment teaches your puppy to fear you, not to understand you.
3. One skill per session. Stacking confuses puppies and people.
4. Everyone in the house uses the same words. Write them on the fridge.

Thirty days of this and you'll have a puppy who pottys outside, loves the crate, knows their name, and offers sits for a living. That's a better result than most six-week group classes deliver.

Ready for the full system? The Puppy Starter Course — 8 modules, 25+ short videos, 5 printable guides — is $49 with a 14-day no-questions refund.