Training at home from the get-go is the best approach.

Most puppy courses last 6-8 weeks, and while some allow you to start before your puppy is fully vaccinated, many ask you to wait until they’re fully vaccinated. This misses out on a key period of time when your puppy is at home, and in their socialisation period, and hugely

Once your puppy is settled in their new home; learning begins straight away.

Like humans, puppies learn and process things from the moment they are born, and they are like sponges in their socialisation period which is when it’s best to teach them not to be worried about loud noises, or surprise bangs, or when people look different to you .

Therefore, beginning training at home is a great way to teach your puppy these important life skills such as; socialisation and habituation as well as sleeping, toilet training and generally how to grow into a wellbehaved dog.

There are FIVE stages of puppy development: and behave. This period of time is about giving your pup the life skills they need to be a wellbehaved pooch by building their social awareness. Socialisation is vital for puppies, as it makes them less likely to show aggressive or stressed behaviours when in exciting or new situations.

The one we’re most concerned with as puppy owners is the socialisation period. All stages of puppy development are important, but the socialisation period, which occurs from around 4 to 12 weeks of age, is often considered the most critical.

- neonatal,

- transitional

- socialisation,

- juvenile

- adolescent

During this time, puppies are particularly receptive to new experiences and can form positive associations with a wide range of people, animals, and environments. Proper socialisation during this period helps puppies become welladjusted, confident, and less fearful adult dogs. Puppy socialisation is a process that teaches puppies how to think

After the first few days of letting your puppy settle in; owners can begin adopting a 360 approach to training. A 360 approach looks at puppy training as more of a holistic plan - by recommending that owners should attend puppy training classes, alongside their own training sessions via training apps.

Training at home as well as in person allows for the socialisation and habituation phases to take place; as they become introduced to other pups, environments and noises.

Going to in-person training classes also means that you’re around trained professionals who can help explain things like body language and interactions between puppies. Doing both will help build your puppy’s confidence and emotional resilience for when you start to generalise and train your puppy in the big wide world!

A holistic approach to training is best as you get the best of both worlds; in person training classes for real time feedback, and the support of an app outside these hours when you need it, from highly qualified experts, and to save you asking the rather more dubious Dr Google. While both in isolation can still work well, together they give you the best start to puppy-parenthood.

Lorna is a Director of the UK Dog Behaviour and Training Charter and cofounder and head of training at ZigZag.