The Juvenile Stage

The next growing stage for the puppy is from 3 to 5 months.  This stage is called the Juvenile Stage.  In this stage, the puppy is more independent and confident in themselves, so he/she may ignore basic commands that they already know.  To help fix this is just to firmly but genteelly reaffirm their training and commands. They also will start to chew on everything since they are now losing their puppy teeth they will go after anything.  To help through this stage every time they go after something they aren’t supposed to, just say “no” or “no biting” and ignore them for a few minutes.  You could also try taking away the thing they aren’t supposed to chew on and give them a toy or bone which tells them they can chew but only on this. At this time, you can really buckle down on potty training and discipline training.  There is a bunch of ways one could potty train their puppy.  Some people use the puppy pad method.  This method includes using pads to train the pup that they should only potty on the pads instead of anywhere else in the house. You could also try to schedule times to take the pup outside to potty and take them to the same spot every time.  This method teaches the puppy that it is only okay to potty in that one spot and nowhere else.  This method is effective because the puppy will soon realize the pattern and will smell where they went the last time you took him/her out.  This method can also be rather challenging because you might not be able to time when they must go potty every time which means they could have multiple accidents.  Another option is to have the pup do some sort of trick or do something by the door every time you take them outside to potty. This will eventually teach them to do that trick every time they need to go outside to potty.  For discipline training you need to be repetitive and consistent.  If you are confused about what you want the pup to do, then the pup will be confused as well.  Also, when the pup does what you want them to do give them a lot of praise.  Especially when they are puppies, dogs build off your energy so if you get really excited when they do something right, they will get really excited too which makes it to be an excellent learning environment.