How to achieve your puppy goals

If you’re a member of our Puppy Parenting Club you can use the Puppy Goals. These are a checklist of things do as a new puppy parent to teach your puppy important life skills. If you do this right, it will help them grow into a happy, confident, well-behaved family dog. Not yet a member? Find out more.

“I have a new puppy, now what do I do?”

What are the Puppy Goals?

Where do I start with a new puppy? What’s the first thing to do? What do I need to teach them? Unfortunately puppies don’t come with an instruction manual; and getting to grips with the responsibility of raising a puppy can be overwhelming! 

The Puppy Goals set out – as a simple checklist for you to work through – the things you need to do as a new puppy parent. By working through the Puppy Goals you can be sure you’re doing everything right and helping your puppy to learn important life skills. These steps will also help to prevent common new puppy problems, like separation anxiety, unwanted barking, nipping and biting, fussy eating and poor recall.

Mapped to the age of your puppy from eight weeks to one year, you can also use the Puppy Goals to track your puppy’s development. Find out when you can expect your puppy to be housetrained and sleeping through the night; and make sure you’re on track for meeting your puppy’s socialisation milestones.

Where do I find the Puppy Goals? 

You can find the Puppy Goals in My Account. Your account is private to you. Only you can view and update your Puppy Goals. However, we’d love to hear about your progress. And please use the forum to ask any questions about the Puppy Goals. We’ve got a whole thread dedicated to the topic.

Using the Puppy Parenting Toolkits

You will find everything you need to help you achieve your Puppy Goals in the Puppy Parenting Toolkits.

For example, the first goal under ‘Training and Socialisation Needs’ for an eight week old puppy is ‘Begin to create positive associations for your puppy in their new environment with simple hand feeding & treats‘. You’ll find everything you need to help you to do this in the New Experiences Puppy Parenting Toolkit.

The main Puppy Parenting Toolkits to help you work through the Puppy Goals are: 

Get your certificate

The Puppy Goals are mapped to the age of your puppy – from your first day home, right up to their first birthday. Work through each stage (8-12 weeks, 12-16 weeks, 4 months-6 months, 6 months-1 year) and check off each goal as you achieve them. Once you have checked off all of the Puppy Goals, you and your puppy will be awarded a well-earned certificate.