Week One: 8 weeks old

Drag the leash around, no leading, no pressure, and no force.

Walk backwards with a treat telling the puppy to “come”.

Give sit command while forcing the puppy to sit.

Placing the puppy in the crate for short periods of time.

Puppy Imprinting 8 Weeks:
Take your new puppy on a walk (off leash) in field with medium tall grass. Keep him with you by voice. Encourage him to climb over a little mound of dirt or a log. Praise his efforts to do something he has never done before. Walk just fast enough that he has to strain very slightly to keep up with you. At this age his desire to stay with you is very strong as well as important to encourage. Capitalize on that.

Week Two: 9 weeks old

Walk with leash down the driveway and back, no rules…just walk.

Take a few steps backwards; tell the puppy to come, offer treat.

Give sit command, puppy must sit on his/her own, no forcing.

Give down command while forcing the puppy down.

Puppy is in the crate for short periods of time during the day /all night.

Puppy Imprinting 9 Weeks:
Take him on another walk, this time in the woods. He is in taller grass and weeds as well as around trees. He must occasionally climb over small logs (Just big enough to be a challenge, but not so big that he learns that there are logs too big to climb). He goes up a hill, and down a hill, over some rocks, maybe down a small bank. The perfect setup is where he goes across a small creek. He gets wet up to the chest. He scrambles up the bank to follow you. He goes through a thick carpet of leaves that crunch when he walks. Encourage him all the way.

Week Three: 10 weeks old

Walk with leash down the driveway and back, Heal (left side) no leash in mouth

Take a few steps backwards; tell the puppy to come, offer treat.

Give sit command, puppy must sit on his/her own, no forcing.

Give down command while luring the puppy down.

Puppy is in the crate for longer periods of time during the day /all night.

Puppy Imprinting 10 Weeks:
The same as age 9 weeks but a bit more difficult. Occasionally hide from him when he is distracted in the woods. Does he notice you are missing? If he does, and starts to look for you, suddenly appear and praise profusely. If he doesn't look for you, toss a pebble to make him notice you are missing. Then call him from your hiding place. When he starts to look for you, appear and praise him. This will teach him, as it is repeated time and time again, to watch you when you are out in the woods, instead of you having to constantly be watching where he is. This makes him take that responsibility of staying with you. Play this game over and over through many weeks until you cannot hide from him because he is always watching. This only works when started young.

Week Four: 11 weeks old

Walk with leash through neighborhood, Heal, no crossing in front.

Walk away from puppy; tell the puppy to come, offer treat.

Give sit command, after puppy sits – stay….hold….give treat.

Give down command no luring the puppy down.

Puppy is in the crate for longer periods of time during the day /all night.

Puppy Imprinting 11 Weeks: Weather permitting
Take him swimming. You hold him and wade out to knee deep water. Point him toward shore and *gently* let him go. Be sure he gets his head up and he heads for shore. Have someone on shore encouraging him in a positive way. Another way to approach this is to entice him into the water by going in yourself and encouraging him to follow. Do NOT throw him in the water! When you are through get him out and dry him off and go home. Be sure not to let him get chilled.

Week Five: 12 weeks old

Walk with leash, Heal, no crossing in front, no lagging behind.

Walk away from puppy; tell the puppy to come, offer treat.

Give sit command, after puppy sits – stay….hold….give treat.

Give down command no luring the puppy down…step back “stay”…”come”

Puppy is in the crate for longer periods of time during the day /all night.

Puppy Imprinting 12 Weeks:
Take a trip to a farm. Let him see cows, horses, chickens and whatever else you can find. This time you should keep him on leash. Make sure he is safe from the animals and let him get close enough to sniff. Make sure there are no electric fences that he might encounter and create a negative experience. This outing can take 20 or more minutes. You have a positive attitude about all this. Be nonchalant about it all, as if this is what every 12 week old pup does. If he becomes overly concerned and scared encourage him that everything is okay. Your puppy will be looking for your reactions for guidance, so make sure that you let him know that this is a normal thing, and that there is nothing scary about the other animals.

Week Six: 13 weeks old

Walk with leash, Heal, no crossing in front, no lagging behind.

Give sit command, after puppy sits – “stay”….step away….”come”.

Give down command….walk away……….. “stay”…”come”

Puppy is in the crate for longer periods of time during the day /all night.

Puppy Imprinting 13 Weeks:
Take him on leash to town. Walk him on a main street with medium to light foot traffic. He sees and hears cars, trucks and heavy street traffic. He passes by many people walking bicycles, delivery men with packages, etc. This should be a short outing about 10 minutes. Praise him lavishly for positive behavior. Be nonchalant and very encouraging as if this is something normal that is just part of life. When you get back to the car, praise him for his remarkable feats of courage. Also remember that if he shows any unsure or insecure emotions that you remain strong and confident, and that you appear to him as if this is normal life.