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These are the things that you will need to know before deciding to buy a puppy at 12 weeks of age, your puppy should be underway to learning right from wrong and in the process of being housebroken. This is a critical time for housetraining and you should carefully support your puppy with a good housetraining schedule.

12-week-old Puppy Development

At 12 weeks of age, your puppy’s focus is still to eat, drink, sleep, eliminate and play. Your puppy should be underway to learning right from wrong and in the process of being housebroken. He should be playful and curious. You need to make sure your home is puppy proof and safe. This is a critical time for housetraining and you should carefully support your puppy with a good housetraining schedule.

The following list will help you know what to expect from your puppy has he develops.

How Big? Most 12-week-old puppies are only a fraction of their adult length and of weight. Most puppies will gain or grow rapidly between birth and 6 months of age and how much they grow or gain will depend on their breed, diet, and ultimate adult size. Growth is generally steady until they attain their adult size. Some formulas estimate that a puppy’s adult weight will roughly be double of their weight at 14 weeks of age.
Teething - Puppies 12 weeks old will have most of their 28 baby teeth and may have their first 2 to 4 adult front teeth, called the incisors. Over the next three months, your puppy will be getting in all of his adult teeth. Because they are entering an active “teething” stage, they will want to chew. Provide lots of safe chew toys. Begin the first steps toward brushing their teeth by opening their mouths and looking or gently touching their teeth. Make each event positive.
Senses - 12-week-old puppies will show fear, pain and excitement. They can see and hear fairly well. They are learning to differentiate between smells.
Ability to Hold Urine – 12-week-old puppies can generally hold their urine for about 4 hours. This means you will need to take them out at least every 4 hours to get them “housebroken”.
Intelligence – 12-week-old puppies are very interested in their environment. This makes them at higher risk for getting into “things” as they explore their environment. It is estimated that a puppies brain is fully developed at this age and this is the ideal time for them to begin “training”. They can begin to understand right from wrong and remember the consequences (reward!). Get your puppy used to the collar and leash.
Play & Agility – Most puppies that are 12 weeks old are still quite clumsy but are getting stronger and more coordinated. They have all the gaits of the adult dog, just not fine tuned. They can run, play and stop with better accuracy. You may see bouts of “spurts of energy and play” when your puppy runs around like crazy. Enjoy this time! If your puppy is wreaking havoc in your home, redirect this energy toward appropriate balls and toys.
Sleep – Puppies that are 12 weeks old sleep approximately 18 to 20 hours per day. The rest is spent eating, playing and eliminating.
Physical Appearance & Hair Coat – 12-week-old puppies have a very soft baby hair coat and do very little shedding. They still have puppy characteristics but are getting slightly taller, longer and their muzzle is lengthening

Tips on Best Ways to Raise Your 12-week-old Puppy
Continue crate training
Maintain a housetraining schedule
Take him out at least every 4 hours
Feed him 3 times per day
Get your puppy used to grooming and touching his feet and mouth
Expose your puppy to different people to minimize fears
Socialize!
Never hit your puppy
Give positive reinforcement for work well done
Beware of puppy hazards
Provide safe chew toys
Play with your puppy daily
Make sure he gets his vaccines!
Start/discuss heartworm prevention with your vet
Make sure he has a good ID tag and microchip

Your 12-week-old puppy has certain needs to stay healthy! The following is a list of recommended wellness care for an 12-week-old puppy including tips and advise on dewormers, heartworm prevention, flea and tick control, spay and neutering and nutrition.

Vaccines – 12-week-old puppies should have at least their second set of shots. If they have not, get their first set as soon as possible. They will need shots now and again when they are 16 weeks old. Rabies is required by law between 12 and 16 weeks of age and your veterinarian may give it now or in 3 to 4 weeks. Additionally, Lyme disease vaccination may be recommended depending on your pet’s level of risk.
De wormers – Most puppies are born with worms and therefore should be de wormed by your veterinarian. The first de worming generally occurs at 6 to 8 weeks of age and another de worming is generally given at this time

12-week-old Puppy Needs

Your 12-week-old puppy has certain needs to stay healthy! The following is a list of recommended wellness care for an 12-week-old puppy including tips and advise on de wormers, heartworm prevention, flea and tick control, spay and neutering and nutrition.

Heartworm Prevention – Canine heartworm disease is a serious parasitic disease caused by a long, thin worm that lives in the blood vessels and heart of infected dogs. The disease is spread by mosquitoes. Heartworms are present in most parts of the United States. Ask your veterinarian if your dog is at risk. Heartworm prevention is important to puppies and should be started before they are 6 months of age.
Flea/tick Control – Depending on where you live and your current flea/tick situation, there are very good preventative medications to control flea and ticks. The best and safest products are prescribed by veterinarians.
Spay/Neuter - Some puppies are spayed and neutered at an early age or later, closer to 6 months of age. If your puppy is not “fixed”, discuss when the best time is with your veterinarian. Pet overpopulation is a serious issue and by allowing your dog to have litters, you are adding to the problem. Pets that are spayed or neutered are quieter and not prone to roam looking for a mate and tend to be more gentle and affectionate. Also, fixing your pet reduces the risk of developing breast and prostate cancer and eliminates the risk of uterine infections.
Diet – Your 3 month old puppy should be eating a good quality food formulated for puppies of his or her size 3 times per day. Consider your pups age, weight, and activity level when deciding how much to feed. Every brand of food has different nutrients, caloric densities and feeding recommendations. There is no set formula for how much to feed a puppy. Check the manufacturer’s recommendations on how much to feed. As your puppy ages and his size increases, he will need more food each day. Weigh your puppy each week. The calorie requirements for puppies vary with their age, breed and size but may be estimated roughly as follows: Toy breeds – 250 calories, small breeds 500 calories, medium breeds 775 calories, large breeds 1500 calories and giant breeds 1950 calories.

Puppy at 16 weeks of age

At four months old, pups are in full teething mode and chewing becomes an issue. Puppies are becoming “braver” and much more likely to get into “things”. They also exhibit fits of energy when they are practically bouncing off the walls.

4 month old puppy development

At four months old, pups are in full teething mode and chewing becomes an issue. Also, at this stage of development, puppies often exhibit fits of “the maddies” and periodically tear around the house, running across the furniture, practically bouncing off the walls. This is a release of their natural exuberance and is to be expected. At this age, puppies are “braver” and may get into things that they would have not done so when younger. This may be described as the pre-adolescent stage when puppies may show more independence.

The following list will help you know what to expect from your puppy has he develops.

How Big? - Most 16-week-old puppies are in their rapid growth phase. Most puppies will gain or grow rapidly between birth and 6 months of age and how much they grow or gain will depend on their breed, diet, and ultimate adult size. Some formulas estimate that by 16 weeks of age your puppy is at least half of his adult weight.
Teething – The puppy’s first teeth are temporary and are soon replaced by permanent teeth. This is a very active teething stage as many of the adult teeth come in now and for the next couple months. As teeth first erupt, puppies like to chew. Make sure you have a good supply of appropriate chew toys. Don’t keep too many toys out at one time. Hide some of the toys and reintroduce them when your puppy seems bored.
Senses –16-week-old puppies will show fear, pain, pleasure, and excitement. They can see and hear fairly well. They are learning to differentiate between smells. Their ear muscles are maturing as they learn to manipulate their ears to allow the entrance of sound waves which adds to their keen sense of hearing.
Ability to Hold Urine – 16-week-old puppies can generally hold their urine for about 5 hours. This means you will need to take them out at least every 5 hours to get them “housebroken”.
Intelligence –16-week-old puppies are very interested in the environment. This makes them at higher risk for getting into “things” as they explore their environment. Some puppies have a brief phase of “fear” at this time as they may respond to noises or new objects. Exposure your puppy to new objects and allow them to investigate on their own terms until they are comfortable with the new situation.
Agility – Most puppies that are 16 weeks old are still a little clumsy but are getting stronger and more coordinated. They can generally romp, play, jump, and run with good accuracy. This is a time they have lots of energy and some of the fetch type toys can be a good release.
Sleep – Puppies that are 16 weeks old sleep approximately 18 to 20 hours per day. The rest is spent eating, playing and eliminating.
Physical Appearance & Hair Coat – 16-week-old puppies may begin to show some of their adult hair coat at this stage. It is important to get them use to being brushed and touched. They are continuing to grow in height and length but still look very much like a puppy.

Training Problems

While most new puppy owners are very good at supplying their pup with all the good things in life, such as petting, cuddling, kissing, and treats, many are often not so naturally inclined to provide the guidance and leadership that the young puppy needs.

Call it training, if you will, it is an essential component of raising a well-mannered and well-behaved dog. Sure, there are times when you can let the youngster have free reign; times when the two of you can cavort around in blissful silliness and indulgence. That’s half the fun of owning a new puppy, right? But the other side of the coin of happiness is setting limits of acceptable behavior so that the new puppy does not spiral out of control. Good puppies turn into good dogs, and puppies and dogs need us to be their leaders as well as their friends. Dogs need strong leaders.

Typical puppy problems include unacceptable behaviors such as destructive chewing, biting, or nipping, jumping up, and excessive barking. How should the hapless owner deal with such problems? The answer to this problem is universally applicable to all the behaviors described and, though simple, seems to be a hard one for some owners to grasp. It is that you should reward behaviors that you find acceptable or pleasing and ignore or redirect behaviors that you find unacceptable or annoying.

Destructive Chewing

First of all, understand that chewing is a normal behavior for young pups and may become quite intense around teething time in the 5 to 9 month age group. As such, it is extremely important for new puppy owners to provide their new pup something to chew upon.

A plethora of chew toys is available in most pet stores and these should be brought home and freely distributed for your dog’s chewing pleasure. If your puppy starts to chew on an unacceptable item, such as a chair leg or electric cord, issue a curt command, such as Out! and physically redirect it onto an acceptable item to chew (one of its chew toys).

It is appropriate to render certain items unavailable or aversive but the main thrust of your training is to teach the pup what is acceptable for it to chew. An inappropriate response to finding your pup engaged in destructive chewing and, unfortunately, one still recommended by some trainers, is to physically punish the dog for chewing what it should not.

Punishment teaches a dog nothing except how to avoid punishment. If you punish a dog for destructive chewing, it will simply chew it when you’re not around. It will learn that you are the source of punishment and will avoid punishment by avoiding chewing in front of you. Hardly an ideal solution.

Biting and Nipping

This is the problem that (excuse the pun) should be nipped in the bud. While it is okay to allow a young pup to mouth and nip fingers and hands, there comes a time when it must be taught bite inhibition. This is usually taught at around 4 or 5 months of age. The moment the puppy’s needle sharp teeth start to cause you, the owner, any discomfort or pain, immediately explain Ouch!, and withdraw your hand. That’s the end of the game and the end of the entertainment.

The puppy will soon learn that humans are soft and ouchy and only minimal pressure is necessary if they wish to discourage an unwanted intervention. The big mistake that owners make is writing off all puppy nipping as “normal puppy behavior” and failing to take any steps to curtail it until it is too late. If a young puppy is too aloof to play by mouthing encourage it to do so that you might teach it bite inhibition. It will pay off in the long run.

Another cardinal mistake owners make is to scream and flail when their new puppy nips too hard. This conveys to the puppy that you can be like a huge squeaky toy, the most entertaining thing in an otherwise dull life; so it may nip you simply for the pleasure of witnessing your response.

Another inappropriate way of dealing with nipping is by physical punishment (e.g. by slapping or hitting the pup) because this will ruin your relationship with it and may inflict damage. And, yes, there is such a thing as the shaken puppy syndrome.

Jumping Up

Here’s another all-too-common puppy behavior problem that is often dealt with inappropriately by owners. The first thing they fail to appreciate is that dogs only jump up because they are rewarded in some way by so doing. It may not be the owners themselves but their guests who lean down and pet the pup, giving it their attention in response to being jumped upon. This will ensure that jumping up continues.

If an owner wants an adult dog that will not jump up on them or their visitors, they should simply instruct all who meet the pup to “turn into a tree” or “turn to stone” or to simply walk away. If jumping up is not rewarded it will not be propagated.

If a dog is already jumping up because it has been rewarded for doing so and attention is suddenly withdrawn, the behavior will get worse for a few days before it gets better. This exacerbation is referred to as an extinction burst. Many owners don’t know this and so they give up too soon. It may take days or weeks for the behavior to fully extinguish.

Some puppy owners, in desperation, turn to the wrong type of dog trainer for advice on how to correct the jumping up problem. Owners are taught to knee the dog in the chest, cup it under the chin, or stand on its back paws as a way of eliminating the behavior. These physical punishments are rude and wrong and, while they might produce the goods on occasion, are uncalled for and compromise your relationship with your dog. A more acceptable technique is to hold the pup by both paws and remove them from your person but do not let go until it is clear the dog is keen to be released. This is a form of negative reinforcement and the pup will increase the frequency with which it greets you with four feet on the floor in order to avoid a negative consequence of you holding onto its paws.

While an owner may ignore or negatively reinforce jumping up behavior, there is one other component of training this behavior that is frequently overlooked. That is, rewarding the behavior that you want. You should always reward your pup with praise, petting, and your attention, for greeting you with four feet on the floor. And reward it for getting four feet back on the floor after a bout of jumping. Timely reward is important if non-jumping behavior is to be maintained.

The bottom line: ignore the behavior you don’t want (jumping) and reward the behavior you do want (four feet on the floor). It’s as simple as that. If you want to add a word cue or command, the one to use is Off! Do not tell a dog that is jumping on you Down! as this is a different behavior and the utterance of this word on this occasion will simply confuse the dog. Using a non-specific word, like no, or the wrong word, like down, are common mistakes that owners make when trying to retrain a jumping dog.

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