Question 1

How long does toilet training actually take — is my puppy behind?

Accepted Answer

Almost certainly not. There's no fixed timeline, because it depends on bladder maturity as much as effort — a young puppy physically can't hold on for long, however well you're doing. Most puppies become largely reliable across a wide range of weeks, with the odd accident long after you'd expect, and none of that means yours is behind. What actually moves it along is consistency and management, not speed: frequent trips out, rewarding the right spot, and not punishing the accidents. "Behind" is usually a comparison that isn't fair to your puppy. The full approach — and why we measure progress in milestones, not weeks — is in Puddles to Progress.

Question 2

Should I use puppy pads or not?

Accepted Answer

This one's genuinely contested, and anyone who tells you there's a single right answer is overstating it. Pads can genuinely help — in an apartment, with no quick outdoor access, or overnight with a very young puppy. The trade-off is that they also teach a puppy that toileting indoors is fine, which can make the eventual move outside slower, because you're effectively training two things. So it's less "good or bad" and more "what fits your living situation, eyes open to the extra step you're taking on." We work through both sides — it's the worked example we use to show how to read a genuinely contested question — in The PawsFourThought Approach and Puddles to Progress.

Question 3

How much sleep does my puppy actually need?

Accepted Answer

More than almost anyone expects — and this might be the single most useful thing to know in the early months. A puppy bouncing off the walls in the evening, biting, careering around and impossible to settle is very often not under-exercised but overtired. Like an overtired toddler, a sleep-deprived puppy doesn't wind down — they wind up. So the instinct to "tire them out" with more activity often backfires; what they actually need is rest, and a predictable rhythm that builds it in before the wired state arrives. The science of puppy sleep — and the daily rhythm that gets you there — is the whole of Chaos to Calm.

Question 4

Why does my puppy go crazy every evening?

Accepted Answer

The evening "witching hour" — biting, careering around, impossible to settle — looks like too much energy, but it’s almost always the opposite: an overtired puppy who’s tipped past the point of being able to wind down. Like an overtired toddler, a shattered puppy doesn’t get sleepy, they get manic. The instinct to burn it off with more play usually makes it worse. What helps is heading it off earlier with enough rest, and, when the zoomies hit, calmly steering them into a quiet wind-down rather than adding fuel. The whole rhythm that prevents it is Chaos to Calm.

Question 5

How do I get my puppy into a good daily routine?

Accepted Answer

A predictable rhythm is the single biggest lever in the early months — a puppy who knows roughly what comes next (eat, toilet, play, rest, repeat) is calmer, sleeps better and settles more easily, because predictability itself lowers arousal. The key most people miss is building rest in before the wired state arrives, rather than waiting for the meltdown. It needn’t be a rigid to-the-minute schedule; a consistent shape to the day is enough.

The full framework is Chaos to Calm.

Question 6

My puppy won’t settle during the day — they’re always "on." What’s wrong?

Accepted Answer

Usually nothing’s wrong — being "always on" is self-perpetuating: a puppy who never quite powers down stays wound up, and a wound-up puppy can’t power down. Many puppies genuinely don’t know how to switch off yet and need help learning, with enforced downtime — a settled rest in a pen or crate — built into the day rather than left to chance. Daytime rest is a skill you teach, not something you wait for. How to build it is in Chaos to Calm.

Question 7

Is it bad to play with my puppy right before bed?

Accepted Answer

Wild, exciting play right before bed can backfire — it spikes arousal at exactly the moment you want it dropping, and a revved-up puppy takes longer to settle. It’s not that play is bad; it’s the wind-down that matters. A calmer, quieter lead-in to bedtime tends to work far better than a big last blast of energy. The wind-down rhythm is in Chaos to Calm.

Question 8

Why does my puppy bite so much, and how do I stop it?

Accepted Answer

First, the reassurance: puppy biting is one of the most normal things a puppy does — not aggression, not a sign you’ve got the wrong dog. What most owners miss is that biting isn’t one problem; it’s several wearing the same set of teeth — teething, play and exploration, frustration, and the big one, an overtired, over-aroused puppy who’s simply past the point of stopping. That last cause is the one people chase in the wrong direction: they try to burn the biting off with more play, when what the puppy actually needs is sleep. So before anything else, rule out overtired — a puppy who bites hardest in the evening is usually shattered, not under-exercised. Then, for ordinary play biting, teach a soft mouth by redirecting onto something they’re allowed to bite and letting gentle play continue while rough play ends — rather than punishing, which tends to make a mouthy puppy mouthier. Skip the muzzle-grabs, nose-flicks and yelping-as-discipline; they usually backfire. The full four-causes approach — and building a soft mouth stage by stage — is in Nips to Nice, and the overtired piece is the whole of Chaos to Calm.

Question 9

Why does my puppy bite more when they’re tired?

Accepted Answer

Because tiredness and biting are directly linked — an overtired puppy has less impulse control and more frazzled energy, and biting is where it spills out. So a sudden spike in nipping, especially in the evening, is very often a sleep signal, not a training problem, and the fix is usually rest rather than more correction. The overtired piece is in Chaos to Calm; the full biting picture is in Nips to Nice.

Question 10

My puppy cries in the crate at night — do I go to them or leave them?

Accepted Answer

The honest answer is that it depends what the crying is, and learning to tell the difference is the real skill. A settling-whine — short, intermittent, easing within a few minutes — is your puppy processing a new place, and the settling itself is the work, so going in interrupts it. Genuine distress — louder, building rather than fading — deserves a response, and comforting a young puppy in a new home isn't "rewarding" the crying or making a rod for your own back. True panic is a third thing again, with its own response. If you can't tell which you're hearing, a quiet check costs little; leaving a panicking puppy costs a lot. Telling the three apart — and exactly what to do for each — is at the heart of Crying to Content.

Question 11

My puppy’s fine when I’m home but cries the moment I leave — is this separation anxiety?

Accepted Answer

Probably not clinical separation anxiety — that’s a specific, more serious condition — but it is your puppy telling you that being alone is hard, which is completely normal and worth working on early. Most puppies simply haven’t learned yet that alone-time is safe, and you teach it gradually: very short absences they can succeed at, extended slowly, so they never rehearse panic. If the distress is intense, immediate, and not easing with graduated practice, that’s when to bring in a professional. The prevention-versus-clinical distinction and the graduated approach are in Crying to Content.

Question 12

When should I start training — is my puppy too young?

Accepted Answer

You’ve already started, whether you meant to or not — puppies learn from day one, so the question isn’t whether to begin but what you’re teaching. You can start gentle, reward-based training the day they come home: their name, coming to you, being handled, settling. Keep it short, fun and low-pressure — a few minutes at a time suits a young puppy’s attention span. No need to wait for a formal "class age." Where to start is in Wild to Willing.

Question 13

Do I need a clicker, or can I just say "yes"?

Accepted Answer

You don’t need a clicker — a clear marker word like "yes" works just as well for almost everyone. The point of either is the same: to mark the exact instant your dog does the right thing, like a camera shutter, so they know precisely what earned the reward. A clicker is slightly more precise, which some people love; a word is always with you and one less thing to juggle. Pick one, be consistent, and always follow the marker with a reward. The marker setup is in Wild to Willing.

Question 14

How do I stop my puppy jumping up on people?

Accepted Answer

Jumping isn't defiance — it's your puppy closing the height gap to say hello, and the fix is to make a different choice pay better. Reward the alternative (four paws on the floor, or a sit) the instant it happens, and remove the reward for jumping by turning away with no eye contact, no talking and no pushing off — because to a puppy, pushing is contact, and contact is attention. Manage the moments you can't train, like a lead on at the door, so they can't keep practising it. And skip the knee, the shout and the spray bottle — to many puppies that all reads as attention too. If it persists despite consistency, the cause is often an overtired or over-aroused puppy, which is a whole-day question more than a doorstep one. The whole approach is in Wild to Willing.

Question 15

Why does my puppy listen at home but ignore me at the park?

Accepted Answer

Not stubbornness — dogs don’t automatically transfer a skill from one place to another the way we assume. A "sit" learned in your quiet kitchen genuinely isn’t the same skill as a "sit" amid the smells and dogs of a park; it has to be re-taught in each new, harder environment. So a puppy who "knows it at home but ignores you out" is normal, not defiant. The fix is to lower the difficulty when you change location — back to basics, more rewards, fewer distractions — and build up again. The full picture is in Wild to Willing.

Question 16

My puppy won't come when called — how do I build reliable recall?

Accepted Answer

Recall is the one skill where "reward every single time, for a long time" really is the right answer — coming to you should always be the best thing that happens, never the end of the fun. Build it in easy, low-distraction places first and add difficulty slowly; a long line is the bridge that lets you practise safely before you ever trust it off-lead, because off-lead failures rehearse exactly the behaviour you don't want. And never call your puppy to something they'd rather avoid (the bath, the end of the walk) — that quietly teaches them that "come" sometimes means something unpleasant. You don't need an e-collar or any aversive tool for a reliable recall; you need it to be genuinely worth their while. The full build, step by step, is in Wild to Willing.

Question 17

How do I teach my puppy to settle calmly at a cafe?

Accepted Answer

Settling is a trained skill, not something a puppy does because they "should." You build it at home first — a mat or bed that means "relax here," rewarded calmly — then take that same mat somewhere slightly busier, then busier again, so the cafe is the last easy step rather than the first impossible one. Take the edge off beforehand with a walk and some sniffing, bring something to chew, and reward the calm rather than waiting to correct the fidget. The settle work is in Wild to Willing.

Question 18

My adolescent dog has suddenly stopped listening — is this normal?

Accepted Answer

Very — and it’s one of the most disheartening surprises of dog-raising. Somewhere around seven to nine months, a dog who "knew" everything can seem to forget it all: selective hearing, ignored recalls, testing the rules. It’s a genuine developmental phase, not your training unravelling, and it passes. Hold the line without cracking down — keep rewarding what you want, drop the difficulty back a notch, and don’t reach for harsher methods out of frustration. (If the change is more that your dog has gone suddenly wary than suddenly deaf, that’s the fear side — see the "second fear period" answer.) Riding it out is covered in Wild to Willing.

Question 19

My puppy won’t take treats when we’re out — what am I doing wrong?

Accepted Answer

Almost certainly nothing — a puppy who happily takes food at home but refuses it outside is usually over threshold: too close to something exciting or worrying to eat, not fussy or defiant. Refusing food is actually one of the clearest signals your dog is telling you "this is too much right now." The answer is to make it easier — more distance from whatever it is, somewhere calmer — until they can take food again, which tells you they’re back under threshold and able to learn. Reading these signals is the core skill of Fearful to Fearless.

Question 20

Is it okay to comfort my puppy when it’s scared or upset — or will that make it worse?

Accepted Answer

Comfort freely — you will not make fear or distress worse by being kind. This is one of the most persistent myths in dog advice: that soothing a frightened or crying puppy "rewards" the emotion. But fear and distress are emotions, not behaviours, and you can’t reinforce an emotion by comforting the animal feeling it, any more than hugging a frightened child teaches them to fear thunder. What your comfort does is exactly what it looks like — it helps. What you manage is the situation (how close, how loud, how long), not the feeling. The principle runs through Fearful to Fearless (fear) and Crying to Content (the crate and night-crying version).

Question 21

My puppy’s scared of fireworks or loud noises — what can I do?

Accepted Answer

Two different situations, so be honest about which you’re in. If your puppy isn't yet afraid, you can prevent a lot by building calm, positive associations with these sounds ahead of time — recordings played very quietly, paired with something brilliant, volume nudged up only while they stay relaxed. If your puppy is already frightened, don’t flood them with it to "get them used to it" — that usually makes it worse. Go slower, keep them under the threshold where they can cope, comfort them freely (you won’t reinforce the fear), and manage the exposure down. Both the prevention and the go-slow approach are in Fearful to Fearless.

Question 22

My confident puppy has suddenly gone wary of things — is this a "second fear period"?

Accepted Answer

Something real is happening, but it’s gentler than the label suggests. Adolescence does bring a genuine dip — a dog who was bombproof can briefly turn wary of things they were fine with. What the evidence doesn’t support is a single, universal, precisely-dated "stage" to brace for. So the honest line is: expect a wobble, don’t diagnose a fixed stage — respond to the dog in front of you. Handle it as you would any fear: more distance, no pressure, let them choose, comfort freely. It passes. The honest version is in Fearful to Fearless.

Puppy FAQs

Toilet training