Criticize my 8wo Puppy Schedule

You should be working on training things like calm behavior to begin with not tricks. Treat him for laying calmly and calming quickly after games. Treat him when you play tug and he doesn't readjust his bite a lot (readjusting his bite can lead to nipping you so he must learn how to hold on young). Things like this. Treat him for sitting by the door when it's open. Work on door dashing and patience. You don't want his default behaviors to be things like rolling over or offering his paw (especially the paw thing. My puppy was trained paw as her first trick by her breeder and now when stressed offers her paw and actually ends up scratching on accident

For the first few days I wouldn't work on putting him the crate. Get him comfortable with his play pen and then put the crate inside of the pen for him to investigate and start placing his meals in here. That way he's always investigating of his own accord and he'll have even more crate investigating time than you planned. Once he is comfortable you can work on solely crating him.

Your schedule has him being crated 8 hours on his first days home plus crated 8 hours at night. How will he possibly get enough socialization, stimulus, and exercise in the other 8 hours of the day?

When you go to work you will not be able to leave him in only the crate unless you can commit to coming home every 3 hours to let him outside and let him play. Instead I would suggest leaving him in his play pen with the crate inside.

The easiest way I've introduced the crate is at night. Let the puppy fall asleep with you and then place him inside of his crate on your bed or on your night side table. This way he isn't alone and he won't develop any unwanted barking or anxiety and you can tell when he gets up and needs to pee without him barking. Slowly transition to having the crate on the floor, in the next room, then wherever you want it to be long term.

Every time he plays, trains, eats, or sleeps he will need to go outside IMMEDIATELY. If you take him outside then play and train for 30 minutes he will need to go back out. In the morning the gap from 6:40-8:30 is an awful long time. All of your potty breaks seem to be more than an hour apart and that will be too long initially until he understands potty training.

/r/puppy101 Thread