Pre-Puppy Preparation: Where to Start with the Academy

New puppy soon? Very exciting! It’s great that you’re preparing in advance. This page will explain:

  1. Which courses to take first
  2. What to do when your puppy arrive
  3. How to get more help

In the My Courses section, you’ll want to focus on the courses with the Puppy Survival School logo in their thumbnail, like this:

The logo to look for

1. Which courses should I take first?

Puppy Survival School is a set of nine courses within the broader Academy.

Start with Understanding Your Puppy. This will explain everything you need to know about puppy behavior and body language.

Then check out Foundation for a Happy, Well-Behaved Puppy. It’ll help you prevent behavior problems and establish good habits starting on day one. Everything else in Puppy Survival School builds on what you learn in this course.

House Training is a good one to take next.

“Should I take ALL the courses before my puppy comes home, or can I wait until they’ve arrived?”

If you have time, I recommend at least taking a look through each of the Puppy Survival School courses before your pup comes home so that you know where everything is, and have a basic idea of what to do. Once the puppy is here, you can refer to each one as you need it.

2. That's a lot of information! Any tips on exactly what to do when my puppy arrives?

See the Putting It All Together roadmap. This is a suggested order of operations for how the first few days and weeks should go. 

3. I have questions! Where should I ask them?

Come on over to the forums! To start a conversation with us and your fellow members, feel free to post in the Member Hangout and Puppy Survival School forums.

We also have twice-monthly live Q&A sessions/group coaching sessions on Zoom. You’ll find the date for the next one on the Dashboard. 

Can’t attend live, but want us to answer your question live? Post it in the Live Q&A Questions forum. We’ll answer it on the Zoom session, and then you can watch the replay later.

For technical help or customer service-related questions: email Jake at contact@3lostdogs.com