(6 weeks to 3 months old.)

Puppies of this age I strongly recommend be kept with you at all times. It is the single most important time for you to bond and imprint with your dog. I mean at ALL times.

During the nights of the first 72 hours you bring your new companion home he/she will be sad, lonely, waiting for their fellow littermates and mother to come rescue them. They will instinctively howl to let their siblings know where they are. If your puppy tries to hide, or run away from you, cuddle it, and breathe on it so it gets to recognize your breath and your scent. Hand feed him/her, play games, initiate play, do not do things right off the bat that can scare or frighten your young fella for it can cause problems later on if introduced to certain things at certain times.

As you will know, your puppy is not potty trained yet. I will get to that later, but first. How are you going to take your puppy out without a leash? How are you going to use a leash if your puppy isn't aquainted with a leash? For your first leash I recommend you use an extremely light leash, a cat leash, or better yet don't use a leach at all, use a piece of string or two shoe laces. For a collar buy a cat collar, first put the collar on, and distract your puppy with something more enticing than what is around it's neck. After your puppy forgets about the collar, you can immediately put the leash on, make sure to not let the puppy chew it, it will immediately learn that it can disrepect the leash. You don't want this. What you need to do now is open the door, and let the puppy walk. As the puppy walks and investigates walk with it. Call the dog, walk with the dog, then as your walking around the yard start changing directions at your own discretion. If the dog goes left, you go right. If it goes forward you go backwards. Don't hurt your puppy, but lightly let it know that you have control of where it goes with the leash.

After your puppy is used to the leash you can begin potty training it properly. To do this you need a crate, leash, collar, and a designated place outside to defacate and urinate. The collar needs to be on the puppy at all times, the leash needs to be in your pocket or around your neck for easy access. Your puppy needs to earn the right to manueuver around the house. Start by being in one room with the crate and your puppy, I suggest a room with a not so great carpet. *Grin* You may allow your pup to roam around as it pleases. Try to time it a couple of minutes after your puppy drinks some water, then take your puppy out on the leash to the designated spot and stand there, give your puppy a command like "take care of business" or "go potty". When your puppy finally goes potty or defacates praise it saying "GOOD TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS" "GOOD POTTY". If your puppy is too interested to use the restroom this is when the crate comes in handy.

Immediately bring your puppy back in, put it in the crate and shut the door. The crate needs to be about 150% of the size of the dog. This means that it is the size of the puppy and half the size of the puppy. NOT DOUBLE THE SIZE. This is extremely important. The whole point of the crate is to place the puppy in an area where it will instinctively refuse to deficate or urinate. The reason behind this is because they will not mess the area they sleep in. If the crate is too big the puppy is able to waste in one area of the crate and sleep in the other. Leave your puppy in the crate for 5 minutes at first, then pick it up and carry it outside. Stay outside for no longer than 5 minutes. If the pupppy still does not use the restroom go back inside and place the puppy back in the crate for 10-15 minutes. Then again pick it up and take it outside, to the place designated to urinate. If the dog still doesn't go, then take it inside and place it in the creat for 10 minutes. Then pick it up and take it back outside. You must keep this cycle up until the dog goes. When it does praise it extremely well.

After your puppy has done this, it can stay in the same room you are in but not in the crate only. Take your puppy back out after 4 hours or 5 minutes after it drinks. And continue the cycle. If for some reason your puppy urinates in the house, DO NOT smoother your dog's nose in the puddle. If you CATCH, and I mean you must CATCH the dog in the act or the correction will not work, if you CATCH your dog in the act immediately in a low tone say "NAUUUGHTY..." and take it outside and tell it to go potty or whatever command you choose to use. This is the ONLY proper and 100% method for potty training a puppy in almost ANY breeder's book.

Your puppy's care should be your biggest priority. What happens now determines your puppy's life when he/she is an adult. Do not let your puppy jump down off of things, this can ruin joints, and cause hip dysplasia. Constantly watch your puppy and make sure it is not getting into things that can cause harm. Familiarize yourself with things that are toxic to your puppy. Rhodadendrens are poisonous to ALL dogs and many people don't know that. Raw onions are poisonous. Chiken bones are deadly for they can splinter inside your puppy's throat. Don't let your puppy play with bigger dogs, they can easily get injured, I have seen puppy's backs get broken by getting stepped on.

As soon as you get your puppy leash trained, you can start light obediance work. But I would choose to first work on establishing rules. AS CUTE AS IT MAY BE, DO NOT LET YOUR PUPPY MOUTH YOU. If you don't stop it now it will never end. Also, do not let your puppy jump up on you. Practice alpha role playing, put your puppy on it's back in between your legs and hold your puppy. Go through door-ways, hallways, paths before your puppy. The alpha goes first and Siberians are the closest related domesticated dog breed there is, they are fluent in the language of "Wolf".

When giving commands, timing is key. When giving corrections, timing is key. If you are training your puppy the down command, DO NOT confuse your puppy by saying "down" when your puppy jumps up, or gets on furniture. Say "off", never use one word for more than one command. If you follow these basic easy-to-do things, you are well on your way to a good start in your dog's teenage years. 6 months to 2 years of age. Good Luck, Have Fun.