You finally found the right breeder, picked the right litter, and now that puppy is coming home. This is where a lot of well-intentioned hunters go sideways — not because they don't care, but because they care too much, or in the wrong ways.

Here's what those first critical weeks and months should look like.

1. Those First Weeks Are Everything — But Don't Overdo It

2. Get Your Crate Situation Right

If you're raising a breed that'll top out at 90–100 lbs, don't make the mistake of immediately housing them in a full-sized crate. Too much space means the puppy can use one end as a bathroom and sleep comfortably in the other — which completely defeats the purpose of crate training.

Keep them in a smaller, appropriately sized space early on. Many kennels now come with dividers that let you shrink the space as needed and expand it as the dog grows. Hang on to your puppy crates — you'll use them again.

Crate training is front-loaded work. It's demanding for a few weeks, and then it's done. Put in the time now and you won't be fighting it later.

3. Start Table Work Immediately

This is one of the most underrated puppy habits you can build, and one of the most overlooked.

Get a small table — at a height comfortable for *you* to work standing up with your hands on the dog. A truck tailgate works great. The goal is simple: get the dog off the ground and accustom them to being handled while elevated.

Dogs are less at ease off the ground than on it. That slight discomfort gives you an advantage early in training, and the table becomes a place associated with focused, calm handling. Your vet will thank you. The first time many puppies ever experience a raised surface is on the examination table — and it's a stressful, memorable experience. Yours won't have that problem.

4. Put Your Hands Everywhere

This sounds simple. Most people skip it.

From day one, handle your puppy head to toe — ears, mouth, feet, toes, belly, tail. Do it gently but consistently. The moment a puppy learns that pulling back or making noise gets them released, they'll do it every time. Don't let that become a pattern.

A dog that's comfortable being handled is easier to boot up in rough country, easier to work on when they've got burrs, cuts, or porcupine quills (yes, you'll deal with that eventually), and dramatically easier for your vet to examine. None of that is possible if the dog has never been conditioned to accept it.

5. Teach Patience — It Doesn't Come Naturally

Dogs aren't born patient. Patience is a trained behavior, and it needs to start early.

You can't ask a dog to sit still for 30 minutes if it's never sat still for 30 seconds. Start small. Build the duration gradually. The table is a great place to practice this — the dog learns that standing still on the table is simply *what we do here*.

If you're running a bird dog, patience matters, but it's not the whole game. If you're running a duck dog? Patience is *everything*. A dog that can't handle five hours in a blind while nothing happens is a dog that's going to make your season miserable. That kind of endurance has to be taught, and the earlier you start building that mental muscle, the better.

6. Expose Them to Everything Now

Whatever your dog is going to encounter in its working life — introduce it now, during that critical early window. Terrain. Vehicles. Gunfire. Water. Other dogs. Strangers. Gear. All of it.

The exposure doesn't have to be intense. It just has to happen. A puppy that grows up seeing and experiencing the full range of situations it'll face as an adult is a dog that handles those situations with confidence rather than anxiety.

7. You Don't Need Fancy — You Need Consistent

The dogs that turn out best usually don't come from owners who had the most time or the most gear. They come from owners who were *consistent*. Short sessions, repeated daily, with patient handling and calm expectations — that's the formula.

The work you put in during those first few months will shape everything that comes after. Don't rush it. Don't skip it. And don't overcomplicate it.

Have questions about puppy training or hunting dog gear? Browse our full selection at Gun Dog Supply or give us a call — we're hunters, too.