Your puppy's development stages during the first three months are called the Developmental Periods. During these stages, your puppy learns about his environment, and develops his own personality. He learns what it means to be a dog, and his experiences provide the basis for the way he will be when he is mature.

• Puppy Development, One to two weeks - Inherent behaviors are seen here.  This means they are crying, sucking, touching, and crawling.  They sleep about ninety percent of the time.  They have no sense of sight and sound and are very vulnerable to cold temperatures.  They need their mother's touch to stimulate urination and defecation.

• Puppy Development, Three weeks - Puppies start to walk at this age.  Their eyesight and hearing are low, but growing quickly.  They start to urinate and defecate without their mother's stimulus, and begin to develop interest in the rest of the litter.

• Puppy Development, Four weeks - At 4 weeks they start to become aware of the sights and sounds around them. Their mother is definitely the central part of their lives still, but alongside this is a growing recognition of people.

• Puppy Development, Five weeks - Puppies are fearless at this stage.  They become very alert.  They're developing more awareness of people, and starting to play with them.

• Puppy Development, Six weeks - They have full development of eyesight and hearing.  They are very curious and love to explore.  Their legs are getting stronger, but they are still a bit wobbly.

• Puppy Development, Seven weeks - This is where you can start housebreaking them.  Puppies in this stage are very involved with their own needs and aren't likely to respond when being called. 

• Puppy Development, Eight and nine weeks - They begin to respond more to their name and start following you around.  They are cautious about new things.

• Puppy Development, Ten to twelve weeks - They respond to their name at all times and start to come when being called.  They are more reliable with housebreaking and learn not to get stepped on (which is obviously an important skill to muster!).