This is about me only, not any other trainers. I’m not presuming to speak for any other trainers.
It’s an integrity issue for me.
Because I know that for dogs that age, nothing any trainer can offer surpasses what the owners can do for their pups to prepare them for training in the weeks between 8 weeks and four months.
Training Preparation For Puppy Owners
This is an approximately 8 week, daily process.
1) What owners can do is apply a very light flat collar. From that collar attach a small, light leash with no loop on the end.
Let the pup drag that around, in the house, outside the house as long as it can be supervised.
From time to time pull a little on the leash, and move the puppy short distances with the leash.
2) Socialize the puppy. That does not mean putting the pup in the middle of a bunch of dogs. It does not mean letting everybody come up and pet the puppy.
It means taking the puppy out into public and let it see all those things, get used to those things, get used to sights and sounds of all kinds in the area where you live.
Making sure there is adequate space between the pup and the source of all those sights and sounds.
3) Train the puppy to a crate in your house, not for punishment, but making it a place that belongs to the puppy. Use it briefly, multiple times per day for structure, and to let the pup unwind.
Use it in potty training the dog.
4) Put everything on a schedule.
Then at about 4 months, get your training.
Doing all the above will prepare that puppy for the same systematic training an adult dog would get, all with much less conflict and anxiety.
So, there it is. I don’t offer puppy training before 4 months of age, because I know that you doing everything above in preparation, then getting the systematic training, will give you the best outcome possible.
~Mark Rogers