You’ve just brought home your new Labradoodle puppy, and suddenly you’re up at 3 am for toilet breaks, cleaning up accidents, and wondering if you’re doing everything wrong. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by conflicting advice about crates, commands, and socialisation windows, you’re not alone.
The thing is, these early weeks shape your puppy training for life. Ethical breeders like oodle pups who follow RightPaw certification standards have already done health testing and early handling. Now you’ll continue that work at home.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- What your Australian Labradoodle already knows and how to build on it
- Your first two weeks: house training, crate training, and sleep schedules
- Teaching basic commands and mental stimulation for young puppies
- Safe socialisation during vaccination periods
Ready to turn chaos into confidence? Let’s get started.
What Your Australian Labradoodle Already Knows (And What Comes Next)
Your multi-generational Australian Labradoodle arrives with advantages most puppies don’t have.
When you bring home a puppy from ethical breeders, they’ve already experienced crate exposure, basic handling, and early socialisation. The work begins at birth with careful temperament testing and neurological stimulation that prepares puppies for obedience training before they even leave the litter.
Building on Breeder Foundations
The handoff period between 8-10 weeks is about continuing the routines your labradoodle puppy already knows. When oodle pups prepare multi-generational Labradoodles, they’ve introduced crate time, human touch, and predictable feeding schedules.
Your job is to keep these patterns going while adding your family’s specific routine. This continuity helps puppies learn faster because they’re building on familiar foundations instead of learning everything new.
What Changes and What Stays the Same
Your puppy expects to sleep near humans, follow toilet schedules, and receive gentle handling for grooming. These expectations were set by their breeder through daily interactions during those first weeks with the litter.
If you’re worried about undoing breeder work, here’s what you need to know: consistency beats perfection every time. Keep similar meal times, maintain the crate as a safe space, and continue positive reinforcement that rewards good behaviour.
Your Australian labradoodle will adapt to small differences in your home while keeping the core lessons they’ve already learned at an early age.
After you understand what your puppy brings from their breeder, the next challenge is managing those hectic first two weeks at home.
Labradoodle Training Early Weeks Australia: Your First Two Weeks at Home
The best part about these first 14 days is that your puppy is a learning sponge, but they’re also exhausted, overwhelmed, and missing their littermates.
If this sounds exhausting, we would say yes, it is. But you’ll see progress faster than you expect when you focus on three main areas: getting house training right from day one, making the crate a place your puppy loves, and managing your own sleep while your puppy adjusts.
Let’s break down what those first two weeks look like.
House Training Reality
You’ll take your puppy outside after every sleep, meal, and play session. That means every 1-2 hours during the day for potty breaks.
Yeah, it’s a lot. But here’s the thing: your puppy’s bladder control is still developing, and they can’t physically hold it for long periods yet. When accidents happen (and they will), clean them up with an enzymatic cleaner and move on. Punishment doesn’t work because puppies don’t connect scolding with something they did 30 seconds ago.
The main thing with successful toilet training is timing and consistency. Take your labradoodle puppy to the same spot each time, use a simple verbal cue like “go potty,” and give puppy treats the moment they finish. This positive reinforcement teaches your puppy what behaviour you want.
Crate Training as Your Secret Weapon
Crate training serves double duty as both a toilet training tool and a safe space for your new puppy. Most dogs won’t soil where they sleep, which makes the crate perfect for teaching bladder control.
You can toss a soft blanket and a chew toy inside to make it feel cosy. The biggest mistake is using the crate for punishment, which teaches your puppy to fear it instead of seeing it as their den. In such cases, short training sessions work best at first, around 10-15 minutes, then you can gradually increase the time as your puppy gets comfortable.
From our experience with Pip and Rosie’s puppies, the families who struggled most tried forcing long crate sessions too quickly. Start slow and let your puppy adjust at their own pace.
Sleep Deprivation Is Normal (But Temporary)
We recommend setting up the crate in your bedroom for nighttime. It’s because your puppy will hear you breathing and feel less alone, which means less crying and better sleep for everyone.
You’ll be up at 2-3 am for toilet trips during the first week. But the good thing is that most labradoodle puppies can sleep through the night by week three as their bladder control improves.
We’ve had families tell us that week one felt impossible, but by week four, they couldn’t remember why they were so worried.
One helpful trick is cutting off water about 2 hours before bedtime. Take your puppy out for one last potty break right before you go to sleep, then straight outside the moment they wake up in the morning.
Once you’ve survived those first few weeks and established house training basics, your puppy is ready to start learning commands and games that challenge their brain.
Basic Commands and Mental Stimulation for Growing Puppies
Ever wonder why your Labradoodle puppy seems brilliant one minute and completely scatterbrained the next?
The answer is simple: puppies learn best through brief sessions that match their short attention spans. When you try teaching your puppy for too long, they get bored and tune out. But when you keep training sessions fun and quick, you’ll be amazed at how fast they pick things up.
Here’s how to teach your puppy the essentials while keeping their brain engaged.
Starting with Three Core Commands
The easiest place to start is with ‘sit’ because it teaches impulse control before meals. Hold a treat above your puppy’s nose, move it back over their head, and their bottom naturally drops down. The moment it does, say “sit” and give the treat.
Once your puppy gets the hang of sitting, you can move on to ‘come’. Practice this one indoors first with puppy treats and lots of praise. Get down to your puppy’s level, use an excited voice, and reward them every single time they come to you. This positive reinforcement builds the foundation for reliable recall later.
The ‘stay’ command comes next, though it’s tougher for energetic young puppies because it requires patience. Start with waiting 2-3 seconds, then gradually work up to longer periods. Keep training sessions under 5 minutes because puppies lose focus quickly at this age.
You might notice your puppy responding perfectly at home but ignoring you outdoors. That’s completely normal and happens to most puppies. New environments have way more distractions, so they need time to generalize what they’ve learned in familiar settings.
Why Your Puppy’s Brain Needs Exercise Too
After you’ve practiced those basic commands for a few days, you’ll probably notice something interesting. Your puppy might still have energy even after a play session in the yard. The reason for this is simple: physical activity alone doesn’t tire out an intelligent breed like the Australian Labradoodle.
Training labradoodles means understanding they need brain work as well. A tired brain creates a calm puppy, and mental stimulation wears them out faster than a long walk. Think about how exhausted you feel after learning something new versus just going for a walk. Your puppy feels the same way.
So how do you tire out that busy brain? Hide-and-seek with treats gets your puppy using their nose, which is one of their strongest senses. Start easy by hiding treats in obvious spots, then make it harder as they get the hang of it.
Sniff games with towels work well, too. Roll up treats in a towel and let your puppy figure out how to unroll it. The first time you try this, your puppy might look confused for a minute, but once they understand the game, they’ll love it.
Puzzle feeders turn meal times into problem-solving sessions. Instead of gulping down food in 30 seconds, your puppy works for 10-15 minutes to get their kibble out. This approach tires their brain while protecting growing joints from too much physical exercise, which is important for young puppies.
The 2-Second Rule Behind Effective Puppy Training
Puppies learn through immediate feedback. They connect rewards with actions only within two seconds, so timing your praise and treats determines what your puppy learns.
When you time your “good dog” within two seconds, you’ll see results click into place. Wait too long, and your puppy has no idea what they’re being rewarded for. This is why food rewards work so well during puppy obedience training. You can deliver them instantly when your puppy does the correct behaviour.
The good news? Once you nail this timing, teaching your puppy new behaviours becomes much easier.
Now that your puppy is learning basic commands and getting proper mental stimulation, the next challenge is socialisation without exposing them to health risks.
Socialisation Without the Stress (Managing Vaccination Schedules)
Socialisation during weeks 8-16 shapes your Labradoodle’s entire personality, but the vaccination-versus-exposure dilemma keeps most Brisbane owners up at night.
You’re facing a tough choice: your puppy needs socialisation during this prime window, but they won’t be fully vaccinated until around 16 weeks. The Australian Veterinary Association recommends balancing disease risk with the behavioural benefits of early interactions.
It’s time to know how to socialise your Labradoodle safely during these early weeks.
The Smart Socialisation Window (8-16 Weeks)
This period overlaps with incomplete vaccination, which is why you need to be smart about exposures:
- Invite vaccinated dogs to your home: You control the environment and know the other dog’s health status.
- Carry your puppy to observe the world: They can see, hear, and smell new things without walking on public ground.
- Attend puppy school by 12 weeks: Local training facilities maintain clean, controlled environments for young puppies.
- Introduce your puppy to friends’ healthy, vaccinated dogs: Private yards offer safe spaces for early interactions with other dogs.
What to Expose Them To at Home
You can do plenty of socialisation right in your house before full vaccination:
- Different floor surfaces: Walk your puppy on tiles, carpet, grass, and concrete to build confidence.
- Household sounds: Run the vacuum, washing machine, doorbell, and TV while your puppy is nearby.
- People wearing different things: Have visitors wear hats, sunglasses, umbrellas, and bulky jackets around your puppy.
- Gentle handling: Touch paws, ears, and mouth regularly to prepare for future vet visits and grooming.
One family we worked with set up an “experience course” in their backyard with different textures and objects. Their puppy learned to walk on bubble wrap, cardboard, and even a small plastic kiddie pool (empty at first). This kind of creative home socialisation builds confidence without health risks.
Respecting Fear Periods (Especially 8-11 Weeks)
Between 8-11 weeks, your puppy goes through a fear period where new things can seem scary. If your puppy backs away from something new, you should never force them forward.
Here’s what works better:
- Let them observe from a distance: Your puppy can watch from wherever they feel comfortable.
- Reward calm behaviour: Give treats when they look at the scary thing without reacting.
- Keep exposure brief: Always end on a positive note before your puppy gets overwhelmed.
- Avoid flooding them: Forced close contact with whatever scares them makes the fear worse.
The goal is to build a well-adjusted dog who feels confident in new environments. When you respect their body language and let them approach new things at their own pace, you’re teaching them that the world is safe and interesting.
After you’ve managed these early weeks of house training, basic commands, and careful socialisation, you’ll have a puppy ready to grow into a confident adult dog.
Your Path to a Well-Trained Labradoodle
Now that you know the foundations, remember that your Labradoodle’s early weeks aren’t about perfection.
These 8-16 weeks establish lifetime patterns. Consistent toilet training, positive crate associations, and confident socialisation all stem from this foundational period.
From our experience at Oodle Pups with Pip and Rosie, the puppies who struggled most had families who waited to start training. The ones who thrived had owners who began on day one and stayed consistent.
Your Australian labradoodle arrived ready to learn. Your job is continuing what their breeder began with patience and daily consistency.
