The First Few Months Shape Everything. Let's Get Them Right.

You've waited for this. Maybe for years. And now they're home — this tiny, chaotic, heart-melting creature who chews everything, sleeps nowhere, and looks at you like you hold all the answers.

The pressure of that is real. Because somewhere between the puddles on the kitchen floor and the 3am wake-ups, you've probably Googled "how to train a puppy" — and found yourself drowning in conflicting advice, quick-fix videos, and a growing suspicion that you're somehow getting it wrong.

You're not getting it wrong. You just haven't been given the right foundation yet.

That's exactly what The Puppy Programme is for.

This Isn't Puppy Classes in a Village Hall.

Standard puppy classes have their place. But they're built around volume — getting a group of puppies to sit, stay, and walk on a lead before the six weeks are up. They're not built around your puppy.

Not your puppy's breed. Not their temperament. Not the specific challenges showing up in your home, on your walks, or during your puppy's interactions with your kids, your older dog, or your postman.

The Puppy Programme is different because it treats your puppy as an individual from day one.

Built on Communicative Learning Theory (CLT) — James & Frankie's science-backed framework that puts communication at the centre of all learning — this programme doesn't just teach your puppy commands. It teaches your puppy how to learn, and teaches you how to speak their language.

That distinction changes everything.

The Window You Have Right Now Is the Most Important One of Your Dog's Life.

Puppies have a socialisation window — a critical developmental period that closes faster than most owners realise. What your puppy experiences, learns, and comes to understand about the world during this window forms the blueprint for their adult behaviour.

Miss it, and you spend years unpicking problems that didn't have to exist.

Use it well — with the right guidance — and you build a dog who is confident, communicative, and genuinely a joy to live with.

The Puppy Programme is designed to make sure you don't miss a moment of it.

What The Programme Covers

Foundation Communication

Before any cues, before any commands — your puppy needs to understand how to communicate with you, and you with them. Using CLT principles, we establish a shared language that underpins everything that follows. This is what separates puppies who truly understand their owners from puppies who are just guessing.

Socialisation Done Properly

Not just "expose them to things" — but structured, positive, confidence-building experiences with people, environments, sounds, surfaces, and other animals. Socialisation is a skill, not a checkbox. We'll teach you how to do it safely and effectively across Sutton Coldfield's parks, trails, and real-world environments.

Bite Inhibition & Mouthing

The thing nobody warned you about. We address mouthing and biting in a way that's developmentally appropriate — not punitive, not permissive, but genuinely effective.

Toilet Training

A clear, consistent approach that reduces accidents, reduces stress, and speeds up the process without confusion or setbacks.

Recall — Built From the Beginning

Recall is not something you add later. It's something you build now, while your puppy still thinks you're the most interesting thing in the world. We'll establish it properly before the teenage months arrive and test it.

Loose Lead Walking

Starting before bad habits form is infinitely easier than fixing them. We introduce lead manners in a way that makes sense to your puppy's developing brain.

Settling, Independence & Alone Time

Separation anxiety begins here. We build your puppy's ability to be calm and content independently — a skill that protects their mental health and your sanity for years to come.

The Teenage Phase — What's Coming & How to Handle It

Every puppy owner hits this wall. We prepare you for it in advance — the regression, the selective hearing, the testing of boundaries — so it doesn't feel like everything you've worked for has collapsed.

What's Included

✔ In-depth initial consultation — your puppy's breed, temperament, home environment, and your goals mapped before we begin

✔ Structured 1:1 sessions personalised entirely to your puppy — not a generic curriculum

✔ Real-world training across Sutton Coldfield's parks, paths, and environments — because puppies need to learn where life actually happens

✔ A written puppy development plan you can follow between sessions

✔ Between-session support — because puppies don't wait until your next appointment to do something unexpected

✔ Socialisation guidance and a structured exposure framework

✔ CLT-based communication tools that grow with your dog through every life stage

✔ Force-free, science-backed methods throughout — because the trust you build now determines the dog you have at five years old

Why Puppy Owners Across Sutton Coldfield & Birmingham Choose James & Frankie

James & Frankie is a specialist dog training and behaviour practice based in Sutton Coldfield (B74), built on science, compassion, and a genuine belief that every dog — from the first day home — deserves to be understood.

The Puppy Programme isn't run by a franchise trainer following a script. It's delivered personally, built around your puppy, and grounded in a framework — CLT — that produces dogs who are genuinely well-adjusted, not just conditionally obedient.

Sessions take place in the real-world environments your puppy will grow up in — including Sutton Park, Powell's Pool, Hillhook Nature Reserve, and the streets and green spaces of Sutton Coldfield — because that's where real behaviour happens.

This Programme Is Right For You If…

You've just brought a puppy home and want to start on the right foot

You're a few weeks or months in and feel like things are already going sideways

You want more than sit, stay, and a certificate — you want a dog you genuinely understand

You're worried about socialisation, biting, toileting, or the teenage phase ahead

You want personalised, expert guidance — not a group class where your puppy is one of twelve

You're based in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, Lichfield, Tamworth, or the wider West Midlands

Every Great Dog Was Once a Puppy With the Right Start.

The dog your puppy becomes is being decided right now. Let's make sure those decisions are the right ones.

Book Your Initial Consultation — currently serving Sutton Coldfield (B74), Birmingham, Lichfield, Tamworth, and surrounding areas.