What is a right time to start training a puppy?

Question

I have brought a Labrador Retriever puppy home 4 days back. She is 50 days old. We have not introduced her to any leash or crate or anything. When should we start training her for it and how?

I have mainly 2 problem areas :

1. Teeth biting on hands and legs. We have got her couple of chew toys but she still prefers our hands and legs.

2. When we are at home, she has to be beside us all the time. While sleeping as well she will draw attention by making some sound and she will sleep only when we sleep beside her.

3. She is doing pee and poo anywhere. What is the right age we should be starting training her for this??

Answer 1

A full "how to train your dog" post would be out of scope here, so I will quickly address the three issues you mention.

1) What works in most cases is: when you are playing, always direct to the toy to bite and chew. When he bites flesh -> Playtime is over. If it continues trying to bite, redirect. How you react if that STILL does not work really depends upon your way to establish discipline. Above all, though, establish a clear "NO!" command! This will help in all places where you want to stop your dog from doing things.

2) Your dog is still a baby and just got separated from it's family. Let her sleep with you for now, let her be all over you, it will be only a few short weeks until she feels secure enough for some distance. It is a good sign she feels secure enough with you to sleep when you are there!

3) You can start training her now by rewarding her for every poop and pee outside, but don't expect her to be fully housebroken for a few months yet. It can be up to a year, and right now, even if she wanted to, she doesn't have full control over her bladder yet! When she makes a mess, just clean up and move on, do NOT punish her! If you punish her immediately, she may learn "pooping is bad", which is not really helpful -> You want her to learn that pooping outside is AWESOME, so she'll do it there! If you punish her even a minute after the fact, she will have no idea why you are angry at her.

Last, some general advise: A dogs attention-span is really short, a puppies doubly so. Any praise for something she did well will need to come immediately after that fact. Feel free to reward and praise her a lot for every tiny thing she does right, and she will try to repeat it.
Don't forget to reward things like "Waiting quietly" or "Stay in your sport for a few minutes" or "Paying attention to you!". It is those seemingly tiny things that help a LOT to make your dog behave as you want.
Don't overdo punishment. Establish a firm "No!" command, ignore bad behaviours when you can, and praise everything you want her to do.
Love her and have a lot of fun!

Answer 2

The right time to start is the day you got him.

The night I got my German Shepherd I gave him a bit of whatever I had in the house to teach him to sit, planning to do some more serious training the next day.

The next day he already knew how to sit. My training plans were ruined. I hate clever students, they make the teacher look like a moron.