What are the most important things you can do for your puppy? Part 2 – Socialization

By Eric Goebelbecker | Published: January 7, 2010

Where's the world? Let me at it!

After bite inhibition, the next most important task for a puppy parent is socialization. Puppies have what is frequently called a “critical period” that spans roughly 8 – 16 weeks of age. (The exact period varies from pup to pup.) This period marks the time when your puppy is most impressionable and you have a chance to help your puppy not just be able to cope with a variety of people, places and things, but to help her actually enjoy them as an adult!

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) says that insufficient socialization can increase the likelihood of behavior problems such as fear, avoidance and aggression later in life. The AVSAB makes the case that since behavioral issues kill more dogs (via euthanasia at shelters) than infectious disease, the fear of taking puppies outside because of their young immune systems should take a backseat to the fear of poor socialization.

Proper and sufficient socialization consists of controlled exposure to a wide variety of different people, places, and things. Controlled means keeping the exposure happy and pleasant for your puppy. Proper socialization doesn’t mean throwing your puppy in the deep end. Each new experience should be happy and joyful, a link in a chain of happy experiences.

Dr. Ian Dunbar says that your puppy should meet at least 100 new people before he is three months old. This may sound daunting, but it’s really not that difficult. One of my favorite instructors, Liz Catalano, tells a story in her puppy classes about how she and her husband camped out in front of a store with her puppy and a bag of treats and simply asked the passersby to give the puppy a treat. Who would say no to that? And since they are only giving him a treat and maybe a pet, the chance of infectious disease is low.

But probably the best way you can set you and your puppy up for some great socialization is with a great puppy class. Dr. Dunbar has some information on Dog Star Daily about puppy classes. A puppy class given by an experienced instructor should provide you with plenty of information on how to communicate with your puppy as well as quality play time meeting other puppiea and their “puppy parents.” Two for one!

Dog Spelled Forward is offering puppy classes in Maywood NJ. For more information, check out the sign up page.

 

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  • I love this puppy series. You are absolutely right when you say it's the behavior problems from poor socialization that cause dogs to land in shelters and be found ultimately unadoptable. Here's a case in point: We have a Silky Terrier (and what a terrier is he) that Elizabeth, board president, has been fostering for 9 months because he was a holy terror.

    His former owners actually confessed that he spent his first two years in a cage for nearly 18 hours a day. He would guard anything in his mouth and fly into shaking rages if you tried to get near what he had. When he bit, it was really hard. He did not know how to properly play with other dogs, and bit them to hard too. He got told off by other dogs many times before he got a clue. He didn't know the difference between outside and inside for doing his business. And he would bite every time you tried to put the harness on him. Yet oddly he was a model citizen on TV shelter interviews, but of course we told everyone the truth and they thanked us and ran away! He also was great in training classes, even winning third prize.

    Elizabeth has learned his limits, his forgetful potty habits, and he has come to understand that tradeoffs--cookies--taste better than whatever he fished out of the garbage or off the street. But he is just too naughty to adopt out and would revert with ease should anyone try to reprimand him in the old school style. Then he'd be a goner.

    Elizabeth now has a Silky Terrier(!), even though her husband doesn't know it yet. A surprise announcement for Valentine's Day, perhaps.

    This is not the usual end for dogs like this. I used to think that puppy classes were too dangerous for the puppies but socialization early and often is the way to go.
  • That's a great story (since it has a happy ending.)

    Puppy class is not without risks, but the alternative is much, much worse.
  • If you want to travel with your dog - where travel means anything from a trip to the park to an extended roadtrip - the importance of proper socialization cannot be overstated. Since most people take home new puppies when they are between 8 and 10 weeks old, they should plan on getting a puppy when they can combine holidays, vacation days, and personal days to spend an extended period of time with the pooch. Consider this. If the average life span of a dog is in the range of 10 years, the few weeks of time you spend with your pup in its "formative weeks" could save you years of aggravation of living with a dog with the behavioral issues mentioned above.
  • Very good advice, while it is not a good idea to gift a puppy, the holiday season is actually not a bad time of year to get a pup.
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