Socialization

Puppy Foundations: Socialization

Socialization is an important part of raising your puppy. I begin it at my home at 3 weeks, but you must continue it. A puppy's key socialization period lasts from 3 weeks until 14 weeks, but socialization must continue even after that.

When your puppy goes home, they are still young and impressionable, willing to accept the world as you present it to them. This will change during adolescense; your puppy will become suspicious and wary of new things. Therefore, you must make the most of the limited time you have while they're young. Socialization is a big responsibility!

You do not need to "over-socialize" your puppy. This is a common mistake, and can lead to the sort of adult dogs who cannot contain their excitement to see other dogs and people, and cannot settle in public. This is better than a fearful dog, but obviously still not ideal. This happens when every time you take your puppy out for socialization, you let it bounce all over everyone and greet every person or dog. Your puppy does learn that the world isn't scary, which is fantastic, but it doesn't learn that it can interact calmly with the world.

Your puppy should have a lot of both positive and neutral exposure to other dogs and people. Your puppy does not need to meet everyone it sees, and especially not every dog it sees. You should make sure to take time to simply sit with your puppy and let it observe the world calmly. Say no to some of the people who ask to pet your pup; your pup does not need to greet everyone, but do make sure your pup gets to greet a wide variety of people (different races, folks with mobility aids, people with funny hats, children and the elderly, etc). One of my favorite socialization activities is to go to a park with a lawn chair, and find a hill to sit on. Hopefully, your puppy will be able to see children playing games, people walking their dogs, and all sorts of passerbys. This is fantastic neutral exposure.

You should keep in mind that socialization isn't limited to dogs and people. Socialization must introduce your puppy to all sorts of things they might encounter as an adult: cars, other species of animals (from a respectful distance), unusual surfaces, playground equipment, loud noises, bikes and scooters, etc. It is best to break this up into small, digestible intervals everyday for your puppy during its key socialization period. Avoid overloading your puppy with potentially scary and stressful experiences all at once.

With the above in mind, there are many resources available online on how specifically to socialize your puppy such as this article . There are also great socialization checklists for free online so you can make sure you aren't missing anything!