Puppy Socialization

Exposure with Support.

Puppy Socialization is a socio-biological imperative: it takes over where genetics leaves off to develop the brain's capacity for learning, flexibility and resilience. As such, it is the most important focus of the pup's first four months of life.

Facilitating optimal puppy socialization requires exposing a puppy under the age of four months to hundreds of social and sensory experiences (strangers, humans of different races and ages engaged in many different activities; moving things, motorized and not; sights; sounds, sudden onset and background, different pitches and volumes; textures and surfaces; touch, handling and restraint, by guardians and select others for grooming and physical care) at home and away from home, while supporting the pup so it feels safe.

The puppy must feel safe (not just be safe).

It is critical that early learning about the world is varied and feels safe, each encounter positive or neutral in the mind of the pup.

Socialization is what enables a pup to accumulate experience and information about the world, that in turn creates a template for coping and problem solving as an adult.

Puppy socialization should be undertaken with a fervor for at least six weeks during the first 3 to 4 months of life. Proper socialization prepares the puppy for a lifetime of coping with novel sensory events. It is protective, preventative and proactive.

Socialization is most influential during a pup's first 4 months of life; most importantly, it facilitates the development of emotion regulation, a pre-requisite to doing life with humans, other dogs, and the wide array of sensory stimuli that it will encounter in different environments.

An emotionally stable adult dog is one who can navigate novelty with curiosity and caution rather than with panic; a dog who can cope and problem solve, rather than melt down.

Under-socialization--not enough exposure, or not enough protection during exposures--limits social learning and hence the development of coping skills. The under-socialized pup is at high risk of becoming an adult dog who is easily threatened and over-whelmed by novel encounters, and who experiences big feelings and reacts with big behaviours (undesirable and often frightening) towards one or more 'triggers' such as strangers, new dogs, noises, moving skate boards, cars etc.

Fear-aggression, a consequence of under-socialization, can make life very stressful and sometimes dangerous for dogs and their people.

Puppy socialization refers to the very early developmental period (3 to 16 weeks) when a puppy's brain is wired for learning about the world. During this period the pup's brain is also wired for fear. Puppies require a vast and wide range of sensory and social encounters that 'feel' safe so that going forward, for life, their brain's reference point for coping with strange and uncertain encounters is biased towards positive prediction and problem-solving, not pessimism and panic.

Despite the apparently fearless demeanor of many pups it is critical that the pup not 'feel' overwhelmed by fear or abandonment (lack of 'feeling' the support) because its brain will store those negative feelings and experiences (even fleeting ones) and serve them up (much later) as negative perceptions and BIG feelings that predict danger and are unmanageable for the dog.

This is how fear-aggression and reactivity become installed in a dog.

How to Socialize to Protect Against Fear-Aggression

LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH: In addition to a loving, calm home, it is critical that a pup be exposed to the wider world.

Puppy affability is designed by nature to fade after ta few months when genetics instead favours high sensitivity to threat as a survival mechanism. Consequently, if a pup is not adequately exposed to, and adequately protected from, novel stimuli in varied environments, if we do not intentionally help with building both tolerance and felt safety at the same time, the pup’s future emotional stability and ability to cope (as an adolescent and adult) will be at risk.

'Not coping' involves an experience of over-arousal or panic that is usually out of proportion to the trigger (the strange dog, person, sound or moving object) and consequently usually results in a pattern of fear-aggression .

It is critical to socialize proactively because the puppy may give no indication that this resilience is not building and the fear-aggression will not present in the maturing dog until between 5 and 18 months and sometimes older.

Stable emotional and mental health is dependent upon informed socialization conducted by informed caregivers, respect the potential for puppy to feel fear and overwhelm, and who therefore watch the pup's reactions and body language to manage the distance, duration and intensity of exposures so the pup's emotional experiences are either positive or neutral, and above all, not overwhelming. Socialization is the most important protection humans can offer a pup--it is in fact vaccination for the 'disease' of fear-aggression and reactivity.

See list of puppy socialization activities here.

For Help with socializing your puppy, managing dog-dog interactions, and dog park monitoring skills see more here.

Reach out for help with socializing your puppy, or for help with rehabilitating a pup who missed out on timely socialization. Kindred Creatures offers a range of options, from virtual (on-line) support to creating a socialization plan for you to independently execute, to walking you and your pup step-by-step through supported exposures, to "Trainer Trains" sessions, where trainer and your pup go out and about while you work or observe.

Public Dog Parks are Not for Puppy Socialization

Bottom line. Hands down.

Dog parks are not safe for puppies.

It is almost impossible to adequately protect a puppy at a public dog park.

Over-arousal, and hence potential for escalating offensive behaviours and conflict,

runs high at dog parks.

Not all dogs are naturally protective of puppies; not all chase games are fun for all players; and, one dog telling another off, is not always a 'learning a good lesson'. At public dog parks dogs not known to each other, regularly burst onto the scene, and mix, in a flurry of excitement that may look like "just fun" but can in fact be unfriendly and overwhelming. Several strange dogs charging at a pup is just too much too fast. But all it takes is one--just one overpowering aggressive overture from one over-aroused dog not experienced with puppies and lacking good emotion regulation--to traumatize a pup. Having your pup on leash is not a solution; in fact a leashed pup is at much greater risk and has less options for escape and self-defense.

A puppy on the receiving end of an ambush that becomes an 'attack' can be fatal. For those who survive the bodily injuries, the impact of the emotional trauma may severely alter the trajectory of their early life, and quite possibly impact them for life and/or require significant rehabilitative measures.

Puppies benefit most from opportunities for supervised play with age mates. A few minutes of play at a time is ideal, since a tired puppy plays harder and faster while self-control erodes and the quality of the play declines.

It is ideal if a pup also has a select older dog or two to interact with, 'chill' dogs who are receptive and giving with the pup, while also skilled at communicating with appropriate intensity when the pup has been too pushy or persistent in its play.

Vaccinating Puppies against Fear-Aggression

Reach out today to learn how to convey support and protect your puppy during socialization and throughout your dog's life.

In the field of biological sciences,’ puppy socialization’ is a term referring to the process and events required to facilitate healthy mental and emotional development. Aside from installing the coping software in a puppy's brain, the real time benefits of puppy socialization include stimulation and bonding with the human caregivers. Guardians who actively undertake socialization reap the benefits of 'learning' their unique pup and becoming attuned to it emotional experiences and signals.

A commitment to the puppy socialization, sometimes referred to as a ‘vaccination against behaviour' sets a puppy up for success with a lifetime of protection against the behaviour and stresses associated with fear-aggression, the symptoms of which include frantic barking, lunging, chasing and sometimes biting the trigger. The strange dog, car, or visitor is perceived by the dog as threatening and dangerous, and fear-aggressive dog panics and behaves as though its life is at risk.

We’ve all heard of puppy-mill puppies, and some of us have known one. These pups unfortunately spend the first critical weeks of their life in isolation which does the opposite of protecting them; instead of preparing them for a life of confident interactions with the world and its range of people, noises, and environments, their delicate developing brains and senses are drastically deprived of stimulation. And when these pups are handled by those who did the backyard breeding, the fear from lack of support makes for more trauma. The result is a dog afraid of everything, sentenced to a lifetime of fear and/or aggression with little or no chance of rehabilitation.

An under socialized pup is at high risk for poorer mental and emotional health as an adult dog since it does not develop a strong defense system to protect against the impacts of fear and overwhelm; provides the puppy's brain with the inputs it needs to develop resiliency.