PUPPY SOCIALISATION

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Neonatal Period

Puppies should not be homed until they are 7 to 8 weeks old, before this time it will mean that it's not been with it's mother and siblings long enough to learn. During this period your puppy learns about social interaction, from mother and littermates. Puppies should stay with the litter during this critical period. They learn the most important lesson in their lives, how to accept discipline. A reputable breeder will never let a pup go before this time.

Human Socialisation Period

The first 14 weeks of life are what is known as the "Human Socialisation Period". This is the time when you need to introduce your pup with as many things as is humanly possible. Learning at this age is permanent so this is a perfect time to start training. Also, this is the ideal time to introduce the puppy to things that will play an important part in its life. Introduce it to different people, places, animals, and sounds all in a positive non-threatening way. Their is a new vaccination that means that your dog can be fully covered at 10 weeks. Speak to your vet regarding this.

Training

Make training short and fun this way it will look forward to training. Teach your puppy to understand ‘sit’, ‘heel’, ‘come’ and ‘down’ from day one. Use toys and chews, make sure you are controlling the game by taking them from him and throwing them. At the end, make sure that you win by taking them away, this helps to avoid dominance problems later in life. Discourage bad habits. If your pup jumps up, step back, saying ‘off, sit’.Try to use methods that reinforce good behaviour rather than ones that discourage bad behaviour. Your dog will always try to repeat something that he enjoys.

Most dogs learn to control their bite whilst playing. This is called bite inhibition If they bite another pup too hard, it will cry out and move away. Most puppies will treat us and our families as play-mates, and may nip. By copying the litter-mates behaviour. No matter how gently your puppy bites, discourage it. Make sure that children do not treat the puppy as a play thing. Teach children and visitors that they must abide by your rules regarding your pup.

Socialisation and Training Classes

It is vitally important to socialise your dog at an early age take it to puppy and later to training classes.

Dog Manners

Some people think it's funny to see puppies abusing older dogs Don't allow your puppy to harass bite or jump on other animals. If you don't do this you may find that an adult dog may snap at your puppy. This is normal, therefore, don't punish the adult dog but stop the pup before it gets to serious, or your pup could become fearful of other dogs and become aggressive in later life.

Hindsight

Set out your rules and stick to them, be consistent keep it fun then you wont look back and say I should have stopped that when it strarted.

Paul Rawlinson Dog Behavioural Specialist

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