Socialisation - Why the ages of 8-16 weeks are so important 

If you have a new puppy, socialisation is one of the most important things you can do to raise them to be a friendly, well-adjusted dog.

When we bring a new puppy home, most of us have a picture of how we want them to behave when they grow up. The picture usually includes a well-behaved dog who’s friendly to new people and dogs, making them easy to take places and involve in all aspects of family life. The key things which enable us to do that are training and socialisation.

Puppies have a key “socialisation period” from around 8-16 weeks where they are basically more open to new experiences. The more good experiences with new people, dogs and situations in this time, the more likely they are to become friendly, well-adjusted adults. By contrast, if they have lots of bad experiences (like getting attacked by another dog) or very limited experiences (like being kept at home and only interacting with the family) during this time, they are more likely to be fearful or aggressive as adults.

If you’ve looked at your puppy’s vaccination schedule, you’ll notice that this socialisation period clashes with the time when they are not fully protected from diseases like parvo virus. This means you need to be careful about where you take them, so they get maximum positive exposure with minimum risk of disease (for example, the dog park is not a good idea, but since you have no control over the dogs that will be there (and they might be aggressive to your puppy), it’s a good idea to avoid the dog park with puppies anyway). The best person to talk to about how to maximise socialisation opportunities with minimum disease risk is your vet.

“Puppy School” classes are run by most local vets, and these provide a great opportunity to begin socialising your puppy to other puppies and new people in a safe place, before they have all their vaccinations. Playing with other puppies is very important, as this helps your puppy learn how to be a good playmate – not biting too hard or being too pushy. This means you need to be watching your pup to make sure they are being a good playmate and both parties are enjoying the play. If either puppy is being overwhelmed by the other, it’s a good idea to step in and gently intervene.

The following is a list of things to socialise your puppy to (i.e. give them positive experiences with, particularly from 8 – 16 weeks old – ensure all experiences are positive ones, you don’t want to accidentally teach your puppy that any of these are scary!

• Other dogs – make sure any older dogs are very well socialised and gentle with puppies – you don’t want to introduce your puppy to intimidating dogs, as you want them to learn that other dogs are fun, not scary.

• Other animals, especially ones your dog will be expected to be ok with in future – horses, chickens, cats etc

• New people - include a broad range, men with beards, kids, women, people wearing hoodies etc.

• New surfaces – gravel, slippery tiles, staircases, wet grass

• Skateboard, scooters and bikes riding past – you can introduce these from a distance and move closer if your puppy is unfazed by them

• Noises – you can help your puppy become used to noises that are often considered “scary” like thunder, or fireworks, by playing them very quietly in the background while your puppy is doing something fun, like playing with you, or eating their meal. Make sure you don’t scare your puppy doing this, the key is for them to think those noises are unimportant, not for them to think it’s scary! You can gradually increase the volume as they get used to the sounds, reducing the volume back down if they start paying attention to the noise, or acting nervous.

• Handling: Vets and groomers need to handle dogs in different ways to everyday life and you’ll make their job a lot easier if you get your puppy used to this from the start! Get them used to standing or lying quietly while you look into their mouth and ears, handle their paws and claws, lift each of their legs, rub all over their body and brush them with a soft brush.

• Car rides. Keep them short, and do something fun at the end – you don’t want them to think that all car rides result in a visit to the vet clinic!

Obviously you can’t introduce your puppy to everything they might encounter in their adult life in that 8 week socialisation period, but you should introduce them to as many as possible, with particular emphasis on anything they’ll be likely to encounter as adults. You should continue taking your puppy to lots of places and meeting new people and dogs right into adulthood.

A key part of shaping a balanced, well-socialised dog in any situation is to ensure your dog trusts you and looks to you for guidance. That way, when you encounter something they’re unsure about, or have never seen before, they’re happy to look to you for guidance on what to do, rather than trying to figure it out on their own (and possibly making the wrong choice). Our training method helps to create this kind of relationship with your dog, where they learn to look and listen to you even in highly distracting situations.