A 6-Point Checklist for Socializing Your Puppy

Puppies, like children, can’t grow into healthy, well-balanced adults without our help and guidance. I say this often: “Good puppies aren’t born, they’re made.”

You’d never dream of restricting your child to your house or yard all his life, or suddenly decide to begin parenting him long after he’s developed objectionable behaviors or habits. Yet that is the situation many puppies grow up in, and then their humans can’t understand how their cute little pups turned into misbehaved, destructive or aggressive animals.

The explanation is simple: dogs are social animals and require regular interaction with the humans and pets in their immediate family, as well as with other people and animals, beginning very early in life, and continuing throughout their life. Puppies go through several development stages on the road to maturity:

• Between 4 and 8+ weeks, they learn how to interact with other dogs
• Between 5 and 10+ weeks, they develop the skills necessary to interact with humans
• Between 5 and 16 weeks, they are most open to investigating new environments and stimuli; puppies not given a full range of socialization opportunities by about 10 weeks can develop a fear of the unfamiliar

It’s your responsibility as your pup’s guardian to take maximum advantage of each sensitive stage by providing age-appropriate social and learning opportunities. Puppies who aren’t properly socialized during their first 3 months are at dramatically increased risk for behavior problems like aggression, fear, and avoidance.

Dogs with problems stemming from lack of early socialization fill animal shelters and rescue facilities in every city and state across the U.S.

Top Tips for Socializing Your Puppy

1. Enroll your puppy in a professionally run, positive puppy class. These classes involve minimal exposure to health risks and can deliver tremendous benefits for both you and your pup, including increasing his responsiveness to commands, teaching him bite inhibition, and learning tips for successful housetraining and how to prevent hyperactivity.
2. Invite friends and family over to meet and interact with your puppy as often as possible (several times a week is ideal). Try to include people of varying ages and ethnicities, especially children if you don’t have any, and both genders. Also invite gentle, healthy dogs, puppies and cats to your home to meet and interact with your pup, and regularly take your puppy for visits to other friendly pet-owning households.
3. Make sure your puppy is exposed to unfamiliar or out-of-place objects around your house and outdoor environment, so he’ll be less likely to startle or be fearful of changes.
4. It’s also important to get him accustomed to hearing a variety of sounds, for example, the vacuum cleaner, the blender, the lawn mower, outside traffic, a blow dryer, a plastic or paper trash bag being snapped open, the TV, radio, video games, etc. The goal is never to frighten your pup, but to expose him to new sounds. Life is noisy; he needs to learn that everyday sounds are no big deal.
5. Get your puppy accustomed to being bathed and brushed, having his nails clipped, his teeth brushed, and his ears and other body parts handled and examined. This will help him develop a healthy tolerance for human handling, which will make future baths, nail trims, oral care, and visits to the veterinarian and groomer easier on everyone involved.
6. Keep things positive. You should start socializing your pup from his first day home with you, but don’t overwhelm him. Set the stage and then let him set the pace. Don’t hurry or force his progress, and keep socialization sessions frequent but brief, and always upbeat. Modify the type of socialization based on the response and personality of your puppy.
7. When your puppy shows hesitance or fear, resist the urge to reward fearful behavior with a lot of attention and affection. Stay close to reassure him he’s safe but take care not to inadvertently reinforce fearful behavior.

Always remember that socializing your puppy should be an enjoyable, satisfying experience for both of you — one that will pay dividends for the rest of your life together. There is no greater joy than a well-adjusted, balanced canine companion.