Socializing Your Way to Success
by Linda Wagner

This week I am going to address one of the most important and life-altering things you can do for your puppy or adult dog. According to The Denver Dumb Friends League, by the age of 24 weeks, your new puppy should have met 250 to 500 new people and interacted on a weekly, if not daily basis, with several dozen puppies and adult dogs, under supervision. Ideally, during these interactions, your puppy should be meeting children, teenagers, men and women of all ages, colors and sizes.

The developmental stage that occurs between five and sixteen weeks is unlike anything else your puppy will ever experience again. Believe it or not, 90% of your adult dog’s likes, fears and phobias are formed during this brief time period. The less your puppy is exposed to new people, other pets and situations outside your immediate home, the more likely he is to be fearful or less confident down the road.

So what can you do to keep your puppy on the right track to success? There are several ways to socialize your new puppy. These include dog parks, puppy daycare and obedience classes. All of these activities help to build confidence and healthy self esteem in puppies And let’s be honest, it’s a whole lot of fun for the puppy, too!

Dogs are pack animals—they crave interaction and play with other dogs. To deny them the chance to interact on a regular basis is almost cruel. Often, owners keep their puppies at home for the first few months for any variety of reasons. Many express the fear that if the dog heads off to puppy day care, the experience will somehow lessen the bond between dog and owner. Nothing could be further from the truth. After an eight hour day of nonstop playing, your puppy will literally long to take a big, cuddly nap with you!

Another poor excuse for keeping a dog at home is bad manners. How many times have you heard someone say with a weak smile, as his dog knocks you over with his greeting, “well, he’s really good at home?” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard an owner say they keep their dog at home because she is too unruly or rowdy when she is around people. 

How will your dog ever learn to be appropriate in public if he is never allowed out of the house? How will your dog learn to be away from you for any length of time without fear of separation if you never let him go? 

The bottom line is this: if you want your dog to be happy, content and the best companion he can be, you must commit to spending money and time to help him maximize his potential. According to Dr. Roland Tripp, DVM, a great precursor to obedience class is doggie day care, an ideal place to socialize your puppy from eight weeks on. Any reputable day care service will offer a combination of the following: supervised socialization with people and dogs, mixed with basic obedience training sessions for two to three minutes several times throughout the day.

Supervised is the key word here—no puppy or adult dog should be left unattended, particularly while playing with other dogs. The goal is for the puppy to learn appropriate and healthy behavior from other dogs while interacting with them in a supervised setting. This is also a great way for your puppy to really get an eight hour workout! 

Learning to sit, making eye contact, waiting at doors and practicing bite inhibition as well as how to correct behavior such as jumping and inappropriate greeting are all basics that any puppy at this age can and should be learning. Each week at my daycare, I work with the puppies for quick two to three minute sessions throughout the day using a marker word, with praise and treats as rewards for good behavior. At the end of the day, when their parents pick them up, I train the owners and give them their “homework” for the week.  By the time they reach my obedience class, their puppy has already learned a number of commands and has a firm grasp of what is appropriate behavior and what is expected of him by his owner and stranger alike. 

If you have gotten your puppy after this crucial time period or have not had a chance to get him into one or more of these activities, do not despair! It is never too late to start your puppy or adult dog on a socialization program and there are only benefits to be gained by doing it. Any dog, at any age, can learn new tricks! 

[Portions of this article originally appeared in The Estes Park News, May 2003]