Early socialization practices and adult dog behavior – Video abstract [ID 62081]
the general consensus among dog
researchers and practitioners is that
puppy socialization practices have a
large impact on adult dog behavior a
puppy who has been exposed to many
different types of experiences objects
animals adult humans and children by the
age of about twelve weeks all in a fun
and safe way is less likely to develop
behavioral problems as an adult than
puppy who has not had many of these
types of experiences some of the
behavior problems that may result from
lack of socialization or aggressiveness
and fearfulness but adult dogs which of
had proper socialization as puppies
engage in more positive social
interactions with humans since research
is showing that puppy socialization is
important for raising a dog without
behavioral problems it makes sense that
puppy classes would help in this respect
but the research on puppy class
effectiveness is not so clear there is
some evidence that puppy classes reduce
adult behavioral problems or improved
albarn relationships but other research
suggests that it doesn’t make much of a
difference so it’s possible that most
pet dogs in Western societies already
get an appropriate amount of
socialization even without classes and
adding a class or two doesn’t really
have an effect breeders have an
important role to play in puppy
socialization processes because many
puppies don’t leave the litter until
they’re at least eight weeks old
breeders should consider gently handling
puppies for a few minutes per day from
the time there’s three days old until
they’re about three weeks old after
three weeks of age breeders should start
exposing them to different animals
objects and experiences that they’re
likely to encounter during the course of
their life but they should do this in a
way that doesn’t stress the animal now
owners will bring their puppy home at
around eight weeks of age which gives
them another four weeks or so before the
sensitive period of socialization ends
at this point owners should make every
effort to continue the good work of the
breeder and expose the dog to lots of
different things like children animals
places and other dogs
since veterinarians will often see
puppies come in for immunizations during
the sensitive period of socialization
this is an ideal time to explain to
owners the importance of appropriate
socialization practice this includes the
best ways to provide the puppy with
plenty of interesting experiences while
at the same time making sure that
they’re not put at risk of catching
communicable diseases before they’re
fully immunized
now even though puppy classes do not
categorically appear to impact on adult
dog behavior it might be worth running
classes and veterinary offices in order
to help the dog learn that the vets not
a scary place to go after all part of a
puppy socialization process should
include trips to the vet to conclude
puppy socialization is an important part
of raising a well-adjusted pet dog and
breeders owners and veterinarians all
have a role to play the benefits of
puppy classes are a bit less clear there
are several featured directions for
research in this area a lot of what’s
known about puppy socialization practice
comes from Scott and Fuller’s work in
the 1960s but the world is a very
different place now but sort of
deprivation studies that were permitted
then wouldn’t be allowed now but it is
still important to try to determine how
much socialization is needed to produce
an adult without behavioural problems
also while we know that there must be a
minimum we don’t know what that minimum
is or whether there is individual
variation we also don’t know whether
there’s a point at which a dog has been
so socialized giving the extra
socialization is unnecessary or even
detrimental all we know for sure is that
some socialization is necessary and
without any at all within the first few
months of a puppy’s life it will
probably be unable to form normal
relationships with humans
