Socialization Period (5-16 weeks)

This period can be further broken down, but this was enough typing for tonight!

From an article by Kathryn Lanam:

According to a study done by Fox in 1975, puppies exposed to increasingly complex stimuli – “enrichment” – seek out complex environments, where “stimulus-poor puppies” are inhibited, fearful and look for less complex environments. Additionally the study determined that enriched puppies were dominant in the presence of stimulus-poor dogs. Dogs lacking proper stimuli were overexcitable, learned slower, and forgot easily later in life. A puppy raised in a deprived environment may compensate with self-destructive behaviors like coat chewing, licking, etc.

Socialization does two things to habituate the puppy. It reduces the number of things in the world that a puppy might be frightened of, and it continually provides the experience of first being afraid and then recovering. According to most behaviorists, bounce-back is one of the most valuable traits you can “teach” a dog. The more often the puppy recovers, the list of things/people/experiences that the puppy is not afraid of grows faster and faster. Pups must be exposed to a wide array of smells, textures, surfaces, sounds, vibrations, tastes and sights, including and especially a comprehensive variety of people.

The more chances a puppy has to be properly exposed to something new during the critical socialization periods, the less bothered it will be throughout the rest of it’s life when confronted by other new or frightening things.

Undersocialized dogs are shy, fearful, become defensive, discriminate threats inappropriately and may even bite out of fear. Dogs left alone for long periods of time and dogs that have constant human companionship are prone to separation anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Socialization requires creativity and is an ongoing process that should last the entire life of the dog and must occur during the critical period. There are many obstacles to properly socializing puppies – their owners work outside the home all day, dogs are unwelcome in many public places, owners avoid exposure to other dogs to reduce the risk of disease transmission, puppy classes and trainers are unavailable or not deemed necessary, the owner stops because either the older puppies are very outgoing or they are out of control. The list could go on and on, but there is no substitution for intensive and ongoing socialization for all puppies.