OVERVIEW

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Socialization is the cornerstone of raising a well-rounded and adaptable canine companion. In the initial months, if there's one area to prioritize above all else (barring essentials like potty training and safety commands), it's socialization.

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During their formative months, new puppies are remarkably receptive to novel experiences. Capitalizing on this phase is pivotal. Inadequate socialization often translates into struggles with adjusting to new environments, creating challenges not only for dogs and their owners, but also for veterinarians, groomers, and anyone visiting the dog's space. With maturation and guided training, puppies develop heightened confidence, emotional security, and physical adeptness.

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Build connection through training and games

Once you've settled in with your puppy and gotten through Modules I, 2 and 3, start teaching your puppy great behaviors, beginning with a daily routine of crate training, body handling, the collar grab game, and the name game. Find a few games that your puppy responds well to from the “Redirect and distract with games” page in Module 4.

 

Visitors

In the first couple of weeks home, a few visitors may be fine if your puppy is curious and optimistic about people, but keep it low key:

 

• Introductions to visitors should be short, 10 to 15 minutes.

• Only allow engagement that the puppy initiates.

• After the introduction, return your puppy to its crate or behind the x-pen, and reward it for any signs of relaxation.

 

This process sets an expectation from early on to be calm around guests.

 

Introducing to the outside world

Daily exposure and handling across diverse settings fuel a puppy’s curiosity, fostering confidence and deterring the development of fearful tendencies. Providing skilled socialization experiences is an investment in preventing future behavioral complications.

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The scope of socialization extends broadly, encompassing the diverse stimuli meticulously laid out in Sophia Yin’s comprehensive checklist. Yet, a word of caution echoes: quality triumphs over quantity. Overloading a puppy with social experiences poses risks. Hence, a deliberate, step-by-step approach is paramount.

 

As you embark on this journey, remember the risks of over-socialization (see fear periods below), emphasizing the quality of interactions rather than the quantity. Avoid inundating your puppy with excessive external stimuli. Patience and structure are key, gradually exposing your puppy to increasingly stimulating experiences.

 

Conduct training in environments where your puppy feels at ease and redirect nervousness or hyperactivity through play and training. Note that hyperactivity often indicates underlying anxiety or stress. When your puppy is exhibiting curiosity and exploration, this signals readiness for further exposure.

 

A skilled approach assists in navigating your puppy through fear periods, ensuring that socialization endeavors remain positive experiences. Keep the process dynamic and moving, ready to distract your puppy if fear arises. Generally, puppies engaged in some activity or movement exhibit less anxiety and fear compared to those idle or stationary. Through having taught games at home first with your puppy, you will have built interest in them for more distracting environments.

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FEAR PERIODS

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Dogs generally experience two fear periods in their lives: one within the 8-11 weeks (sometimes up to 16 weeks) mark, and another within the 6-14 months window, depending on the breed. Each fear period typically last 2-3 weeks. Long lasting phobias and fears can imprint during a fear period, so it is important to use good socialization to prevent lasting scars from developing, and to minimize long-term effects if a bad event occurs.

 

First fear period: occurs sometime between 8 and 16 weeks

The first fear period is an especially impressionable time, and when you can have the most impact on your puppy’ life. During this period, a puppy is very sensitive to developing lasting fear impressions that may develop into phobias as an adult. For example, being stepped on may turn into a phobia of shoes or feet, an angry yelling person with a certain physical trait could create a phobia of people with that trait, etc.

 

After the first socialization period ends at 16 weeks, it becomes a little harder for your puppy to acclimate and accept new people, objects and places without suspicion or hesitation. Providing careful exposure to objects, people, textures, environments, noises and animals at a slow gradual pace will help build your puppy’s confidence to avoid fear, phobias and distress.

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You will want to get in as much quality exposure to different stimuli, environments and people as feasible during this crucial socialization window. Positive exposures will desensitize and condition your pup toward calmer behaviors in the many environments it will face throughout its life.

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We strongly advise against any free-for-all socialization, especially in dog parks. Your puppy could learn bad socialization habits there or, worse, have a traumatic experience that scars it for life.

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Second fear period: occurs sometime between 6-14 months old

After 16 weeks, obedience as a form of socialization becomes more important, before the second fear period begins at 6 months of age.

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If your puppy has a lack of confidence from insufficient socialization in its first four months, or had a bad experience that created a phobia, playful obedience interspersed with games helps to keep them engaged on a task instead of focusing on what’s scaring them. Work near people and dogs, avoiding direct socialization. This shows your puppy how to self-regulate around distractions, and how you want them to interact with their environment and in social situations.

 

For example, instead of non-structured socialization, you may teach your dog to sit and focus on you when around people and dogs. In general, direct social contact is not as beneficial as it was before 16 weeks of age. Instead, you are now laying down the foundation for having a calm, focused and obedient dog.

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Your primary goal is for distractions, including other people and dogs, to become white noise to your dog, while keeping it calm and focused on you.

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HANDLING

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Pre-adoption handling

It’s helpful to consider your puppy’s pre-adoption socialization. If your puppy was raised by a skilled breeder, it should have received daily handling and exposure to various mild environmental stressors from birth to adoption.

 

Research finds that mild stressors, like change of ambient temperature and movement, can positively impact a puppy’s resistance to disease, and foster learning and problem-solving abilities. Stressed puppies exposed to lights, sounds, stimulus extremes, cold, and vestibular stimulation (things that move) performed better in problem solving, resistance, emotional stability, and improved learning ability. When weaned too early from their mother, before day 15, puppies may be prone to develop adult oral and motor compulsions involving sucking and kneading directed toward blankets and other soft objects.

 

Steps for desensitizing your puppy to handling:

Conditioning your puppy to being restrained while being held still can be immediately helpful for practical things like vet visits, putting on gear, etc.

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Daily handling can teach your puppy how to cope with stress. Your puppy will be handled often, so repeated handling helps to desensitize them to touching nails, toes, paws, legs, eyes, ears, etc. Puppies that squeal, fight, protest or bite need to learn that these behaviors don’t work and don’t get them out of the stress of handling. Early desensitization to being handled can avoid having to put in hours of conditioning training later to get your dog’s consent.

 

Conditioning a wiggly unfearful puppy to restraint

This procedure is appropriate for happy puppies that are not exhibiting fear of touch or people:

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1) Slip your thumb in their collar and keep their mouth away from you

2) Put light pressure on to hold them still when they’re struggling, and then take the pressure off when they relax; ONLY stop once your puppy gives in to the exercise.

4) Don’t be afraid to ride the storm.

5) Don’t let go or you’ll teach them they can control the situation through protesting and fighting

6) Practice every day!!

7) Make sure your puppy is in a rested state of mind that’s open and receptive to new things. Typically this is after a nap, eliminating outside, and a little bit of obedience training.

 

If your puppy is unusually fearful of touch or people, use a more gradual approach:

1) Charge a "Yes" marker word (See Module 4, "Rewarding Mechanics")

2) Hold your puppy still for a second, mark “Yes!”, then reward and release.

2) Slowly increase the duration, incrementally adding seconds.

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Touching body parts

Generally, the best approach to conditioning your puppy to like being touched everywhere is by rewarding your puppy after touching and handling different body parts, and then rewarding them for tolerating incrementally longer handling actions. See the nail trimming approaches in the additional references of the “Consent” library page for an example.

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Collar grab game

Your dog will often be grabbed by you and other people, so it is critical to train it to expect good things when being “caught.” The collar grab exercise is also a great management and safety behavior. It's great for fearful dogs that need direction, and it’s great if you implement it repeatedly.

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With each repetition, release the dog to go do something it likes. This teaches the puppy that the collar grab doesn’t mean the end of fun!

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One word of caution: the collar grab game can increase frustration for highly frustrated dogs. However, through skillful implementation of the training protocols, it is unlikely that you will have a highly frustrated dog in the first place!

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Here is a video demonstration of the collar grab game.

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ADDRESSING FEAR SIGNS

Never coddle a fearful dog or try to reassure them by petting or soothing them. This can signal to your puppy that they should be concerned about what they are reacting to because you are too.

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Emotionally significant events are remembered more than non-emotional ones, so we want to redirect negative feelings and the neurochemical processes that follow them. If you observe fear, distract your puppy with food or play (see “Distract and Redirect with Games” page), and don't have them interact with what scares them unless they want to. Blocking the spike of adrenaline through food can stimulate the rest and digest autonomic nervous system shortly after a fearful situation, deterring the development of lasting fears and negative memories, and preventing the elaboration of emotional disorders following a traumatic event.

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DOG-TO-DOG PLAY AND INTERACTIONS

Dog to dog play is a critical component of socialization, so it is very important for dog owners to know how to read safe, emotionally well-regulated healthy play, versus play that is manic or bullying. Misunderstandings can happen in a matter of seconds. Dogs also have very different playstyles and should be matched up to socialize with each other according to similar styles.

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Here's a few videos on what play should and should not look like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bk2n0oWQYw​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB4JmAskNl4&t=6s

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Overarousal can lead to misunderstandings, and not all dogs communicate well. We have to be ready to intervene when a dog ignores or misses another dog’s signal that it doesn’t welcome an interaction or type of play move. This article provides a few useful pointers.

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Be sure to watch this video in the “Consent” page on healthy dog play, and read the Whole Dog Journal article below, which discusses steps in socializing your puppy to other dogs even before the full vaccination series is completed with appropriate health precautions, and why it is critical.

 

Play sessions should be kept short, up to 15 minutes, with treat breaks every 2-3 minutes to keep arousal levels calm and test whether each dog is consenting to resumed play. If you allow puppies to exhaust themselves playing, you risk disregulating your puppy’s nervous system and creating an inability to relax around other dogs. If one puppy seems more avid, put it on a leash and see if the shyer puppy willingly returns to it for play before removing the leash from the restrained dog.

 

If your puppy is over confident and pushy around dogs, make sure it plays with all different types of dogs, especially older ones that can teach it that some dogs don’t want to play. You will want to find older dogs that give “appropriate” corrections, through growling and air snapping, but no physical contact. Do not scold the older dog when it does this, it is teaching your puppy something important!

 

When it comes to dog interactions, learn canine body language (see Module 2 of the guide), and follow the rule that quality of dog interaction is more important than quantity.

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As an extra, this is also a great podcast on socializing dogs in general. The title is about reactive dogs, but it has great information that applies to raising puppies as well.

 

DOG PARKS AND DOGGY DAY CARE

First, let’s start with an important but not widely understood piece of information: puppies and dogs do not need other doggy friends. Avoid a common pitfall of thinking your dog needs to meet and be friends with every other dog. Some dogs love to play, and it is good for enrichment, but most of a dog’s enrichment and connection can and should come from its owner. What *is* very important when it comes to interacting with other dogs is providing healthy socialization experiences for your puppy to learn good communication skills and how to relax in the presence of other dogs.

 

It is natural to think dog parks are a place for socialization, however, it is generally best to avoid them. Fights and misunderstandings can easily happen, causing permanent physical and/or psychological damage. Rough play between unequal sized dogs can damage a puppy permanently from injuries to puppies’ soft growth plates up to 18 months of age. If a misunderstanding or bullying breaks out, a fight can cause permanent psychological damage, not to mention a stressful visit to the vet.

 

Doggy day cares pose similar risks and should be very carefully selected if you need to use one. Handlers should be skilled at pairing playmates, and no more than 6 dogs (and fewer is better) should be in a play session together per handler. Other dogs in the facility should be resting in a crate, kennel, or pen while waiting their turns for play sessions. Puppies (or adult dogs) should not be allowed to run around and play all day, as that will spike their adrenaline and cortisol levels, risking creating a wired dog that is physically addicted to hyperactivity and cannot settle around other dogs.

 

An ideal approach to socialization is to find appropriate playmates, have supervised socialization sessions, and have most of your puppy’s engagement and stimulation, including with other dogs, go through you. If you are not able to socialize your puppy with other puppies yourself, explore finding a high-quality place or trainer to arrange healthy socialization sessions. When you are away from home for an extended period of time, you can schedule play and walk visits with a caretaker instead of relying on daycare.

 

FEAR TRAITS FROM PRE-ADOPTION SOCIALIZATION EXPERIENCES
Fear traits in puppies can often be traced back to inadequate pre-adoption socialization experiences, especially in environments with unethical breeding practices or limited exposure to diverse situations, such as shelters or puppy mills. According to the Humane Society, there are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills across the country, maintaining 500,000 dogs solely for breeding purposes and producing 2.6 million puppies annually.

 

Traumatic early encounters can leave puppies without reliable reference points, rendering them feeling less in control and potentially anxious. Puppies separated from their litters prematurely, before reaching eight weeks, often exhibit emotional rigidity, heightened reactivity, increased vigilance, and anxiety. Such experiences can lead to attachment-related issues, including separation distress, excessive barking, compulsive distracting behaviors, elimination problems, and a higher likelihood of developing aggression toward other dogs as they mature.

 

Secluded puppies might respond to social situations with either extreme hyperactivity or excessive inhibition. These puppies often struggle with emotional over-reactivity and find it challenging to navigate social or otherwise novel environments without extreme fear or avoidance, rendering them socially incapacitated.

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Behavioral symptoms might manifest as hyperactivity, intense aggressiveness and fear toward humans, tendencies of resource guarding (possesion aggression), and difficulties in house training. Isolated puppies often display sustained generalized arousal, high motor activity, diffuse emotionality, and distractibility, akin to symptoms observed in hyperactive-attention deficit disorders. These puppies might exhibit behaviors such as bumping into walls or furniture, seeming oblivious to their surroundings, ignoring external stimuli, barking at non-existent objects or noises, displaying arousal when encountering strangers without making eye contact, and frequently racing by them. Despite extensive training, some of these puppies might never fully reach their potential.

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Physical signs of fear

Fear in dogs can manifest in various physical ways that indicate underlying emotional distress. These signs include pupil dilation, a reddish glow in the eyes, raised fur (piloerection), reduced sensitivity to pain, decreased appetite, rapid panting, diarrhea, perspiration on paw pads, an increased heart rate, a pronounced startle reflex, and heightened adrenaline production. Additionally, dogs may urinate, release anal glands, or defecate when experiencing extreme fear. Chronic anxiety might lead to irregular urination and appetite suppression, while prolonged stress could result in health issues such as lymphatic gland atrophy, weakened immunity, and gastric ulcers.

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If you notice any of these signs in your dog, seeking guidance from a veterinarian behavioralist is crucial. Don't attempt to address these concerns alone. Professional help can significantly improve your puppy's quality of life and your own experience as a pet owner.

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Additional resources (video, podcast, transcript formats available for each):

Developmental phases: https://dogsthat.com/podcast/218/

Puppy play and socialization: https://dogsthat.com/podcast/127/

Puppy socialization: https://dogsthat.com/podcast/246/ 

Puppy fear periods https://dogsthat.com/podcast/199/

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SOCIALIZATION PHASES ​