The Puppy socialization period is a crucial time when your pup develops associations with people and things that will shape their personality, behavior and responses to new experiences throughout life. This is why it’s so important to introduce them to all the sights, sounds, smells and textures of different environments in a safe and controlled way. This will help them to grow into a confident, well-mannered dog that is not fearful of children or riding in the car.
Puppies are like knowledge sponges during this 3-month period, absorbing everything around them and associating people and things with the way they feel about them. So it’s crucial that they have a good positive experience with these encounters – whether they involve meeting people, dogs or other animals.
During this critical period, puppies are particularly impressionable and bad experiences can have lasting impacts that will affect their confidence levels and future behavior. It is possible to over-socialize a puppy, which happens when they are exposed to too many unfamiliar situations or people and experiences before they have the mental capacity to process them and make decisions about how to react. This can be a major cause of puppy anxiety and fearfulness later in life.
To avoid this, start by slowly integrating your puppy to strangers in your home over the course of several weeks and then take them out on errands or visits with friends and family members who have well-behaved, vaccinated dogs to meet. Make sure that the new experiences are not too big of a challenge, and if your puppy is struggling to keep their cool (such as tail tucked, ears back or tense body language) then it’s best to back off and try again another time.
Expose your puppy to diverse people by inviting friends and family over who are a mix of men, women, kids and adults. You can also visit pet-friendly stores where your pup can be introduced to a variety of people, all of whom will handle them differently. You can also play with your pup daily and touch all the parts of their bodies, including the insides of their mouths.
In addition, you can take your puppy to places such as the beach or parks to see a variety of sights, sounds and smells. It is also a good idea to bring them into the office with you or to the vet’s so that they are familiar with the sights, sounds and people that they will encounter in these places. During these visits, be sure to talk calmly and positively about the experience and reward them with treats when they behave well. This will ensure that they associate these new experiences with good feelings, rather than with fear or anxiety.