Developmental Stages

From the moment your puppy was born deaf and blind they started to learn about the world round about them. Early days were driving by body warmth and milky smells that brought comfort and a full tummy, their days consist mainly of eating and sleeping. As the weeks progress they quickly develop sight and hearing at the transistion stage of two to three weeks old, they start to use these abilities and become more active, they practice tail wagging and growling, becoming much more vocal if seperated from mum, as they prepare to enter the canine socialisation period.

The canine socialisation period starts at around 3 weeks of age until 7 weeks, human socialisation period quickly follows at week 7 to 13 and coincides with the fear impact period. Influences during this time can have effects throughout their lifetime. While it's extremely important not to scare puppies during this time, it's a time of super quick development of social skills and exploring the enviroment and essential that during this period puppies are exposed to many of the everyday things they will encounter throughout their lives. It's quite normal for puppies to show some caution around new people, noises and smells, our job is to make sure they stay safe, and they are encouraged to discover new things they may come across.

How to Socialise

We want to build confidence, and let our puppies know it's ok to be afraid, but nothing bad will happen. This means we don't push, pull our intimidate our puppers in new situations. Take the time to recognise your puppy's body language and encourage exploration when THEY are ready to explore. It does not mean putting your puppy in a room full of other dogs and just letting them get on with it, that is ok IF you know the other dogs have good temperaments and none of them are bullies. While exposing our pups to new things we have a duty to protect their confidence, meetings with strange dogs should be carefully managed so your puppy does not go bounding up and be very rude to an older grumpy dog who will pin the puppy down or possibly damage them.

Below is an early days check list of the typical things you want to expose your puppy to during their socialisation period. It's not a complete list, depending on where you live and your lifestyle some will have more or no relevance to you at all. It's a starting point and obviously you can tailor it to your pups needs. I asked at puppy class if people have been following through the socialisation checklist, someone mentioned exposing their puppy to hot air balloons had proved elusive! I had to double check my list as I was sure I hadn't put that on there, but no it must have been another list that they had read. I can imagine for most people hot air balloons might be a very rare occurance, but if you live near an airfield, that does hot air balloon trips it might be something you see on a regular basis.

Other things to take into consideration are going on public transport, crate training (even if you do not intend to use a crate regularily),and muzzle training. While these might never be a regular part of your dogs lives, should ever they need to hospitalised then it would reduce an already stressful situation if they have previously been exposed to these things in more pleasant circumstances.

People	Clothing	Moving people
Babies Toddlers Children Teenagers Adults Seniors All Ethnic Groups All Sexes	Vet Coats Hats Glasses Scarfs Gloves Uniforms Helmets Umbrellas	Joggers Cyclists Children Playing Skateboarders Roller Skates Scooterists Motorcyclists Team Games
Animals	Places	Textures
Puppies Dogs Cats Birds Rabbits Small Pets Livestock Horses	Veterinarians Pet Shop Puppy Class Pet Shops Cafes Tunnels Bridges Crowded Places	Carpet Gravel Sand Tiling Tarmac Stones Decking Mud
Noises Inside	Noises Outside	Body Parts
Washing Machine Hoover Hair Dryer Doorbell Television Phone Kettle Banging	Cars Sirens Motorcycles Shop Shutters Vans People Thunder Fireworks	Coat Eyes Ears Paws Tail Mouth Head Tummy

Finally, we should be thinking ahead a little too, for example, springtime puppies dont generally see gloves, hats, scarves, umbrellas, or people with hoods up. Pups go through a secondary fear impact period between 6-14 months old, for spring puppies this may well coincide with the darker nights and people wearing different clothing. Exposure to these things early on will help prevent your pupper being spooked by the time halloween comes round.

Troubleshoot Walking