The first three weeks of a puppy's life are focused primarily on eating, close contact with their dam and sleeping. Puppies are not able to see and hear for about the first 10-14 days and are thereby somewhat protected from all the stimulation of their environment. While eyes and ears don't really work yet the senses of smell and touch are quite developed already and even at this stage exposure to smells in our human world can create lasting imprints.
At about 3 weeks of age, a little later for some large breeds, puppies start interacting with each other more and it is also time to gradually and very gently get them used to people and other things in their environment. Depending on who you ask and again depending on the breed the socialization period lasts until somewhere between 12 and 18 weeks. During this time it is helpful to expose the puppies to many different stimuli but always make sure that they have a good experience. This means to stay under the threshold that would trigger a fear response at all times. It is also essential to limit exposure to the environment to situations that are low risk for catching diseases like distemper and parvo until the puppies are fully immunized.
It is therefore good to start with socialization to people, animals and things that are in the household already. As far as animals it is important to stay with animals that are very well known to have reliable and calm dispositions and to closer monitor any contact.
Our puppies had their first visitors when they were 4 weeks old. All were very experienced dog owners who took off their shoes before walking into our home and who had not had any contact with dogs of questionable health or nor had they recently been around animals shelters, dog shows, veterinary clinics or other environments that have a higher chance of disease exposure. All focused on gentle handling, allowing the puppies to smell and approach after waiting until the dam was completely comfortable and relaxed around them. These first visits focused on receiving touch, getting used to the smell of different humans and hearing different voices (male and female).
The next few visits shifted focus to include more playing as the puppies themselves started playing and running more. We introduced more noises in the form of various toys, that squeak, snort, make crinkling sounds as well as introducing more household noises at lower levels, including vacuum cleaner, kitchen appliances and various types of music on the radio. We had different visitors who spent more time with individual puppies allowing them to mouth, but withdrawing fingers when mouthing got too hard, thereby teaching bite inhibition in its early stages. The visitors actively engaged the puppies in play as well.
The puppies have also started spending time with all the other members of our canine pack as well as being exposed to our ducks, to our horse and one of our cats (all of whom are very well socialized with dogs).
The puppies also learned to follow our voice when calling "puppy".
Some time next week we will introduce the puppies to cars. They have already been in a crate to sleep and to eat so we can just load them into the car in a crate. The first time we will only turn the engine on and turn on the radio as well (which they are already very familiar with).
The next day we will drive around the block once or twice. After that we will very gradually lengthen the time of travel and the type of road we will drive on.
The other thing on the agenda is to start using words consistently that are part of our puppies' world like "potty" when they are about to eliminate, "come" when they are moving towards us, "good" when they do anything we like. In other words we will teach the puppies by association what the meaning of certain words is. Learning at this stage is so easy and they pick up incredibly fast that the human voice has meaning beyond just the tone of voice. The most effective form of puppy training has more to do with teaching them English than teaching them actions. Puppies know how to sit, lie down, walk, run, hold something, come and even eliminate away from their sleeping area when they are only a few weeks old.
At about 3 weeks of age, a little later for some large breeds, puppies start interacting with each other more and it is also time to gradually and very gently get them used to people and other things in their environment. Depending on who you ask and again depending on the breed the socialization period lasts until somewhere between 12 and 18 weeks. During this time it is helpful to expose the puppies to many different stimuli but always make sure that they have a good experience. This means to stay under the threshold that would trigger a fear response at all times. It is also essential to limit exposure to the environment to situations that are low risk for catching diseases like distemper and parvo until the puppies are fully immunized.
It is therefore good to start with socialization to people, animals and things that are in the household already. As far as animals it is important to stay with animals that are very well known to have reliable and calm dispositions and to closer monitor any contact.
Our puppies had their first visitors when they were 4 weeks old. All were very experienced dog owners who took off their shoes before walking into our home and who had not had any contact with dogs of questionable health or nor had they recently been around animals shelters, dog shows, veterinary clinics or other environments that have a higher chance of disease exposure. All focused on gentle handling, allowing the puppies to smell and approach after waiting until the dam was completely comfortable and relaxed around them. These first visits focused on receiving touch, getting used to the smell of different humans and hearing different voices (male and female).
The next few visits shifted focus to include more playing as the puppies themselves started playing and running more. We introduced more noises in the form of various toys, that squeak, snort, make crinkling sounds as well as introducing more household noises at lower levels, including vacuum cleaner, kitchen appliances and various types of music on the radio. We had different visitors who spent more time with individual puppies allowing them to mouth, but withdrawing fingers when mouthing got too hard, thereby teaching bite inhibition in its early stages. The visitors actively engaged the puppies in play as well.
The puppies have also started spending time with all the other members of our canine pack as well as being exposed to our ducks, to our horse and one of our cats (all of whom are very well socialized with dogs).
The puppies also learned to follow our voice when calling "puppy".
Some time next week we will introduce the puppies to cars. They have already been in a crate to sleep and to eat so we can just load them into the car in a crate. The first time we will only turn the engine on and turn on the radio as well (which they are already very familiar with).
The next day we will drive around the block once or twice. After that we will very gradually lengthen the time of travel and the type of road we will drive on.
The other thing on the agenda is to start using words consistently that are part of our puppies' world like "potty" when they are about to eliminate, "come" when they are moving towards us, "good" when they do anything we like. In other words we will teach the puppies by association what the meaning of certain words is. Learning at this stage is so easy and they pick up incredibly fast that the human voice has meaning beyond just the tone of voice. The most effective form of puppy training has more to do with teaching them English than teaching them actions. Puppies know how to sit, lie down, walk, run, hold something, come and even eliminate away from their sleeping area when they are only a few weeks old.