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Puppy Behavior & Socialisation

Instead of socialisation and habituation being a haphazard affair with experiences occurring at random, the puppy's exposure to environmental stimuli should be as systematic as possible to ensure the best chance of it developing a sound temperament and capacity to cope in all circumstances.

Prospective owners can maximise their opportunities to socialise and habituate their puppies by obtaining them at six weeks old, having already made arrangements for the appropriate vaccination programme with a veterinary surgeon.

Failing to obtain a puppy at exactly six weeks does not automatically lead to disaster, but the later puppies are acquired the more precious time will have been lost and the less likelihood there is of developing a sound temperament.

The prospective purchaser of a puppy can check that some degree of socialisation and habituation has taken place. The puppy should appear to be content and confident. A few simple tests, such as the clapping of hands, the dropping of car keys etc. will enable the prospective buyer to gauge how well habituated the puppies are by observing whether they move away from the sound or towards it to investigate it. A mild reaction to the sound and a quick recovery from the surprise is ideal.

Most telling of all is the puppies' response to the presence of strangers. They should be willing to approach and investigate the newcomers and be happy to allow themselves to be handled. If you are about to purchase a puppy, there is a lot you will have to consider, such as toilet training, preventing chewing and how to get a good night's sleep.

These guidelines should help you in socialising and habituating your puppy.

Things that can be done at home

Visitors: Accustom your puppy to lots of visitors of both sexes and all ages. This will develop its social experience and help to keep territorial behaviour to manageable levels later in it's life.

Children: Accustom your puppy to being handled by your and/or visitor's children, but don't let them pester it or treat it as a toy. Remain in a position of supervision. Arrange to meet someone with a baby regularly, especially if you plan to have a family. This will help to overcome the common worries about how the family dog will react to a new baby and toddlers.

Feeding: Accustom your puppy to you and other members of your family adding food to its bowl when it is eating. This will teach it that you are not a threat and prevent the development of aggression over food when it is older.

Grooming: Groom your puppy every day. Grooming will accustom your puppy to being thoroughly handled and coincidentally it will help prevent the development of dominant behaviours.

Veterinary Examination: Every day examine your puppy's ears, eyes, teeth, lift up its feet and check its paws and check under its tail. When your puppy is happy about this, get other people to do it (it makes a good talking point at dinner parties!) The purpose of the exercise is to accustom your puppy to veterinary examination, very important, especially if first-aid ever has to be administered.

Domestic sights and sounds: Expose your puppy to domestic stimuli such as the vacuum cleaner, spin drier etc. but don't make an issue of them. The puppy should get used to them gradually without being stressed. The postman and saleman etc: Carry your puppy and meet these people as often as you can. If your puppy gets to know and like them and more importantly learns that they will not "run away if it barks, it is far less likely to show territorial aggression towards them when it grows up.

Cats: If you have one introduce you puppy to it. Keep the puppy under control and reward it for not pestering. Be careful not to worry the cat, as it may scratch your puppy. Placing the cat in a cat carrying basket just out of the puppy's reach can be a useful method of introduction with little chance of an unpleasant incident occurring. This can be repeated after a few days so that both puppy and cat learn to become settled in each other's company.

Other dogs at home: If you already have a dog introduce your puppy to it in the garden. Once the initial acceptance has been made by the older dog, the two should find their own level and settle down without too much intervention from you.

Prevent play-biting: In pack society once puppies become active they play physical games with each other and pester the adults by pulling their ears, tails etc. In the early days puppies have licence to do what they like but as they grow up, adults and litter mates alike become increasingly intolerant, especially of their very sharp teeth. By eighteen weeks puppies learn that hard-mouthing or play-biting is taboo and a reprimand will quickly follow any transgression of the rules. When a puppy is introduced into the family this learning process is normally incomplete. The family must take over where the puppy's mother left off.

How is this done?

Whenever a puppy uses its teeth in play the person concerned should respond with a sharp "No! and sound as if they have been really hurt. They should then walk off and ignore the puppy for about five minutes. In this way the puppy learns (a) to limit the strength of its bite in both play and for real and (b) that biting is counter-productive as an attention seeking device.

Leash training: Prepare your puppy for walking on the lead by getting it used to its collar and lead in the garden.

Going solo: Socialisation is very important, but so is learning to be alone. Puppies who are not accustomed to being left unattended on a regular basis are much more likely to suffer from separation anxiety (i.e. become anxious when separated from the owner) in adulthood.

The three main symptoms of separation anxiety are destructiveness, incessant howling or barking and loss of toilet control.

To help prevent your puppy from suffering from this very common syndrome, you need to leave it unattended (i.e. in the house on its own) for over an hour on most days, preferably in the area that it sleeps in overnight, which should not be your bedroom, as sleeping there can contribute to separation anxiety and other problems.

For your puppy's safety, to prevent it from toileting in inappropriate places, chewing inappropriate items etc. ensure its area is "chew proof and free from hazards such as electrical cables etc. You may need to construct or buy some purpose-built barriers to make a pen. Indoor kennels are often used and are readily available. Leave your puppy with some appropriate chew items, such as long lasting chews from the pet shop, and fresh water.

Initially you should accustom your puppy to you sitting in another room, with the door between you open. Over a period of time the routine can be carried out with the door shut. Once your puppy accepts this you can start to leave the house; go next door for a coffee, for example. Gradually extend the time you are away until you are absent for over an hour on a regular basis. Do not go back if you hear your puppy crying. Return when it is quiet. If a puppy thinks it can "call you back “ it may never accept being left.

Be very matter of fact about going out and coming home. If you fuss your puppy before leaving you will unsettle it and make it want to be with you every moment you want your absence to be accepted.

There is nothing in dog language for "Bye-bye, see your later . Any interaction means, "Let's go! Too much fuss on returning home highlights the loneliness of your absence.

Things to do away from home

Go to all the environments you can think of that will help your puppy become "bomb proof . Start in quieter places and gradually find busier ones.

The street: Expose your puppy to the sound of traffic and the movement of people. Start in quiet side streets and gradually build up to busy ones.

Places where people congregate: Any environment where people tend to congregate to sit and chat will do, so that they have the time to take interest in and handle your puppy.

Children's play areas: This is a good place to meet lots of children. Consult your veterinary surgeon about the appropriate worming programme before brining your puppy in contact with children. Make arrangements with the children mothers. Start with just a few children and control their enthusiasm to prevent your puppy from being overwhelmed, which can easily happen.

The car: Plenty of car travel will accustom your puppy to it and help prevent car sickness. Do not let your puppy sit on the front seat or on someone's lap. Accustom it to travelling in the place it will occupy when it is an adult.

The countryside: Accustom your puppy to the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside and livestock etc.

Leash training: Once your veterinary surgeon has said that your puppy can be safely walked on a leash instead of carried, carry on as before but go back to using quiet areas, then gradually build up to noisy and busy ones again. In addition think about the unusual places to which you can accustom your puppy such as inside buses and lifts. In the countryside keep your puppy on a leash and reward it for staying with you and ignoring livestock.

Socialising with other dogs: Removing a puppy from its mother and litter mates at six weeks is ideal in terms of socialising it with people but its socialisation with other dogs stops. Socialisation will wear off, which means that some steps have to be taken to ensure that the process of learning to interact with others dogs continues if owning a maladjusted puppy is to be avoided. However, socialising with other dogs does not entail allowing your puppy to run amok with other dogs in the park. If the other dogs, are not properly socialised, their own interactive and communication skills may be poor, which can often result in a misunderstanding and aggression. This sort of encounter could result in the puppy learning to be aggressive towards other dogs. If you go to any town park on a Sunday afternoon you will see plenty of dogs not getting on simply because they cannot communicate properly.

In order that their puppy's canine interaction skills can be properly developed, it is very important for puppy owners to locate and attend a puppy socialisation class, even if it means travelling some distance to get there.

Finally, what should you do if a puppy shows fear whilst it is being socialised/habituated?

• Do not overreact. If you try to reassure a puppy it may reinforce its fear, as it will see your reassurance as your fearful response to the thing that frightened it. As "pack leader” you should appear to be unaffected and unworried so as to "set an example” .
• Do not try to pressure a puppy into approaching the item as you will highlight its fear by drawing its attention to it.
• Expose the puppy to the type of stimulus that worried it as often as possible, but initially from a distance (i.e. reduce the size of the stimulus) so that the puppy can become desensitised to it. As the puppy's reaction improves you can gradually increase the amount of stimuli.
• Reward the puppy every time it does not react to the stimuli, or as soon as it recovers from its fright if it does react.
  

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