07/07/2025
Topic of the Day! 🐕
Does my dog actually love other dogs?
When puppies become older, their social needs change. Puppies between the ages of 5-18 weeks (give or take a few weeks) are in their early development stage where socialization and exposure is critical. Puppies develop at a fast pace, so there is a small window of opportunity in this time where play and interaction is still a huge part of your puppy’s life. At this age, puppies generally enjoy all kinds of play as they express themselves and learn about play styles and boundaries. However once they leave this stage and enter adolescence, their preferences will change and their play style will become a lot more selective. Your puppy may not enjoy playing with a large group of dogs anymore, or they may be too high energy/not understand how to read signals from other dogs who may not be enjoying themselves.
After the 18 week mark, playtime becomes significantly less important than true socialization. Although puppies are born with the ability to be cooperative social partners with humans, proper socialization and training is the key to success in helping them develop confidence and the ability to handle new situations. This is the time to be continuing to expose your puppy to new places, people, surfaces, activities, and building value for YOU as their handler. Your puppy is going to need to know how to navigate the world around them, including learning how to remain neutral around other dogs. At this age, having a few doggie pals that your pup really enjoys spending time with and learning with is a much better alternative to large group play.
Below is a visual guide to help you determine what level of the spectrum your dog may fall in terms of their social preference with other dogs. Remember, just because your dog doesn't want to play with all dogs does not mean they are not a friendly, well balanced canine! Which one is your dog?
*Visual Credit goes to Lily chin
