10/01/2025
“Calm acceptance…” great article on socialization of your puppy.
Helping our dogs to feel safe and secure is an important part of living with them at any life stage, but if we bring a puppy into our homes it is particularly important to focus on this.
Socialisation is a word heard frequently when talking about puppies and rightly so, as it is a vital part of preparing them for life. At this young age, up to around 14 weeks, careful and positive exposure to sights, sounds, and smells they will encounter through life will help them to grow into confident and resilient adult dogs.
There can, however, be a temptation to go too far with this socialisation, to push puppies into interactions they are not ready for, and which can be frightening for them. Often in articles about socialising puppies we’ll see advice saying things like ‘Introduce your puppy to as many people as possible’ (vehicles, other animals, and so on for the different types of experiences). It can then seem to make sense to take the puppy to interact with a lot of people, animals, right next to the road etc.
Another complicating factor is vaccinations, with the old advice being to keep the puppy at home until the full course has been completed and the immune system has time to come into full effect. This only leaves a few days of being able to take the puppy out on walks and get all of this exposure in, which can all too easily lead to a totally overwhelmed puppy who is quite possibly going to be worried by many of the things they meet.
Good socialisation, the kind that gives the puppy the best chance of becoming this happy and confident adult, doesn’t have to mean up close and direct interaction. Yes, with known people and other animals (including other dogs) that we know will give the puppy good experiences are great for direct interaction. For others there is no need to go right up to them. Let the puppy see these people, animals, vehicles from a safe distance where they can watch calmly. This calm acceptance is much preferable to an encounter where the puppy is worried, which might not always be clear to see at first if not experienced with body language as the first signs are extremely subtle.
We can also start letting our puppy see the world from a few days after they come home, when they have had a chance to settle in and begin getting used to the massive changes that have come with leaving their mum and littermates behind to join their new families. To keep them safe while seeing the world we can carry them – whether in our arms or in a puppy rucksack – or use a dog buggy (also handy for longer walks), all of which mean the puppy can see the world around them in safety and without being uncomfortable or scared.
All of this will help with that most important need of all dogs, but especially puppies in this formative stage, of feeling safe and secure.
