Comments on Vets Missing Key Point on Puppy Training

That's an excellent article, very useful information. We're getting a 8 week old puppy soon, and my question is the following. We've been told that the dog shouldn't meet other dogs and preferably stay at home until he's 12 weeks old, time when the dog will have its second vaccination. During this time we can do some basic training at home, which we plan to do anyway, and this is fine. But dog centers and kennels have what they call "puppy pre-school" classes, specifically designed for dogs between 8 and 14 weeks. So what should we do, keep the dog "isolated" until he's 12 weeks (and had his second vaccination), or taking the dog at 8 weeks old to puppy pre-school classes where he will be in contact with other dogs (all of them having had the first vaccination, of course)? It's confusing for us as newbies. Thanks a lot!

A wonderful article! As breeders, we get one chance to get this right. Once that critical socialisation window has passed, it is gone forever. Setting puppies up to succeed and to be able to cope with whatever life throws at them, is the single most important thing we can do for them. Thankyou for helping to educate others; vets are crucial to this process. I will be sharing far and wide!

I had absolutely no idea how to socialise a dog when I got my first puppy, 9 long years ago. He was 9 weeks old, but he turned out okay. He doesn't like loose dogs coming up to him while he's on leash, but that's his only issue. My next puppy was 16 weeks when I got him, and that was that. He had some fear issues regarding strange people but grew out of them. I look forward to correctly socialising my next puppy. Informative article. Thank you.

I totally agree with keeping the puppy with a top breeder who is extremely knowledgeable about socialization. I paid my breeder to keep my male Aussie till 9 weeks so he'd experience the farm and the other dogs and numerous horses during this critical period. She told me she was releasing pus at 7 weeks now and I said "no" I wanted him in this environment two weeks longer --- as a result, he is fearless and extremely driven, a real lover of everything that breathes. He never meets a person or animal he doesn't like and readily explores the world around him with gusto. Nose like Bloodhound. Never take from a high quality breeder too soon. The experience there is unique and deeply enriching for their development.

One of the most important socializations I did with my puppy German Shepherd was take her to the gun club. (I forget how young) The skeet shooters, like normal people, went nuts over a puppy so that she associated loud noises with affection from people. During 4th of July, New Years' celebrations, thunder storms etc, my girl has no problems, and after checking in with me "Is this something I should worry about?" I reassure her "It's all OK" and she relaxes.
This past New Year's Eve just at midnight, she got out when a door was left open. My next door neighbors were setting off an enormous barrage of fireworks and my dog came to me when I called her. (talk about heart-in-mouth proofing)

Very good article, only thing they missed was the fact that puppies(& young adult dogs) have 2 fear periods. The first fear period is from 7 weeks THROUGH 9 weeks which I have never in my life ever released a puppy to a new owner before 10 weeks of age! Period. The breeder should be socializing them as well prior to the new owner and the mother is still teaching the pups even bite inhibition. So through the first fear period, a puppy can actually be ruined for life(Or you pay a behaviorist like myself money to "try" to bring it through the fear that happened during its first fear period and can take time).....even as an example, somebody wants a puppy at 8 weeks old, they drop a pan on the kitchen floor, it makes a loud noise, and now the puppy is afraid of loud noises. Why not only because the pan dropped and made a loud noise, but because the puppy was released during the MOST IMPORTANT fear period of its life!
The second fear period is an environmental fear period which some dogs don't even ever show signs of having a fear period and this can happen anywhere from 4 months through 18 months old. Many people see their dogs i.e. barking at an object they are absolutely use to seeing in their house, or in the yard, and all of a sudden now their dog is barking at it. This is usually caused by the 2nd environmental fear period, which they normally grow out of this themselves as long as the owners don't ruin or "baby" them.

Wonderful article! I got my puppy at a very late 16 weeks of age, but the breeder had done such a wonderful job socializing him to that point, that continuing to introduce him to new experiences was an absolute breeze. Not enough good I can say about the importance of this! I have a very well-behaved, well adjusted, calm responsive dog in all situations. I can trust him on and off leash and that means so much after only having dogs that would always run off.