Socializing Your Puppy

Socialization of your puppy is vital to get them acclimated to daily life. Exposing them to as many beings, social situations and environments helps prevent aggressive behavior as fear of the unknown and aggression go hand in hand.

 

Get puppy ready to meet the vet and the groomer.

 

Touch puppy all over puppy’s paws, mouth, nose, ears, belly, and teeth. Do this every day so puppy is accustomed to it and will be ready for the first vet appointment which is coming in a few weeks. Puppy will also be ready for the first grooming appointment and nail clippings.

 

The more situations, sounds, and people you can expose your new pal to as a puppy, the more comfortable puppy will be in all types of situations as an adult.

 

Take puppy on short field trips once a week for the next 8-10 weeks or so and expose puppy to as many situations as possible. These trips take a little planning but will help puppy develop into a well-adjusted adult.

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These trips should be short and sweet and limited to 15-20 minutes Always be calm and positive and give rewards to puppy for being so brave.

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Puppy should have all his puppy shots by 16 weeks and please consult your vet about the dangers and risks of Parvo. Any area where unvaccinated dogs, deer, raccoons or coyotes roam, is an area where puppy could be exposed to Parvo.

 

Examples of field trips and situations to expose puppy to:

 

1-Expose puppy to as many different sounds as possible, from the vacuum cleaner to the garbage truck arriving and everything in between.

2-Invite your friends over to meet puppy as young as possible. Puppy will remember fondly the people they meet early in life.

3-Walk on a main street so puppy will get used to people and cars moving by.

4-Take puppy to the beach and the ocean and let puppy gets his toes wet.

5-Play hide and seek with puppy and reward puppy for finding you. Do this on a regular basis as this will help teach puppy to keep eyes on you always.

6-Go to a school or a playground and let all the kids say hello and get puppy used to the activity level and tumult of children.

7-Have puppy meet people who wear uniforms such as policeman, fireman and the local landscaping crew.

8-Go to the local coffee shop and sit outside and let people come say hello to puppy.

9-Go to the local mall or farmers market and let puppy meet anyone who wants to say hello.

10-Take puppy to a pool and let him swim. Ease puppy in gently but do not throw puppy in.

11-Once puppy has all their puppy shots, walk through the woods and through a small creek

12-After puppy has had all their puppy shots, walk in a field or a pasture where puppy must climb around rocks and sticks.

13-After puppy has had all their puppy shots, take puppy to the local dog park and let puppy meet other dogs.

14-After puppy has had all their puppy shots, take puppy to a local farm and expose puppy to the farm animals. Make sure puppy is kept on leash.

15-Expose puppy to other situations your life will expose them too

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