Turning Spot into a social butterfly

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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Puppy socialisation is a critical period that starts at about four weeks and ends at about 16 weeks of age.

During this period, brain development happens rapidly and all experiences will affect the rest of the dog's life.

Furthermore, a dog's first fear period or onset of hazard avoidance coincides with this critical socialisation period.

After sixteen weeks, the window for critical socialisation closes and the puppy will enter his adolescent phase. So how do we socialise a puppy, and what would happen if we don't socialise a puppy at all during his critical period?

Local K9 behaviourist and trainer George van Huyssteen explains:

Socialisation is much more than attending a class or taking a puppy to a day care to play. You need to provide the puppy with as many positive experiences as possible during this period. Socialising a puppy during his critical period can prevent behavioural problems such as aggression towards people or other animals, shyness, fearfulness, and intractability.

The puppy will learn to interact appropriately with other dogs and will learn essential skills such as bite inhibition.

Furthermore, the puppy will learn to bond with his owner, learn the skills needed to fit into a household, and learn all our rules and regulations.

While all the above is quite easy to do during this period, it can become very complicated to do a behaviour modification programme for a fear-aggressive dog later in life.

• Socialising a puppy with other dogs or puppies

Although this is a favourite activity for most owners, you need to ensure that all interactions are positive. Allowing puppies to bully each other might have the opposite effect and might cause a puppy to become fearful of other puppies or dogs. By ensuring positive experiences, the owner teaches a puppy all about being a dog, interacting with other dogs and reading other dogs.

Socialising with humans

The puppy should be allowed to meet every kind of human possible. They need to meet short people, tall people, fat people, people with beards, loud people, children - always under supervision, etc.

Socialising with other animals

Now is also the time to introduce the puppy to other animals like livestock, birds, cats or whatever you would like him to get along with later in life.

Noises

The puppy should be socialised with appliance noises or other sounds he might encounter later in life like washing machines, cars, music, thunder etc.

Surfaces

A puppy should be allowed to walk on different surfaces like paper, cardboard, sand, etc.

Handling

The puppy should learn to accept and enjoy being handled. Your instructor will show you how to do this in a socialisation class.

Locations and experiences

The puppy should be allowed to experience noisy places like malls; once again, an instructor will explain how to do this. You need to ensure the puppy does not become stressed and you should also prevent flooding (forcing the puppy to face his fears).

Water

This is also the time to introduce the puppy to water if you would like him to swim with you later in life. Once again, the puppy should be allowed to do this in his own time and should not be forced into water.

Confidence building

By having positive experiences with all of the above, the puppy will grow into a confident dog.

What would happen if I didn't socialise my puppy?

Such a puppy might become fearful of whatever he has not been socialised with. Many puppies grow up to become fearful of strangers or other animals, lacking confidence and struggling with handling frustration. Some can become aggressive.

Is socialisation a guarantee that a dog will never become aggressive?

Unfortunately, genetics plays a big role in a dog's behaviour, so nothing is guaranteed. However, socialisation during a puppy’s critical period is the best way of preventing problematic behaviour later in life.

Why should I take my puppy to socialisation classes, and is it safe?

That is a question that many people ask. Any reputable training facility will ensure that the socialisation class is at a clean place and that no other dogs are allowed to roam free there. Parvo virus is always a big concern as puppies in these classes will only have had their first inoculation.

This should be non-negotiable. The training area should also be cleaned properly, and any accidents should be cleaned up and the area disinfected immediately. Should there be any indication of any diseases in or around the training facility, the class should be moved to another safe facility. Safety always should come first.

Yes, there is always a risk taking a puppy to places at such a young age, but the risk of behavioural problems should you not socialise a puppy is even higher.

In the words of Dr Sophia Yin: "Stop fear before it starts by socialising your puppy" or Dr Ian Dunbar: "Above all, please remember that neglecting to socialise puppies with people is probably the most abusive thing that we can do to dogs. The effects are crippling, and stay with the dog for a lifetime”.

Frederick Douglas hit the nail on the head when he said, "It's easier to build strong puppies than to repair broken dogs”.