Your puppy’s socialization period will permanently shape his future personality, how he reacts to his environment as an adult dog, and how he interacts with other dogs.
Exposing him to a variety of people, places, situations, and other dogs, makes a permanent impact on his temperament.
In this article, I’ll talk about
- Why and when to socialize your puppy
- How to make sure he is vaccinated first
- The steps to socialize your puppy
- How to socialize an old dog if you happen to be in that situation.
What Will I Learn?
Why Should You Socialize Your Puppy?
Puppy socialization is important to avoid aggression and other behavioral problems. It trains your puppy to stay confident and comfortable in new environments and situations… so that it is well-behaved around humans and other animals that it meets.
When to Socialize Your Puppy (Relative to Age and Vaccinations)
How do we decide when to start socializing our puppies?
There are two things to consider.
First, a puppy can handle new experiences best when it is between 3 and 12 weeks old. After that age, it becomes more cautious about things it hasn’t encountered before… so it becomes harder to socialize your puppy. If this were the only factor, you’d want to start socializing your puppy as soon as possible and definitely before it turns 12 weeks (around 3 months old).
However, there’s another factor. You also want your puppy to be vaccinated from deadly diseases to make sure it is protected when encountering other dogs… and unfortunately, the puppy vaccination series doesn’t fully complete until it turns 16 weeks.
This gives us a dilemma:
1. You want to start socializing your puppy before it turns 12 weeks
and
2. Socializing = interacting with other dogs, so you want your puppy vaccinated
but
3. Puppy vaccination series doesn’t complete until it turns 16 weeks.
How do we resolve this dilemma?
Well, we have two risks to weigh,
- The risk of infectious canine diseases that can be debilitating or even fatal
- The risk of behavioral problems and aggression due to lack of socializing
The prevailing opinion used to be that puppies shouldn’t be taken out to interact with other dogs until their puppy vaccination series was fully complete…
…but that opinion is now starting to change.
One reason is that, if you live in a country where most pet owners are responsible about their pet’s health and on top of their pet’s vaccines, then there is a strong “herd immunity” among the stranger dogs your puppy might meet.
Secondly, puppy socialization centers are kept clean and disinfected.
Thanks to the advancement of vaccines, disinfectants, and responsible pet culture… infectious canine diseases now cause far fewer deaths than before… and in fact, far fewer deaths than dog deaths caused by behavioral problems!
That’s why more priority is now given to puppy socialization to prevent behavioral problems in dogs… even if the socialization takes place before that first vaccine puppy series is complete.
The experts of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) have taken this stand and in 2008, came out with a paper stating that it “should be the standard of care for puppies to receive [such] socialization before they are fully vaccinated.”
To still partly take advantage of vaccines and cleanliness, they recommend that
- your puppy has his first round of vaccines and first round of deworming at least 7 days before attending puppy socialization classes
- the facility where socialization occurs is kept disinfected
- the rest of the puppies attending the class are healthy and also up-to-date on their vaccinations (at least the first round).
- all the pups involved continue on their vaccination series
(You can read the full AVSAB position statement on puppy socialization here.)
So What is the Best Time to Start Socializing Your Puppy?
Because the AVSAB recommends that your puppy has its first round of vaccines and deworming at least 7 days before making him attend its first socialization class…
And since this first round of vaccines+deworming takes place when your puppy is 7 or 8 weeks old…
Therefore, the best time to start socializing your puppy is when it is 8 to 9 weeks old… but before it turns 12 weeks old.
NOTE: Keep in mind that the method of socialization discussed is taking him to a facility where puppy socialization classes take place. These are usually kept clean and disinfected.
The AVSAB animal behavior experts still recommend not to take your puppy to a dog park or an area where groups of dogs gather until your puppy has all its vaccinations in the series (after 16 weeks).
The exception to this, of course, is the puppy socialization facility we talked about, and the vet. These follow strict disinfection procedures.
Pup Older Than 12 Weeks Old?
No worries, hope is not all lost. You should still do socialization exercises.
Just remember that the younger the better.
Can you socialize an even older dog?
That’s still ok, but It’ll likely require more patience as you must go through them more slowly… but the payoff will be well worth it!
See, anything that exercises your dog’s brain will not only be good for its health, but it will be better behaved.
That’s why I recommend that you check out Brain Training For Dogs.
Brain Training for Dogs not only teaches obedience, better behavior, and how to do impressive tricks… but it also works to increase your dog’s intelligence by engaging his brain.