Puppy Social Hour

Photos and Story by Gila Kurtz

AHHHH…THE JOY OF WELCOMING A NEW PUPPY, complete with puppy’s breath and irresistible cuteness, into your home is a very exciting time. If you are a new puppy parent, you undoubtedly are already deeply in love and committed to raising a healthy, behaviorally sound, and well-mannered dog you can enjoy both in and out of your home. Cuteness aside, it may feel a bit overwhelming at times as you navigate the developmental changes your puppy will go through, work to master the housetraining, prevent the inevitable puppy nipping, ward off potential problem behaviors, begin to introduce basic training protocol, and still meet your personal life obligations. Yes, there is a lot to focus on. But if you put in the time upfront, you will enjoy a beautiful relationship for a lifetime. An important step in helping your puppy grow into a confident, behaviorally sound dog is socialization.

The prime window of socialization spans from 5-16 weeks. While the window never fully closes, the opportunity to assist your puppy in building its confidence and trust in you and the world at large must be a priority during this time frame. Most new puppy owners think of socialization as the opportunity for their puppy to be introduced to and play with other dogs. This is only a piece of the socialization puzzle, so let’s define what socialization is.

Proper socialization ensures your puppy has positive experiences with new and novel things. These include people, places, things, sights, surfaces, sounds, and appropriate safe puppies/dogs. Think of it simply as creating confidence-building opportunities. It is a way for a puppy to engage with the world, see the world as a safe place, and build resilience as it learns to bounce back quickly from any hesitancy or fear.

The dilemma new puppy owners face is figuring out how to do this when they are instructed not to take their puppy out until it is fully vaccinated. But, you can provide proper and socialization opportunities while adhering to safety directives.

To help you better understand how easy this is to accomplish, I will share what I am doing with our own new labrador puppy, Emi. Shortly after entering our home, Emi had the opportunity to meet BOLO, our 8-year-old yellow lab who is patient, tolerant, and provided the best experience as Emi’s first encounter with an unfamiliar dog.

After her first full day in our home, I started to focus on slowly introducing her to new people. We invited various

friends to our home for short visits to interact with Emi.

She was able to approach each person and as she did the individuals offered praise, petting, a piece of her kibble, and a small toy to interact with.

Our next step was to begin to slowly acclimate her to the life she will participate in on a daily basis. This meant taking her up to my office at Dog is Good Headquarters. There she met our team, explored the various offices, navigated the wood and concrete floors, used BOLO’s potty area, got to hear the industrial sounds and noises that billow throughout the industrial complex, and had a fabulous introduction to the UPS delivery guy.

Emi is small enough for me to carry her in a sling on walks with BOLO. As she gets heavier, she will join us in a stroller. During these 30-minute walks, she sees and hears cars and

trucks driving by, meets the different people out walking- men, women, and children, notices the other dogs out walking, and hears the helicopters and planes that fly overhead.

Emi has enjoyed short outings to our local coffee shop and local downtown community where she watches the local scene from the safety of a blanket. She is participating in supervised puppy playgroups with age-appropriate, vaccinated puppies, and we are taking her to visit her vet and the staff just to say hello.

The bottom line is that socialization is incredibly important. Take the time to make every first experience as pleasant and positive as possible. Allow your puppy the chance to overcome fear by being present but not coddling or reinforcing fear behavior. Do not take your puppy to a dog park or a dog beach, and do not put your puppy in a precarious situation where they may have a negative experience. This could lead to long-term problems. Set your puppy up for success with short duration socialization activities and gradually build up as the puppy matures.

GILA KURTZ, Co-Founder/Co-Owner of Dog is Good, Author- Fur Covered Wisdom, and Puppy Development and Training Expert (20+years) President, Co-Founder/Co-owner

• Author of Fur Covered Wisdom ( International #1 Best

Selling Book on Amazon) • Woman of the Year - Women In the Pet Industry Network • Top 25 Woman of Influence in the Pet Industry