National Puppy Day is March 23, and there’s no better way to celebrate than with fun puppy socialization activities.
Puppy socialization involves exposing puppies to many different sights, sounds, smells and experiences in a positive way during their first three to four months of life, according to Amanda Farah, national training and behavior coordinator for Best Friends Animal Society, an animal welfare nonprofit that operates America’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary.
“It’s a developmental period where they are most likely to benefit from exposure to a wide variety of things,” she says. “It’s setting up how they’ll feel about new things for their entire life, which is why it’s so important.”
The idea is to prevent puppies from developing fear that leads to reactive behavior, like barking, lunging or biting. For instance, a dog who fears other dogs might try to attack them on neighborhood walks.
Puppy Parties
That’s where puppy socialization classes — aka puppy parties — come in. Farah recommends finding a “well-run” class where a trainer introduces them in a way that isn’t scary.
“If your puppy is hiding under a chair, they’re not being forced out,” she says. “Once the puppies get in there and they’re all playing together, it’s super cute. They’re learning to wrestle. Dogs in general are the best teachers of each other. They teach each other things that we can’t teach them. They know we’re not dogs. So having puppies be able to teach each other in a group like that is really great.”
While veterinarians used to counsel clients to isolate their puppies from other dogs until their second round of puppy vaccinations, The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior recommends puppy socialization start after their first round of shots — and before the second set — because it’s so critically important. Without socialization, puppies can develop unwanted behaviors that make dog training more difficult – and can lead to them being relinquished to animal shelters.
So with an eye to health precautions, puppy socialization parties are a safer choice than dog parks or off-leash dog beaches, which should be avoided, according to Farah. (As she quipped: “You’re not throwing them into a big pile of unknown, potentially unvaccinated dogs.”)
After their first round of puppy shots, she’s also a fan of taking puppies out into the world to meet a variety of people, such as outdoor malls or big box stores like Home Depot.
“The main point is to be able to predict what your puppy will be around,” she says. “We want to give them lots of new experiences introduced in a gentle, controlled way.”
This can include body handling (including paws, gums and ears), novel sounds like sirens, music, doorbells, laughter, crying and cheering), walking on different surfaces (such as grass, pavement, sand, tile, tin foil, dirt, carpet and hardwood) and meeting all kinds of people and pets.
Create A Puppy Socialization Checklist
Many dog trainers provide puppy socialization checklists, or you can brainstorm one of your own (try it with other family members, dog lovers or roommates) that could include:
- People of different races and ethnicities
- People of different genders and ages
- Man with a mustache
- Man with a beard
- Person in uniform
- Person wearing a hat
- Person riding a bicycle
- Child using a skateboard
- Person wearing sunglasses
- Person wearing a mask
- Person using crutches
- Person using a wheelchair
- Person pushing a stroller
- Family member using a vacuum
- Person holding an umbrella
“We do lots of fun games with the puppies where we’re just doing really crazy things around them so that when they go out into the world, if they see someone doing something odd, it doesn’t scare them,” Farah says. “Think about all the things an adult dog might be confronted with.”
Ultimately, the time you spend socializing your puppy will benefit them for the rest of their life — but don’t despair if you adopt a dog after their puppy socialization window, according to Farah.
“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of socialization, but also if you’re missed those first 14-16 weeks with your puppy, I do want to emphasize that all is not lost,” she says. “You can still do lots of things with your puppy to help open them up to new experiences. You might have to go a little more slowly if some fears have started to form, but I don’t want people to think that if they don’t have the puppy by the time they’re three months old, that they’re going to miss out.”
While puppies take a lot of work, she feels they’re worth the effort.
“Puppies are absolutely fantastic,” she says. “I always tell my clients that the first few months are following them around and helping them make good choices, just like you do with a child. So it’s very rewarding.”
