Why is socializing your puppy so important? Why do many trainers and dog owners not talk enough about the importance of exposing your puppy to the vast and large world? Especially since we expect them to live in it and follow our rules. We will dive into the life stages of puppyhood and discover how some dog owners just have "naturally good dogs". You know, the one's who say "yea my dog practically trained himself."

*  Typically when you get your new puppy home.

The Fetal, Neonatal, and Transition Periods are usually when the puppy is with the mother at the breeder's.

So let's skip those and focus on when you bring the puppy home.

Socialization Period:

During this period your puppy should be exposed to new and safe people and dogs. BUT MY VET SAID...

I get it, your vet wants you to keep your dog isolated at home until all the vaccinations are done, which is typically around 16 weeks of age. But, if you look at the chart you miss all of those important periods to develop your puppy's comfortability with the world.

You can still socialize your pup with dogs and people SAFELY, while not exposing them to potential diseases.

• Put them in a shopping cart with their dog bed from home, take them to stores, NOT ON THE GROUND.
• Avoid parks and strange dogs
• Avoid walks around your neighborhood
• Ask family and friends to bring their SOCIAL dogs around your new puppy in your home.
• Get a doggy stroller until they are fully vaccinated

There are many ways to still expose your puppy to the world while avoiding diseases.

When you expose your puppy to new situations that it will encounter as it grows older, you teach it that the world is a safe place not to be feared. Time and time again, I work with older dogs who are afraid of people, cars, a trash bag, the wind, the dark...etc. This is because they were not exposed to these things when they were learning about the world and soaking all the information up like a sponge.

Fear Period:

Your puppy will typically go through 2 of these periods.

It sounds scarier than it is, trust me. The fear period is just when anything traumatic that happens to your puppy stays with them for life... maybe it is a bit scarier. However, there are ways to help your furry friend through this period. Anything they experience during this period that may be scary can lead to phobias, fear, anxiety, and even neurotic behaviors. Yikes. This doesn't mean keeping them inside and sheltering them the whole time.

Things you can do to help:

• Give yummy treats and praise when your puppy explores something new
• Avoid forcing your puppy to meet people. We have all seen the dog owner who drags the leash to the stranger on a walk when the puppy is trying to get away.
• Encourage your pup to explore things, investigate, and sniff around, only when it's safe to do so.
• Stop validating their fears over a moving bag in the distance. No, it is not ok to be afraid of a bag, so don't tell them it is.
• Work on letting the leash loose so they have more control over when they can exit a scary situation.
• Try not to overwhelm them with big new experiences.
• Don't take them on an 8hr car ride if they have never been in a car
• Don't throw the largest neighborhood party at your house
• Avoid having all of your nieces and nephews over at the same time. Children can be scary to young dogs, especially small breeds.

Remember this period will happen again in a few months, so be prepared. Maybe post-pone vacations and family trips. Leaving your puppy at home with a stranger that isn't aware of your training goals can  make a big impact on your puppy. It sounds like you have to stop your whole life when you get a puppy, but you don't. Altering a few things in your life for just a few months will relieve you of having to deal with behavioral issues years later.

Juvenile Period:

This is usually when most people start seeking a dog trainer. Call it the "terrible 2s" of puppy stages.

Your puppy will want to be more independent and start to develop a better sense of the world around it. If you haven't started training and established boundaries, you're in for a treat, because this dog doesn't have any. If you wait until your puppy reaches this age to start teaching it cues and boundaries, instead of starting at 0 with skillsets you are starting at -2.

What your puppy should know by this age:

• Sit
• Down
• Come when called
• Where to potty
• What they can chew on
• Not to jump
• Not escaping from the front door and so on.

These are just a few examples.

Yes, your 8-week-old puppy can learn to sit, and so many more things, like where to potty, what to chew, and what not to chew. Your puppy can also learn it shouldn't jump on people before they reach this stage of life. They should especially learn this if they are a large breed.

Now that we understand what Socialization is let's briefly talk about Rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation/ Behavior Modification

Rehabilitation or Behavior Modification is the result of neglecting the above text.

A dog owner is looking for a dog trainer because they are dealing with barking, and a lot of it. They have a 4-year-old French Bulldog and live in an apartment.

As dog trainers, we have to look at the lifestyle of the dog, the history, the triggers, and the responses to the behavior. There's more to it than just "exposing" them to something. You missed that period. It doesn't mean that your dog can't be helped to overcome their behavioral issues. It just means it will take longer and require more skill.

We will use the example above to give you an idea of how we work on this.

We need to know everything about your dog and their life up until you reached out to a trainer.

Some questions we might ask

• Where did you get the dog?
• Did you move around a lot?
• Did the dog have any scary experiences in its life?
• What are the triggers of the barking?

We ask these and so many more to determine what the root cause of the barking is, then work on rehabilitating the dog. There are no quick fixes in behavior modification, I wish there were. If you find a quick fix, the behavior will just present itself a few months down the road, or even as a different problem altogether.

If we determine that the behavior is caused by a fear of something, then "exposing" them to that fear like you would with Socialization, will only make things worse. It has to be approached carefully and delicately. This is because with socialization the dog has no fears, no negative views of the world. So, it's easier to just expose them to something in a positive way. When the dog ALREADY has a fear of something the steps to help them overcome that fear are more detailed.

I hope this helped shed some light on why socializing your puppy is SO important because you can't go back in time and "re-socialize" them. So please don't miss out on the opportunities you and your pup can experience together as they grow and learn about the world.