Socialization of Puppies

An important aspect of behavioral development is the socialization process. Understanding this process is important for several reasons. The socialization of young animals has a significant influence on the behavioral patterns of adult animals. In addition, a thorough understanding of socialization provides us with greater insight into the normal adult behavioral patterns that we will discuss later. Understanding the socialization process provides greater insight into the origins of abnormal behavior. Finally, knowledge of socialization offers a number of guidelines for raising puppies in a healthy way, thereby preventing behavioral problems later on.

Socialization is the process by which a puppy establishes its first social contacts with other individuals, including humans. These social contacts change as the puppy grows older and are associated with four distinct periods of development: the neonatal period, the transitional period, the actual socialization period, and puberty. Each of these periods is closely linked to anatomical and functional changes that occur in the brain and nervous system as the puppy grows.

For most dog breeds, this period covers the first two weeks of a puppy’s life. During these weeks, the puppy interacts with its littermates. The mother-puppy bond consists mainly of feeding and providing warmth (literally); the puppy is completely dependent on the mother, because it does not yet possess any motor or sensory skills to fend for itself. A newborn puppy is completely deaf and blind, but has a keen sense of smell. In terms of the senses, only the sense of touch and warmth are well developed, in addition to smell. Motor-wise, the puppy can only crawl, suckle, and whine (when dissatisfied). Feeding behavior is limited to suckling. Urination and defecation occur only after stimulation by the mother (licking the abdomen and anogenital region). In a puppy during the neonatal period, we observe initial “investigative” or “exploratory” behavior in the form of slow crawling movements and side-to-side head movements. This behavior is particularly noticeable when the puppy is searching for a nipple. All other social interactions of the puppy are achieved through care-seeking behavior. If a puppy is hungry, in pain, or cold, it emits rapid squeaking sounds until it is reassured by the mother or a human caregiver.

Between the 15th and 21st days of his life, the puppy’s behavior changes significantly; notably, the first sensory, motor, and physiological skills typical of adult animals become visible in the puppy for the first time. The puppy transitions, as it were, from complete dependence on the mother to much greater independence. During this period, the puppy’s eyes and ears begin to function, enabling him to respond to visual stimuli and sounds, while his motor development now allows him to stand, walk, and chew. Furthermore, its learning ability changes. Toward the end of the transition period, we see the first adult social behavior patterns emerge: the puppy wags its tail when it sees people and begins to play actively with the other puppies. The puppy also develops control over urination and defecation and begins to relieve itself outside the nest. In summary: during this period, the puppy transitions fairly quickly from total dependence to recognizable adult behaviors.

Although some social bonds are formed as early as the first 3 weeks of a puppy’s life, most of the important social interactions and bonding processes develop later. The actual socialization period begins in the fourth week of life—that is, starting at 3 weeks—and lasts until approximately the 12th to 14th week. During this period, the puppy acquires nearly all of its adult capabilities in terms of the senses, motor skills, and learning ability.

The experiences a young puppy has during the socialization period have a very profound influence on its future behavior. Early in the socialization period, the puppy’s activity consists mainly of “care-seeking” behavior—that is, seeking warmth, food, and comfort. The puppy forms a strong bond with the mother dog and follows her everywhere in the pen, as far as possible. We observe intense whining or whimpering when the puppy is briefly confined in an unfamiliar place. In addition, we often see fear responses to unfamiliar objects or strangers, during which the puppy may whine, growl, or run away.

During the early socialization period, puppies begin to lick, drink water, and chew on solid food. The eruption of their teeth stimulates chewing activities and also influences their behavior toward other individuals. Puppies bite each other while playing, often growling as well. They also fight over food and toys, though still in a playful manner. This type of play plays an important role in establishing a social hierarchy. The breeder can often already tell which puppies will later become dominant and/or aggressive, and which will be timid and submissive.

We see other social activities in the form of emerging pack behavior. When one puppy leaves the nest, the others usually follow. The puppies begin to explore their surroundings. At first, they approach unfamiliar objects cautiously and often with a look of “surprise.” Gradually, they get used to their new surroundings, after which they continue their exploration. We also see this process in their urination and defecation behavior. At the beginning of the socialization period, they urinate and defecate close to the nest (the whelping box). As the puppy progresses in its socialization, this occurs further away and in specific locations. In the fourth week of life, the puppy therefore has contact primarily with its mother and, to a lesser extent, with its littermates. The young puppy now learns certain aspects of grooming behavior from the mother, even though it will take months before they begin to exhibit this learned behavior on their own. This is particularly important for the female puppies, as they are now learning a number of behavioral patterns that are essential for proper, normal maternal behavior. This period is significant in that severe emotional and social stress at this age can have a lifelong effect on the puppy. The way the mother or caregiver responds to a puppy’s anxious whimpering largely determines how the puppy will cope with stressful situations later in life. Removing a puppy from its mother at this age is asking for trouble, given the poor socialization that results.

We generally see the establishment of a hierarchy within the litter through play-fighting begin to take shape between the 5th and 7th week of life. This is a critical period. During this time, the puppy must, as it were, learn to be a dog. Young puppies that are separated from their littermates at this age will later have problems when it comes to socializing with other dogs. In practice, we encounter these types of cases in the form of female dogs that no male dog will mate with, and male dogs that don’t know how to behave around a female in heat.

The period from the 5th to the 7th week is also characterized by a rapidly increasing response to people. The puppies begin to actively seek contact with people around 6 weeks of age. Around this time, the puppies are usually weaned and thus become more independent. Furthermore, the puppies’ nervous systems reach the level of an adult dog around this age. In other words, the puppy is “ready” to learn and is eager to do so. Eight weeks is the ideal age to place puppies in their new homes, so that further socialization with people, combined with house training and obedience training, can take place. Unfortunately, some breeders and buyers do not realize the importance of this timing. Puppies are often sold too early. Such dogs later tend to be overly people-oriented. On the other hand, puppies sometimes leave much too late, especially from litters that are actually just 8 weeks old right before the summer vacation. Such dogs later tend to be overly dog-oriented.

In summary, we can therefore divide the actual socialization period into three phases:

1. Socialization with the mother (4th–5th week of life)
During this period, the puppy learns the mother’s nurturing and caring behavior. If something goes wrong during this time, the dog will later have trouble caring for its own puppies or may act aggressively toward unfamiliar puppies. In addition, such dogs will later show little concern for their human family members when it comes to protection.

2. Socialization with littermates (5th–7th week of life)
During this period, the puppy learns to “speak” in dog language. This means it learns how to greet others, picks up body language, and learns how to behave around other dogs. Without this development, a dog will later become fearful and aggressive toward other dogs. We see this, for example, in a dog that barks at all other dogs and seeks out its owner when another animal approaches, as opposed to the normal behavior of greeting and sniffing. Dogs use a fairly complex series of behaviors to say: “I am dominant” or “This is my territory” or “I am submissive” or “I am in heat” or “Let’s play,” etc., etc. Without a normal Phase 2, a dog is illiterate in the language of dogs.

3. Socialization with humans (7th–14th week of life)
During this period, puppies learn to “speak” human. They learn not to be afraid of being touched or picked up, or of the human voice. If they are not raised around humans during this period, they will never fully trust humans. They are “wild” and dog-oriented.

The period from the 12th week of life until the animal reaches (sexual) maturity is called puberty. The length of this period depends on the breed. Behavioral patterns and further socialization depend heavily on the environment. A puppy that spends this period in a kennel develops very differently from a puppy that grows up in a family home. In both types of environments, the most important process is achieving social independence. The young dog must learn how to fend for itself. During this period, the puppy will try to become the leader. It tests all family members until it knows its place. New owners, especially those who have never had a dog before, need to be aware of this, because this is when many behavioral problems arise. An untrained puppy, who doesn’t realize he’s at the bottom of the hierarchy, can become aggressive at this age or start destroying things. In such cases, rugs get torn up, chairs get chewed to pieces, door frames get destroyed, and so on.

This often leads to the dog being returned to the breeder or to a shelter, or even being tied to a tree. The bond between human and animal suffers greatly from a lack of understanding and miscommunication during this period. This is the period when the puppy must learn to submit to its superiors.

If you, as a new owner, understand that a puppy will constantly test your limits, many of these behavioral problems can be prevented. You also need to understand that a puppy spends a lot of time exploring and discovering its surroundings, and that this sometimes comes at the expense of some household items. You should give the puppy something to chew on, and it must also learn where it is and isn’t allowed to go. Furthermore, you should realize that a puppy may become anxious when you leave and might start destroying things. It’s best to confine a puppy to a place where it can’t break anything; travel crates or benches work well in such cases. They’re also a valuable aid in house training. A new owner must make it clear to their puppy that there are rules it must follow. Any other approach to training will generally lead to problems later on.

Now that we have seen how a puppy develops through normal social interactions, it is also important to consider deviations from the normal socialization process and their impact on later behavior. The term “critical period” is relevant in this context: especially between the 5th and 8th weeks, all behavioral patterns can be influenced in ways that have lasting effects for the rest of the dog’s life. Puppies that socialize well with people between 6 and 8 weeks of age behave much more pleasantly toward people as adult dogs than if they socialize with people much earlier or much later. Puppies that do not come into contact with people during this critical period are, without exception, untrainable and often even unapproachable as adult dogs.

Puppies raised on a bottle are completely socially isolated from their littermates. These puppies often exhibit significant difficulties interacting with other dogs later in life. They are often “loners,” frequently aggressive toward other dogs, though attached to people—but usually not to the same extent as a normally raised dog.

Early socialization is extremely important for puppies that are intended to undergo special training. Researchers have studied the effect of delayed socialization in puppies destined to become guide dogs. All puppies had contact with people during the first twelve weeks of their lives—not too much, but regularly, as is typical in a normal breeder’s home. After that, the puppies were placed with families at different ages. Some were placed immediately at 12 weeks of age, while others were placed with families 1, 2, or 3 weeks later. Of the puppies placed at 12 weeks, 90% were later certified as guide dogs. Puppies that were isolated for two weeks longer became guide dogs in 57% of cases. With 3 weeks or more of additional isolation, only 30% were ultimately placed as guide dogs. From this, we can conclude that a lack of social contact during the critical period leads to less social dogs. We sometimes see this in large breeding kennels, where dogs are often allowed to get much too old before training begins. Such dogs may, for example, make good hunting dogs, but they hunt more for themselves than they listen to the handler and work for him. Some of these dogs develop “kennel syndrome.” They are very submissive and run away from strangers. They often exhibit fear responses when someone tries to pick them up. Incidentally, in my opinion, twelve weeks is already far too late to place a puppy. Ideally, as early as 8 weeks!

There is a critical period of socialization for young puppies. Depriving a puppy of this period has lasting effects that can significantly alter its adult behavior. The animals are then unable to form normal bonds with people or other dogs. It is to be hoped that breeders will come to understand this even better, so that the number of dogs with behavioral problems will decrease.

1. Puppies should stay with their littermates until they are 8 weeks old.
2. Litters should have regular contact with people starting at 3 weeks of age.
3. Puppies should be placed in a normal home environment immediately at 8 weeks of age, when they leave their littermates, and should not remain at the breeder’s kennel for any longer.
4. Puppies that are bottle-fed should have as much contact with other puppies as possible to help them socialize better with both dogs and people.