Lockdown puppy
The experiences of 2020 gave rise to a new experience in the dog world - the lockdown puppy. One of the first challenges that arose was when to get the puppy to the new owners. This was swiftly followed by concerns about a which stage to get them to the vet for a health check. Then onward to other concerns around how best to get them socialised. After that, mostly, the process continued much as before, with many owners finding they had more time on their hands for dog walks.
A whole variety of online material developed around the challenge of puppy socialisation within the new framework within which humans were living. Bit by bit people got creative and I am pleased to see, at least in my practice, the vast majority of puppies have developed their social skills well.
As 2021 continues to be a little diffident from previous years, I would wholly recommend that owners of new puppies check out the abundance of online material out there to help them find creative ways to have their puppy socialised. The key period is between 7 and 16 weeks. The better socialised your puppy has during this phase, the more rounded and balanced they are likely to be as they go through their lives.
Socialisation, is basically a way of preparing the puppy for the sort of things they will encounter in life. The idea is to make them familiar with all the usual things that are going to be part of their world. The better this can be achieved, the more well adapted adult dog they are going to be. It is a bit like the phrase “give me a boy until he is seven years old and I shall give you the man”. Working well with the pup until they are four months old goes a long way toward creating the adult dog.
There are four key areas I like to emphasise
General handling - This includes being able to examine their mouth, teeth and throat. Being able to take things out of their mouths. Checking out ears & eyes. Lifting up their feet and legs. Safely clipping their nails. Being able to handle and groom them.
People - Being familiar and ok with a wide variety of people. I always recommend starting with dog friendly people (that is most people!). They need, ideally, to get on with everyone.
Dogs - Learning how to play and interact normally with other dogs is really important. They need to learn all the subtle clues of dog body language. They do his best when playing with other dogs. Again, make sure you aim for playing with friendly dogs to give them the best learning experience.
The Big Wide World - There are so many other things they may encounter. Maybe traffic, livestock, horses, hoovers, plastic bags, the list goes on and on. The more things they can encounter safely, without overtaking them, the more rounded their education will be.
A useful book with lots of sound advice is The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey
Finally, remember, there are a lot of very useful homeopathic remedies to help puppies develop well during their growing period as well as to support them if problems develop. I will look a these in a future blog.