Socialization Versus Training
Training a dog the basics of Sit, Stay, and Come can be accomplished at any age, but the ideal time to socialize your dog to other dogs, people, and new experiences is between the ages of eight and 18 weeks. Once a puppy reaches 18 weeks, she is less open to new experiences, and she begins to gravitate toward the familiar rather than explore the new. You must of course continue to give your dog social experiences beyond the age of 18 weeks, but if you don't start before then you are sentencing your dog to a life of fearful and suspicious reactions to other dogs, new experiences, and people.
What Is Socialization?
Socializing a dog is an investment of time and energy. It should include experiences with other dogs, interactions with people of all shapes and sizes, and exposure to brand new environments. It isn't good enough to just show up in public; careful planning is required to make sure your dog has positive experiences that will benefit her for a lifetime.
Giving your dog a varied experience of life will teach her from an early age to cope with sounds, sights, smells, new people, and a variety of breeds and mixed breeds of dogs. By making an effort to socialize your dog, you are increasing your dog's ability to learn how to act around people and other dogs, and you are giving her the best chance of becoming a well-mannered and friendly adult dog. A good solid social experience will benefit her for a lifetime.
Although it's imperative to begin socialization around the first month of a puppy's life, it's also important to keep at it so the dog remains open to new experiences. A dog that consistently encounters new things, places, and people will remain well socialized.
Dogs have a critical socialization window during which they should meet at least a hundred people and a hundred other dogs and puppies. The window opens around the second week of life when the puppies first open their eyes, and the window starts to close around the eighteenth week. This doesn't mean that socialization stops there. It must continue beyond this point, but it means that your puppy is most impressionable at this age and can accept new experiences more easily than an older dog.
The more positive experiences your puppy has during this time with people and other dogs, the more willing she will be to accept and get along with people and dogs for the rest of her life. You can make or break a dog's potential by offering the right socialization at the right time.
Socialization is not the same for every dog. There are as many personality types among dogs as there are among people: Some are outgoing, some are shy, some are overbearing, some are vocal, some are physical, and so on. A puppy's play style will often determine what types of puppies she should play with to learn the right ways to get along with other dogs.
Don't Wait!
Don't wait until your dog is fully vaccinated to begin socializing her, but do carefully choose the dogs she meets and plays with. It isn't a good idea to take a pup that is between eight and 12 weeks old to the local park and let her meet just any old dog or eat other dogs' feces. Enroll your young dog in a well-organized puppy kindergarten class before she is 16 weeks old and make sure that all the puppies attending the class have been started on their vaccinations.
Most puppies get their last series of shots at 16 weeks of age, but if you wait until your dog is that old to get her around other dogs, you will probably find that she is shy and defensive and not as outgoing and adventurous as she may have been at an earlier age. This is a sign that the socialization window is closing, and you need to increase and intensify her experience around other dogs.
A varied social experience is an insurance policy against bad experiences that might alter a dog's future behavior. Because they will have a lot of experience to draw upon, they will be able to go back to enjoying the experience of being with other dogs.
In short, if you wait to begin your dog's socialization until she is fully vaccinated, you will find you have to work harder at getting her to like being around other dogs. More dogs die every year from behavior problems that stem from a lack of socialization than dogs exposed to the diseases we vaccinate against. So get out there and make sure every puppy you ever own gets to meet lots of other dogs and people so she avoids becoming another statistic.
