Puppies experience a critical
socialization period from birth until about 12 to 16 weeks of age.
Scientifically, here's the reason why: puppies go through a critical
socialization period from 6 to 16 weeks of age that will dramatically impact their behavior for the rest of their lives.
Not exact matches
During the
socialization to the mother
period, we can say that the puppy learns compassionate care
from its mother during this first
period.
Fostering can extend holding
periods, increase likelihood of adoption, aid in healing and recovery
from injury or illness, reduce shelter crowding and improve
socialization between animals and people.
The best time to teach them is during the primary
socialization period, which is roughly
from 2 to 7 weeks of age.
Much study has been done on the critical
socialization periods and professionals debate on how to protect the puppy
from illness while meeting his need for rich social experiences.
According to the American Kennel Club, «
From 7 weeks to 4 months of age, your puppy goes through a
socialization period that permanently shapes his future personality and how he will react to things in his environment as an adult.
The educated breeders know that
from birth to 14 — 16 weeks of age is a critical, or «sensitive,»
socialization period for puppies.
Anything that is not experienced positively in that
socialization period, becomes something to be suspicious of and without support
from the handler may become a source of lifelong fear.
«We had heard
from the vet that the
socialization period for puppies begins to close around 16 weeks.
Puppies must be handled frequently
from the starting of the
socialization period.
The best time to bring a puppy into its new home is during the Human
Socialization Period,
from 50 to 84 days, or seven to twelve weeks.
While we do think having doggie friends and off leash romps can be great, and we are not trying to discourage dogs
from bonding with members of their own species; However, we want to make sure that our dogs are bonding to people during the critical
socialization periods of their development to avoid potential behavior problems down the road.
There are three well defined critical
periods in the development of a dog,
from puppy to adult, that need special attention in the work of
socialization.
With our understanding of this critical
period of puppy development we know that
socialization, which for our purposes means a positive encounter and or exposure to a wide variety of people, other animals, sounds, surfaces and situations and; prevention, a game plan that includes specific exercises to help prevent known, predictable, dog behaviors
from becoming problematic are our top priorities.
There is a very critical
period in a kitten's development between two and seven weeks of age when she learns important
socialization behavior
from her mother.
While it's impossible to expose a young puppy to absolutely everything he will ever encounter in life, the more bases that you cover during the peak
socialization period of 3 to 12 weeks, the more likely the puppy will be able to generalize
from his prior experiences and find something reassuringly familiar in a new situation.
But yes, I think that this general idea is probably one reason that
socialization and fear
periods have evolved the way that they have — they are a holdover
from a social structure that made sense for their wild ancestors, with a closed social group and not much reason to be open to new things after reaching adulthood, even though these traits may no longer be adaptive in their current role as pets.
A puppy's primary
socialization periods last
from approximately 3 to 13 weeks of age.
(The other «fear
period» happens
from 7 - 9 months of age so it is critical to keep positive experiences going) It is ideal to adopt a puppy around 10 - 12 weeks of age but never before 8 weeks for proper
socialization (7 weeks is too young in my opinion.
This «fear
period» overlaps the «human
socialization period» which is
from 7 - 12 weeks.
The true
socialization period for puppies — during which they readily incorporate new experiences into their developing worldviews that directly effect lifelong behavior — lasts
from weeks 3 to 12.
With clearance
from their veterinarian, the pup finally attended one social, now five weeks past the end of the second
socialization period, and it did not go well.
This means that breeders, new puppy owners, veterinarians, trainers and behaviorists have a responsibility to assist in providing these learning /
socialization experiences with other puppies / dogs, with children / adults and with various environmental situations during this optimal
period from birth to 16 weeks.»
According to the American Kennel Club,
from 7 weeks to 4 months of age, puppies go through a
socialization period that permanently shapes their future personality and how they will react to things in their environment as an adult.