Primary Socialization Period

We know a lot about how puppies grow and develop. As the owner of a new puppy, it is helpful for you to know what stages of development your puppy is experiencing, and how your training and efforts raising your puppy can affect your puppy developmentally. A puppy's primary socialization period is between 3 and 14 weeks of age. If not socialized to people, your puppy will experience shyness or aggressiveness. If taken from the litter before 5 weeks of age, the puppies may be aggressive or shy with other dogs, and become overly dependent upon their owner, especially if they are not allowed the opportunity to interact with other puppies. The socialization period is one in which the puppy will form many new social relationships. These relationships can generally be divided into three specific periods: 1. Socialization to the mother, 2. Socialization to peers, 3. Socialization to humans

Socialization to the mother:

During the socialization to the mother period, we can say that the puppy learns compassionate care from its mother during this first sensitive period. If there is disruption of this period, the puppy may not learn or develop good maternal instincts. More importantly, it may not learn to care for and to show concern for its human companion.

Socialization to peer: During the second period, the puppy learns to speak "dog", and this means he learns to say "hello". He learns canine body language and how to respond to other dogs. Without this development, the puppy will be fearful or aggressive toward other dogs. This is observed most often by the dog who barks at all other dogs and seeks its owner when other pets approach, as opposed to the normal greeting and sniffing that goes into saying "hello" in dog. Dogs also use a complicated set of behaviors to say "I'm dominant" or "This is my territory" or "I'm submissive" or "I'm in heat" or "Let's play" and so on. Without this period, dogs become illiterate about their own language.