What is socialisation

Socialization is the ability of your dog to interact with humans without fear and also understanding how to communicate successfully with other dogs. The process of socialisation of the dog starts the moment the puppy is born and continues practically the whole life of the dog. However, the most important part happens in the first year of the puppy. What is missed during this time can be never fully reversed or improved.

The reason and consequences

Well socialised puppies grow up into self-confident, happy dogs, who are feeling comfortable around people, dogs or other animals. They are confident in various situations, that they may encounter in their life and they make excellent and happy pets. Because they are friendly and like people, they can go with their owner anywhere and they enjoy life to the full.

On the other side, undersocialised pups grow up into adult dogs, who are stressed everytime they are taken away from their familiar environment. Every encounter with strange people, dogs, event or situation is putting them into stress or even fear. That does not make them easy to handle, neither it makes them a good pet. Even worse, if such dog feels endangered, it might bite from fear. Dogs that bite, usually do not have bright future and often end up being euthanised.

When to start

The first socialising of the pups must start already in the kennel of the breeder. The breeder must handle the puppies every day, pay them attention, talk to them and play with them. Gradually, the breeder should introduce the puppies to new people, children or other dogs/animals in the family. If the mother is fearful of humans, she can pass along this fear to her puppies. In that case, the puppies must spend also certain amount of time without the mother, while having happy encounters with people in order to overcome the mothers influence.

How to do it

Socialising a wolfdog puppy requires a lot of time, patience and active interaction with the puppy. It is not enough just to take the puppy round the block and let it deal with things himself. Little puppies (especially in the age up to 12 weeks) are like children, they are curious and fearless and might easily get harmed, exploring new things. The owner must pay all his attention to the puppy during these socialisation walks, talk to him (the happy sound of your voice will ensure the puppy everything is fine), he or she has to protect the puppy from being harmed or having unpleasant encounters (either with people or dogs), as well as to make sure the puppy does not get overwhelmed with the amount of new things. Introducing the puppy to new things, people and situations must be done with patience, one thing at a time, like that the puppy does not get tired or too stressed. As the puppy grows and is able to cope with more things, you can do more.

What should the puppy meet

The puppy should be introduced gradually to everything, that it might encounter in his future life, so that is becomes self-confident in all situations. However, it´s best to start with people, as this is something that usually makes wolfdogs most problem. The owner should invite visits to his house and let them to play with the puppy, as well as allow strangers on the street to pet the puppy. It is absolutely important though, that the owner supervises the play and makes sure, these encounters with unfamiliar people are only pleasant for the puppy. If the strangers would harm, scare or tease the puppy, it would create exactly opposite effect – the puppy would not trust people and would start to be affraid of them. The best way is to introduce the puppy to strangers gradually, ask them to give treats to the puppy (provided by the owner) and keep these encounters short and positive. Every encounter with new person, animal or situation must end positivelly for the puppy and the puppy must feel in all cases the support and protection of its owner.

From the puppy´s view, people come in strange shapes and looks. It might not seem important to us, but for the puppy a person wearing a hat might be scary, or it might feel worried about person wearing uniform, a backpack or walking with cane, people with umbrellas etc. Screaming children with their rapid movements are also often source of worries for puppies. Therefore it is important for the puppy to meet as many different people, as possible. The puppy should be also introduced to public transport, such as buses, trams, metro or trains. It does not matter, that you use car normally, you never know, when the car breaks and you will need to transport your dog in public transport. Metro stations, rush city streets and squares are also excellent places for socialising the puppy with the crowds and noise.

Puppy classes

Of course, the puppy should also meet other dogs (even if you have more dogs in your household) or other animals. Here it is again very important, that owner of the puppy makes sure, the puppy is introduced only to dogs known to the owner, that are vaccinated, well behaved and will not harm the puppy. A great place for such encounters are the puppy classes in various dog schools. Here, the puppy is allowed to play with other puppies, which is very important for him to learn to interact with other dogs. But also the puppy will learn to pay attention to its owner, even if there are other dogs around, as the puppy class is also meant to teach basic obedience. Puppies are usually admitted to puppy classes, when they reach 12 weeks of age. By that time, your puppy should already be familiar with meeting new people and situations, and it´s ready to interact more also with dogs.

Vaccination versus socialisation

Many veterinarians require, that the puppy does not leave the house or it´s garden, before it´s vaccinations are finished. At the present time, the puppies receive their first vaccinations usually in age of 6-7 weeks and the first vaccination programs are finished in age of 12 weeks. However, since we know these 12 weeks are crucial for the puppy´s good mental health, it is neccessary to find some compromise between the need to protect it against disease and not missing the important early socialisation stage. As the early socialisation should happen mostly with people, you can avoid the risk of infection by not letting the puppy to interact with dogs with uknown vaccination status, not taking the puppy to dog parks and places, where many dogs foul, as well as preventing the puppy in contact with dog exrements.