What's the most common cause of behaviour problems in adult dogs?

insufficient - 

carefully introduced - 

polite exposure to life’s experiences -

as a puppy!

Probably!

It’s all very easy for us dog behaviourists and trainers to presume that pet owners know things. We know that there’s been a lot of work done on the important topics. We probably presume that everyone gets a puppy pack from the vet or a ‘best puppy’ book that helps new owners ensure that their puppy gets the best start in life. It’s probably fair to say, that, indeed, many people do know about the Critical Socialisation Period for puppies.

But, experience from seeing a few behaviour cases last weekend tells me differently. Therefore, it seemed perhaps helpful to share some information.

Aggression, separation issues, fireworks fear, barking, pulling, jumping – all the big problems - can be largely avoided by adequate socialisation and early training. (And carefullly selecting where you get your puppy from in the first place - another blog on that to come soon...).

To explain further – There are 2 critical things going on as your puppy is growing. Firstly, their brains are developing extremely quickly: at 16 weeks old (less than 4 months), their brains are 90% grown. Secondly, when they are born, they don’t ‘feel’ fear. The chemicals in the body that cause them to actually feel scared start to kick in about the 5 week mark and build up to being fully functional about 16 weeks. (All dogs are different in this respect – generally, Germans Shepherds feel fear earlier and Labradors later – but individual dogs are affected differently).

It’s therefore crucially important to get as much experience ‘knitted’ into that exponential brain growth whilst these new things aren’t being associated with fearful feelings. This Critical Socialisation Period is usually accepted as being 8-12 weeks of age.

So, what do they need to be exposed to? Well, all of the things that they are going to have to cope with as adult dogs: all sorts and shapes of people, young and old; motor bikes and people wearing hats and helmets; built up areas; noisy traffic; open country-side; objects and noises such as wheely bins, carrier bags, squeaky gates, washing machines, hoovers, fireworks; other puppies, dogs and animals; being handled; and how to be polite through early training. (There’s a puppy socialisation full checklist available for freeon the Pawsability.co.uk web site.)

Ok, so many of you may be saying: ‘But I got a puppy and didn’t bother with anything, and they are fine!” Well that’s great news, but why risk it? Even if there’s only a 50/50 chance of things going wrong, surely it’s better to work hard over the first three months to save your dog from troubles later (and to save you from a lot more hard work, stress and expense in the future).

It seemed worth mentioning this at this time of year too as many people still think about xmas puppies (not usually advisable). But whether then or at another time, please make sure that you have plenty of time set aside for your puppy’s first few months. It’s hard work.

So what else can we do? Well, firstly please quiz your breeder about socialisation. Secondly, encourage your vet to start safe puppy parties. And, thirdly, enroll early in a puppy training class or early learning session. (Ofcourse, please also take your vet’s advice on safe exposure during the vaccination period.) And please please please don't get a puppy who was brought up in a barn, or from a pet shop or where you don't get a good feeling when you see Mum - there's more info on how to choose a puppy here.

As always, there’s loads of free help on the Pawsability.co.uk web site to prevent puppy problems, and please do feel free to get in touch directly – anna@pawsability.co.uk.

Author : Anna Patfield, First published in the Northern Times, Oct 2014