LIFE STAGES, PART II: 

PUPPYHOOD

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At around 7 weeks of age, most pups ready to go to their new homes.  This is the time in a puppies’ life when parameters are set for future behaviour.  New owners should keep one thing in mind, a concept that spans everything that should be done with the dog from this point on:  CONTROL.

There are three reasons to practice control with your puppy. 

1.   If your puppy is under your control, it is less likely that he will learn unwanted behaviours.  You will have control of his toileting, access to humans, access to items he can chew, and his feeding and sleeping routines.

2.   Puppies that perceive that a human is making all of the decisions become comfortable with the fact.  Keeping good control of your puppy will teach him to look to you for direction and prevent him from struggling or attempting to “get around” you when you want him to listen.

3.   You can control the life experiences he gets as you socialize him.

Please see the article:  “Getting Control:  Nothing in Life is Free” for further information.

At 7 weeks of age, puppies are in the critical learning period.  It is at this time that an intense socialization program should begin, taking care to cover as many environments and objects as possible.  See the article “Socialization” for how to do it.

At 8-11 weeks of age, puppies go through a fear period.  During this time, care should be taken that they do not become startled.  Keep environment levels low and easy at this point.  This is not the time for the county fair or heavy traffic exposure!

From 7 to about 14 weeks, puppies have the natural tendency to “stick to you.”  The puppy never leaves your side, comes right to you when you call it, and generally won’t go far.  (This trait is Nature’s way of keeping a puppy safe.  If a young puppy in the wild were prone to wandering at great distances, it would quickly succumb to a predator or get lost and starve.)  Owners often get the false impression that this trait is a permanent one.

At around 12-14 weeks, Mother Nature kicks in with a different trait…the desire to explore at further distances.  The puppy that previously stuck like glue is gone over the next hill in a cloud of dust!

Owners of young puppies should *never* take for granted that the puppy will always come back just because it is sticking like glue at 10 weeks old.  Formal recall practice should be done every day, several times a day, to instill a response that will last through the exploratory period and beyond.

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