The other day I came across a text on a website for a puppy seller. According to the text, this seller did not let prospective puppy buyers visit the puppies until they were eight weeks old, because then the puppies would receive a lot of impressions and “overstimulation of puppies before 8 weeks of age can affect the dog’s development and behavior later in life.”
The postulates shock me in several ways and are infinitely distant from the way I myself think and act when I have puppies.
It is SO important that puppies are socialized to all sorts of everyday things, including people of different sizes and mindsets.
From about 3 weeks of age until they are 16 weeks old, puppies are extremely open to all impressions. It is also during this period that they learn that people are nice and fun and interesting to be with. Another important reason why you don't "waste" the first 8 weeks.
If you shouldn't schedule most visits during the first 3 to 8 weeks, when the puppies are with their mother and siblings in a familiar and safe environment, when should you schedule them? Once the puppy has moved home to its new family, it will have a lot of new experiences to deal with.
I always want to be as sure as I can that I am sending my puppies to the right homes. That is why I ask that the whole family come to visit, that way I can also assess how the parents show the children how to behave around the dogs. Next, I demand that you come to visit at least 2 times before picking up the puppy. No puppy should be sent home with complete strangers when it comes from me!
The last time I had puppies, I used a socialization form prepared by the Danish Kennel Club. The form contains boxes that you tick with things that the puppies can / should experience while they live with the breeder: vacuum cleaners, children, cars, noise, other dogs, other animals and many other things. It continues with boxes after the puppies have moved away from home, so that you encourage the new puppy buyers to continue the good socialization.
However, it is important to remember that as a breeder you cannot socialize through everything in the world. When Audi moved to our home, one of the first things that made him back up was the smell of a cup of steaming coffee. Fride, his breeder, was a tea drinker, so he had not encountered that smell before. He was born in the middle of a Norwegian winter, so the first time he experienced grass was back home in Denmark. My own puppies reacted to something as ordinary as the sound of phone notifications, because my phone is always on silent.
Puppies are always beautiful, so for the sake of fun and curiosity, Audi and I went to visit his little nephews and nieces on Friday, who then got to meet a stranger and a strange dog at the same time.
Last year Audi also came to visit the puppies. At that time he was still just a young pup who really enjoyed playing around with the little puppies. Therefore we had high expectations for his behavior with these puppies.
Over the past year, Audi has become an adult dog with great respect for female dogs – especially female dogs with puppies, it turned out. At first, he refused to enter the house. It was a clear and unequivocal NO THANKS.
I can understand him, because the six-seven week old puppies turned out to be little devils. They came snarling without the slightest hesitation and biting snarlingly at shoes, sleeves, dresses and anything else they could get their hands on. They were everywhere at once.
Poor Audi jumped up onto a chair, where he sat and looked at the little rockets that were about to knock over the whole house. When they let out a beep, he jumped down to check that everything was as it should be.
"Kennelmutter" looked a little tired, understandable when you have 6 puppies running around the house, along with their mother, another dog and a cat, and in addition to daily care, you also try to teach the puppies cleanliness and at the same time open your home several times a week to people of all ages who come to cuddle the puppies.
It was a proud Kennel Mother who could boast that the puppies had only farted twice indoors the previous night.
Most puppy buyers have no idea how much time and energy goes into raising a litter of puppies. It's fun and exciting, but also tough.
Did the puppies seem overstimulated and stressed? Not at all. They were confident, bold and sweet, just as they should be. I still firmly believe that socialization to people and other things should take place while the puppies are with the breeder.
Audi and I went home happy from the puppy visit. Me a little jealous that they weren't my puppies. Audi relieved that they weren't his.
About this week's blogger:
Helene is an early retiree and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal team consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls. And now she and Cookie can also call themselves a reading dog team.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.
Socialization
The other day I came across a text on a website for a puppy seller. According to the text, this seller did not let prospective puppy buyers visit the puppies until they were eight weeks old, because then the puppies would receive a lot of impressions and “overstimulation of puppies before 8 weeks of age can affect the dog’s development and behavior later in life.”
The postulates shock me in several ways and are infinitely distant from the way I myself think and act when I have puppies.
It is SO important that puppies are socialized to all sorts of everyday things, including people of different sizes and mindsets.
From about 3 weeks of age until they are 16 weeks old, puppies are extremely open to all impressions. It is also during this period that they learn that people are nice and fun and interesting to be with. Another important reason why you don't "waste" the first 8 weeks.
If you shouldn't schedule most visits during the first 3 to 8 weeks, when the puppies are with their mother and siblings in a familiar and safe environment, when should you schedule them? Once the puppy has moved home to its new family, it will have a lot of new experiences to deal with.
I always want to be as sure as I can that I am sending my puppies to the right homes. That is why I ask that the whole family come to visit, that way I can also assess how the parents show the children how to behave around the dogs. Next, I demand that you come to visit at least 2 times before picking up the puppy. No puppy should be sent home with complete strangers when it comes from me!
The last time I had puppies, I used a socialization form prepared by the Danish Kennel Club. The form contains boxes that you tick with things that the puppies can / should experience while they live with the breeder: vacuum cleaners, children, cars, noise, other dogs, other animals and many other things. It continues with boxes after the puppies have moved away from home, so that you encourage the new puppy buyers to continue the good socialization.
However, it is important to remember that as a breeder you cannot socialize through everything in the world. When Audi moved to our home, one of the first things that made him back up was the smell of a cup of steaming coffee. Fride, his breeder, was a tea drinker, so he had not encountered that smell before. He was born in the middle of a Norwegian winter, so the first time he experienced grass was back home in Denmark. My own puppies reacted to something as ordinary as the sound of phone notifications, because my phone is always on silent.
Puppies are always beautiful, so for the sake of fun and curiosity, Audi and I went to visit his little nephews and nieces on Friday, who then got to meet a stranger and a strange dog at the same time.
Last year Audi also came to visit the puppies. At that time he was still just a young pup who really enjoyed playing around with the little puppies. Therefore we had high expectations for his behavior with these puppies.
Over the past year, Audi has become an adult dog with great respect for female dogs – especially female dogs with puppies, it turned out. At first, he refused to enter the house. It was a clear and unequivocal NO THANKS.
I can understand him, because the six-seven week old puppies turned out to be little devils. They came snarling without the slightest hesitation and biting snarlingly at shoes, sleeves, dresses and anything else they could get their hands on. They were everywhere at once.
Poor Audi jumped up onto a chair, where he sat and looked at the little rockets that were about to knock over the whole house. When they let out a beep, he jumped down to check that everything was as it should be.
"Kennelmutter" looked a little tired, understandable when you have 6 puppies running around the house, along with their mother, another dog and a cat, and in addition to daily care, you also try to teach the puppies cleanliness and at the same time open your home several times a week to people of all ages who come to cuddle the puppies.
It was a proud Kennel Mother who could boast that the puppies had only farted twice indoors the previous night.
Most puppy buyers have no idea how much time and energy goes into raising a litter of puppies. It's fun and exciting, but also tough.
Did the puppies seem overstimulated and stressed? Not at all. They were confident, bold and sweet, just as they should be. I still firmly believe that socialization to people and other things should take place while the puppies are with the breeder.
Audi and I went home happy from the puppy visit. Me a little jealous that they weren't my puppies. Audi relieved that they weren't his.
About this week's blogger:
Helene is an early retiree and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal team consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls. And now she and Cookie can also call themselves a reading dog team.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.