Top Tips for Socialising Your Puppy
There are certain times during the development of your puppy’s brain when they are totally accepting of new things, and when you can help them become the friendly and outgoing companion you’ve always dreamed of, while avoiding the fears and phobias many dogs can go on to develop as they get older. Managing these early encounters and situations well will be important for your dog’s behaviour and your future life together.
Puppy socialisation is just one of the many things to think about when you get your puppy and when you start puppy training. It’s easy to find yourself focusing on all the practicalities such as ensuring your house and garden are ‘puppy safe’, finding a vet, making sure your puppy has everything the need, and how to start sleep training and toilet training. Too often however people forget about helping their puppy learn the most important thing – how to fit into our crazy lives.
This is where puppy socialisation comes in – and while most people know that puppies need to be socialised, few understand what that really means, when to do it and how to do it properly.
What is puppy socialisation?
Simply put, puppy socialisation is the process of introducing your young pup, in a positive way, to a wide variety of sights, sounds, smells, people, environments, and other animals.
It helps teach puppies how to be happy, calm, and relaxed when they encounter novelty in the world around them. Rather than teaching your puppy to excitedly greet absolutely everything, proper socialisation teaches them to peacefully accept new experiences as a normal, non-threatening part of everyday life.
Why is puppy socialisation important?
Puppy socialisation is important because all animals are hardwired to be scared of new things – this is the self-preservation instinct that ensures animals avoid things that could be dangerous. In a newly-born animal however everything is new – so nature gives them a narrow window of development where things they are introduced to, as long as they aren’t scary and don’t hurt, are looked on as just being part of life and nothing to be scared of.
After this period, new things will likely be regarded with fear or suspicion. This is the cause of many behaviour problems in our puppies. This socialisation period is short and is thought to be between 3 week and 14 weeks of age (in some breeds/types this goes on slightly later).
Puppy socialisation is one of the best tools we have to prevent future behaviour problems in dogs, and it’s also how we can do our best to ensure we have a dog who we can take everywhere with us and share the bond that we dream of having when we bring our puppy home.
What are the parts of puppy socialisation?
While it all often gets lumped in together, there are two parts to puppy socialisation.
In essence, socialisation means you can play with it, habituation means you should ignore it! (although it is a little more complex than that).
The first bit involves introducing the puppy to all the things you want them to have a social relationship with – hence why it is called ‘socialisation’. This is going to be people (of all kinds and ages) and other dogs.
The other bit is habituation, and this teaches the puppy that while there are lots of things in their new life that might feel potentially scary or wildly distracting, these are just things to ignore and not get worried or excited about. This can be everything from vacuum cleaners to fireworks, joggers to livestock, traffic to cyclists, and so on.
Many behaviour problems come from fear – aggression towards people generally starts as fear of strange people, aggression to dogs starts from a fear of strange dogs, noise phobias come from fear of strange or loud noises, separation anxiety comes from fear of being alone, and so on.
Puppy habituation is all about preventing these fears, lessening the likelihood of behaviour problems, and so creating a well-adjusted, happy, dog.
When should I socialise my puppy?
When it comes to puppy socialisation, there is a specific period during the development of your puppy’s brain when socialisation is highly effective. All cells in the body have a time to grow and a time to stop growing, and the brain is no different. After that, the window of opportunity in your dog’s development responsible for the soft skills (communication, social interaction, conflict resolution etc) along with working out what is part of life and therefore ‘safe’, more or less closes.
This means that the way that dog will react to people, other dogs, situations, their social skills and their behavioural competencies are pretty much now set in stone. Additional learning can happen (especially when it comes to negative or scary experiences), but when it comes to the way the dog reacts to the world around them – their personality – this is formed in these early weeks and anything else will always be ‘playing catch-up’.
The puppy socialisation period begins when your puppy starts to become sentient at around 15 days old and finishes at about 14 weeks old, but this can vary in different breeds and types. During this time, they are learning who their social group is, who they feel safe around, and who they are happy to look on as part of their family.
The habituation part is far shorter – as all animals need to learn very quickly what is safe and what is dangerous if they want to survive - and this starts at sentience and largely finishes at around 7 weeks old – although reassessments (“is it really safe?”) and generalisations (“I know it was safe when I was at home with my mum but is it safe here too?”) are being made for a few more weeks. There are also other periods in a dog’s life (like adolescence) when they will go through another period of reassessment.
In other words, you should start your puppy’s socialisation very early in their new life with you by getting them out and about to meet new people, make canine friends and have new experiences.
Top 10 tips on how to socialise your puppy
- Be clear on what you are trying to achieve. Puppy socialisation is teaching your puppy that life is fun and safe. If anything is scary or frightening, that is not socialisation – in fact you are teaching your puppy entirely the opposite, and you are in danger of creating the very fears you are trying to prevent.
- Make a list of all the things your puppy’s new life is going to entail. Include all the things they are going to see, hear, and experience – in the home and outside of it. Be as inventive as you can – while still being realistic. Then give your puppy a chance to experience these things in a safe and positive way on several different occasions. Start at a long distance and reward them for ignoring these things, and slowly you can venture a bit nearer. Don’t start off close up and personal – this is just scary!
- Never let your puppy get overwhelmed or frightened – let them keep their distance and approach in their own time only when they are ready.
- Never force interactions and always give the puppy an escape route (so don’t hold them tightly on a lead or have them in the corner of a room).
- Introduce your puppy to lots of different people both in the house and outside of it, and also to other dogs that you know are puppy friendly. Let the puppy lead these interactions.
- Habituate them to unexpected sounds. Use a sound app or similar to play unexpected noises (fireworks, thunderstorms etc) at a low level while your dog is doing enjoyable things such as eating or playing to prevent noise sensitivities.
- Join a good puppy socialisation class so your puppy can learn how to pay attention to you when there are other dogs around – and also to give them more experience with different dogs and people. This is important for all puppies, but really important in the overly friendly breeds (often gundogs!) who otherwise can grow up to totally ignore you if there are other dogs around as they look on them as being way more fun than you!
- Socialise with other owners and dogs you know your puppy likes and will play with. Friendly adult dogs are great teachers for young puppies. Meet up for dogs walks rather than play sessions so your puppy gets used to doing things with other dogs not just having fun and games.
- Continue your puppy socialisation until your dog is an adult (18 months to 2 years). They will go through periods where they seem much more confident and other times when they seem unusually wary or fearful – so expect these changes as part of the ‘socialisation journey’.
- Make your socialisation fun – for your dog and for you!
How do I introduce my puppy to new things?
When introducing your puppy to a new object, environment, or sound, always let their body language guide you. Patience is key. Use treats to build positive associations but never force them closer.
Pay close attention to these common indicators to see how your puppy is coping:
Signs your puppy needs more distance and support:
- Backing away or trying to hide.
- Barking, growling, or tensing up.
- Standing completely still or crouching low to the ground.
- Turning their head or body away from the object.
- Becoming heavily fixated and unable to look away.
You can start getting your puppy used to strange and novel people yourself at home in a fun way. Play dress-up and think of ways you can change your appearance – but make sure your puppy always knows it is you. Often the best way to do this is to put these things on in their presence. If you suddenly pop up wearing something bizarre, you are more likely to scare them.
Try getting them used to you wearing:
- Sunglasses/glasses.
- Hats - caps, woolly hats, sun hats etc
- Big backpacks.
- Helmets - cycling, motorcycle.
- Masks.
- All black/dark cloaks.
- High viz jackets/clothing.
- Suitcases.
- Umbrellas.
- Big bulky shopping bags.
You can start by showing your puppy people and dogs outside the household, at a safe distance of course. Consider introducing the following to your puppy:
- Other dogs: carry your puppy to the gate so they can watch dogs going past
- Neighbours: get neighbours to pop in (if they don’t have dogs or if you know their vaccination status) and even pop their head over the fence (to say hello now and then
- Children and young visitors: they can interact with your children and young visitors but make sure these interactions are quite and calm, always give your puppy a safe space to retreat to, no cuddling, hugging, no kissing, and stroking under supervision. Supervise all of these interactions closely.
Puppyhood is also a key time for them to get used to different movements and objects they may encounter out and about later in life. As always, ensure these introductions are done slowly.
Try and introduce your puppy to the following:
- Wheeled objects: Pushchairs, wheeled suitcases, bikes, and skateboards or scooters.
- The vacuum cleaner: Introduce this in stages: off and stationary; on and stationary but at a distance; off and moving; and finally, on and moving at a distance (remember you want your puppy to ignore the vacuum cleaner (habituation) not play with it (socialisation)!).
- Walking aids: Walking sticks and crutches.
- Different human gaits: People moving in different ways, including running, walking slowly, shuffling, or crouching.
Play any new sounds very low at first and gradually increase volume over a number of sessions. Your puppy should be doing something enjoyable at the same time such as eating dinner, tucking into a stuffed Kong or other tasty treat, or playing. Do this at unpredictable times of the day.
Try introducing your puppy to these different sounds, grouped by where they'll hear them:
- Household appliances: Household objects, microwave pings, dishwasher beeps, oven timers, and the hairdryer.
- Outside noises: Open windows to get them used to outside traffic.
- Playful and novel sounds: Crinkly paper, bubble wrap popping, and placing jangly objects (e.g., teaspoons) in a large box and letting them explore with treats sprinkled through.
Build confidence in your pup by giving them the opportunity to walk over different surfaces. You can place toys and treats on these to encourage them to explore but not to lure them.
We suggest giving these surfaces a go:
- Grass.
- Bark.
- Concrete.
- Astroturf.
- Wooden bridges/jetty.
- Gravel.
- Cardboard.
- Bubble wrap.
- Tarpaulin.
- Under the washing line with items dangling down ie clothing, old plastic bottles, toilet roll tubes.
- Standing on surfaces such as cardboard boxes, wobbly wooden planks, upturned buckets (without handles) etc for balance.
If you drive, there are plenty of times car travel can be useful – going to vets or training classes – but also so you can go on holiday, road trips, visiting and for fun walks in new places with your pup!
Try getting them used to car travel in the following way:
- Engine off, door open: Sit with your puppy in your lap inside the stationary car with the engine turned off.
- Explore their travel spot: Place them where they will eventually travel (their crate, the back seat with a harness, or the boot) with the engine off.
- Create positive associations: Feed them their dinner or a highly valued treat inside the stationary car or let them calmly watch people and dogs walk past from the safety of the car window.
- Engine on: Sit with them in their travel spot with the engine running, but without moving.
- Micro-trips: Drive to the very end of your driveway and back.
- Very short drives: Take a 2-minute drive to a nearby spot for a quick walk (if they are vaccinated) or simply to get out and receive a special treat before driving home.
- Longer trips: Progressively build up to longer, smooth drives.
Safety tip: Only take your dog in the car on days you know it won’t be too hot – and try and drive at less busy times
Socialising your puppy is really important for their overall development. It is important to always remain patient during the socialisation period, as some things can be quite scary for your new puppy. Never pressure your puppy or reprimand them for anxious behaviour during their socialisation period.
If you are concerned that your puppy is fearful, overly anxious or behaving aggressively with people or other dogs, contact an experienced qualified behaviourist for help.
Puppy socialising FAQs
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