The socialization phase of training a puppy follows the response phase and continues until the age of approximately 14 weeks. These two phases of training a re fairly similar, but with one significant difference: a puppy that has had inadequate socialization can function reasonably well later.
An enormous amount of motivational puppy training, patience and insight is required for this, however, with inadequate socialization always having to be paid for in the end because, in spite of all the efforts put in later, the dog will never display 100 percent well-adjusted behavior. Apart from this, there is one other important difference; this phase hardly ever occurs at the breeder’s, but in your home. It is up to you to ensure that your dog is well socialized.
See to it that your dog gets acquainted in a positive way with a variety of widely differing situations, animals, strangers, children, and city traffic, and all kinds of sounds. The more positive impressions the dog has experienced, the more well-balanced its reactions will be to later situations and the better it will eventually function as a family pet. Next to the response phase, the socialization phase is the most important of the dog’s life.
A Sensitive Stage Of Life
Your pup will react in a stable manner to all that it experienced as non-threatening in the socialization stage. The reverse also applies. If your pup has very negative experiences somewhere along the line during this phase, for the rest of its life it will react with fear, or aggression, and certainly unpredictably in a similar situation.
If, for example, it is bitten by another dog, this experience will have a negative effect on its development in relation to other dogs. How strongly this affects the dog in later life, however, mainly depends on your reaction to it. You are your dog’s shining example, so a large part of its reaction depends on your behavior. The worst thing that you can do is to comfort it or become panicky. This just confirms to the pup that it has reason to be afraid. What the dog has experienced becomes fixed in it’s memory and, when confronted with a subsequent comparable situation, it will react with panic. Thus you are dealing with a maladjusted, frightened dog - and another side effect of this situation makes housebreaking a puppy a lot harder.
Depending on its disposition, during future confrontations it will either hide away or go on the attack. It goes without saying that, with such a dog, pleasant walks are not an option.
What can you do to prevent this problem developing? If your dog is scared by something or you notice hesitation on its part in encountering a situation that is new to it, react resolutely and with self assurance to the experience. You are the boss, the leader, and the example for the pup, and you decide what is scary and what is not. Totally ignore its frightened behavior, walk on, and give a tug on the leash to urge your dog to walk on also and stop behaving foolishly. You will notice that your dog adopts your self-confident attitude and that this ameliorates the effect of what it has Just experienced.