What is this all about?

The critical socialisation period is a certain period in every dog's puppyhood. For most dogs, it takes place between the age of 3-16 weeks of age. Anything a young puppy will encounter during this time, will be a part of his normal every day life; however, anything he doesn't encounter or anything that scares him during this time, could cause irrational fears and behavioural issues later on.

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Let's say an elderly couple buys a puppy. This couple don't have kids living at home anymore and they only see family and friends or rare occasions. If they don't pay attention and they don't make sure to put extra effort into their puppy's socialisation when he's in the critical socialisation period still, chances are they will end up with a dog who is reactive, fearful, or at the very least unsure around children. When people see a dog displaying fearful or aggressive behaviour towards a certain group of people like children, men, people with beard, etc, they tend to think that the dog has some really bad experiences with these people. The reality is usually way less dramatic, and the dog simply has no experience with the people he finds scary at all.

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This is why it's our responsibility to start socialising our pups as soon as we get them from the breeder, in order to give them the best start to their life so they can navigate through it without having to experience chronic fear or anxiety.

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This period is not just about socialising with other people or animals, but also getting used to certain environments and gaining confidence in as many places and situations as possible. This is your time to introduce your whole life together to your pup - all the places you are going to enjoy together like beaches, the bush, some coffee shops in the city. It's the time to take him for car rides or even bike rides if you have a safe and secure bag for him to travel in; or to pop him in a trolley at Bunnings so he can observe all the machinery and scary looking tradies from a safe distance.

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Of course, you can absolutely do socialisation wrong and create more issues than what you were starting with, Please read this guide carefully and if there is anything you don't fully understand, do not hesitate to contact me!