What is Puppy Socialization Classes
By Claire Grobbelaar
DipCABT (COAPE, UK) NOCN, CertCAB (Tech Pta).TTouch Practitioner
Cape – Canine Concepts Behaviour & Training
www.canineconcepts.co.za
A puppy’s adult behaviour is shaped during early puppyhood. This course, for puppies aged 8-16 weeks, teaches vital socialisation and life skills during their most impressionable age.
It is during these few weeks of development that their brains work like sponges – they absorb everything, both positive and negative experiences. What happens during this period imprints on the brain. Dogs are so far removed from their original function of herding, hunting and ratting etc. They are living more in our homes and is seen as part of the family, therefore we expect more of them. It is then our responsibility to teach them how to live by human ‘rules’.
In today’s times, puppy classes are not optional anymore – it is an absolute necessity if you want a well behaved and confident dog. Apart from encouraging your puppy to enjoy interacting with strangers and other dogs, we teach basic obedience, bite inhibition, calming-down techniques, and how to deal with frustration and other life skills. We also discuss how to prevent and resolve common behavioural problems. By the end of this course, you will possess the necessary skills to guide your puppy through every-day situations and puppyhood in general.
During this period a puppy will learn more social skills than during the remaining course of its lifetime, forming lasting emotional and cognitive schemata of the social and physical environment. Early positive experience is vital, not because it is the first learning, but rather because it affects the brains development. The period of the most rapid brain growth is also coincidental with the critical period for social development. 80% of the puppy’s brain cell connections are made in the first four months!! The rest of the 20% is made up until 12 months of age. How much they develop socially depends a lot on the kind of environmental stimulation they receive during their first sixteen weeks.
A puppy that is raised in an impoverished environment has a smaller brain; it has the same number of cells as a dog that is raised in a very stimulating environment, but not as many get wired together. Development is never, ever either nature or nurture. Once you get your puppy there is not much you can do about ‘nature’, but you can certainly influence their ‘nurture’.
The aim of these classes are to teach puppies to become happy, well-adjusted and socialized adults and to inform you of the latest (positive) techniques in changing and preventing unwanted behaviours.
Socialising is an active process of teaching puppies how to behave appropriately in different situations and environments with different people, dogs and objects. In class puppies learn bite inhibition, correct social behaviours i.e. meet-and-greet behaviours, identify different breeds of dog’s play-patterns as play, calming signals, learn to deal with frustration, accepting handling by strangers (including Ttouch™), on & off lead socialization, relinquishment of items, basic obedience and much more.
Our classes consist of no more than 6-8 dogs. This is done to provide personal individualized attention and to manage the puppies successfully and safely during on and off leash sessions. Chaotic off leash play can have devastating effects on your puppy’s perception of other dogs as an adult. A shy puppy will learn to be even shyer as boisterous puppies enter their safe space. Bullies learn to bully as they are allowed to get away with it, because no one notices. The dog on the receiving end of the bully learns to be fearful and even (eventually) defensive towards other dogs. Even if a class had 20 puppies – it will never be enough socialisation as the socialization process is on-going, even after 4 months of age.
A dog will only remain sociable if he is continuously meeting and greeting unfamiliar dogs and people until he reaches adulthood. Meeting the same dogs and people all the time is not sufficient socialization. Getting along with the two, three or four other dogs at home or in the park does not make a dog a “well socialized dog”.
And it’s not really “work” – it is a lot of fun to see your puppy developing into a stable and confident dog. Putting in some effort now will save you a lot of money, frustration, time and effort on.
Should my dog have all his vaccinations before attending a puppy class? Depends on who you ask: a veterinarian or an applied behaviourist. Veterinarians see the devastated owners of young puppies coming in with diseases that could have been prevented had the dog had all its vaccinations. As a behaviourist, I again see the heart ache and torment of an owner with an aggressive and/or under socialized dog that either has to be relinquished or most often euthanized. Most vets agree today that it is best to get your puppy in class after its 1st or 2nd vaccination. Puppies usually get their last puppy vaccination around 16 weeks, depending on when they got their first one. By this time your puppy’s imprinting period has closed! The boat has sailed and you’ll never make up for this lost time and learning. All social skills learnt after 4 months have to be done remedially.
When taking your puppy out of your property before he has had all the vaccinations, make sure that you take them to ‘clean’ environments i.e. when taking him to the shop or mall, don’t let him walk around, hold him. When going to the beach, keep him on the area of the beach where the waves roll over the sand – keep him off the dunes as diseases like parvo can stay ‘active’ in the soil for months. You can also bring your friend’s (well socialized, vaccinated adult) dogs or puppies to your home, or you could take your puppy to their environment.
© Claire Grobbelaar
It is during these few weeks of development that their brains work like sponges – they absorb everything, both positive and negative experiences. What happens during this period imprints on the brain. Dogs are so far removed from their original function of herding, hunting and ratting etc. They are living more in our homes and is seen as part of the family, therefore we expect more of them. It is then our responsibility to teach them how to live by human ‘rules’.
In today’s times, puppy classes are not optional anymore – it is an absolute necessity if you want a well behaved and confident dog. Apart from encouraging your puppy to enjoy interacting with strangers and other dogs, we teach basic obedience, bite inhibition, calming-down techniques, and how to deal with frustration and other life skills. We also discuss how to prevent and resolve common behavioural problems. By the end of this course, you will possess the necessary skills to guide your puppy through every-day situations and puppyhood in general.
During this period a puppy will learn more social skills than during the remaining course of its lifetime, forming lasting emotional and cognitive schemata of the social and physical environment. Early positive experience is vital, not because it is the first learning, but rather because it affects the brains development. The period of the most rapid brain growth is also coincidental with the critical period for social development. 80% of the puppy’s brain cell connections are made in the first four months!! The rest of the 20% is made up until 12 months of age. How much they develop socially depends a lot on the kind of environmental stimulation they receive during their first sixteen weeks.
A puppy that is raised in an impoverished environment has a smaller brain; it has the same number of cells as a dog that is raised in a very stimulating environment, but not as many get wired together. Development is never, ever either nature or nurture. Once you get your puppy there is not much you can do about ‘nature’, but you can certainly influence their ‘nurture’.
The aim of these classes are to teach puppies to become happy, well-adjusted and socialized adults and to inform you of the latest (positive) techniques in changing and preventing unwanted behaviours.
Socialising is an active process of teaching puppies how to behave appropriately in different situations and environments with different people, dogs and objects. In class puppies learn bite inhibition, correct social behaviours i.e. meet-and-greet behaviours, identify different breeds of dog’s play-patterns as play, calming signals, learn to deal with frustration, accepting handling by strangers (including Ttouch™), on & off lead socialization, relinquishment of items, basic obedience and much more.
Our classes consist of no more than 6-8 dogs. This is done to provide personal individualized attention and to manage the puppies successfully and safely during on and off leash sessions. Chaotic off leash play can have devastating effects on your puppy’s perception of other dogs as an adult. A shy puppy will learn to be even shyer as boisterous puppies enter their safe space. Bullies learn to bully as they are allowed to get away with it, because no one notices. The dog on the receiving end of the bully learns to be fearful and even (eventually) defensive towards other dogs. Even if a class had 20 puppies – it will never be enough socialisation as the socialization process is on-going, even after 4 months of age.
A dog will only remain sociable if he is continuously meeting and greeting unfamiliar dogs and people until he reaches adulthood. Meeting the same dogs and people all the time is not sufficient socialization. Getting along with the two, three or four other dogs at home or in the park does not make a dog a “well socialized dog”.
And it’s not really “work” – it is a lot of fun to see your puppy developing into a stable and confident dog. Putting in some effort now will save you a lot of money, frustration, time and effort on.
Should my dog have all his vaccinations before attending a puppy class? Depends on who you ask: a veterinarian or an applied behaviourist. Veterinarians see the devastated owners of young puppies coming in with diseases that could have been prevented had the dog had all its vaccinations. As a behaviourist, I again see the heart ache and torment of an owner with an aggressive and/or under socialized dog that either has to be relinquished or most often euthanized. Most vets agree today that it is best to get your puppy in class after its 1st or 2nd vaccination. Puppies usually get their last puppy vaccination around 16 weeks, depending on when they got their first one. By this time your puppy’s imprinting period has closed! The boat has sailed and you’ll never make up for this lost time and learning. All social skills learnt after 4 months have to be done remedially.
When taking your puppy out of your property before he has had all the vaccinations, make sure that you take them to ‘clean’ environments i.e. when taking him to the shop or mall, don’t let him walk around, hold him. When going to the beach, keep him on the area of the beach where the waves roll over the sand – keep him off the dunes as diseases like parvo can stay ‘active’ in the soil for months. You can also bring your friend’s (well socialized, vaccinated adult) dogs or puppies to your home, or you could take your puppy to their environment.
© Claire Grobbelaar
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