Tan Catahoula puppy standing over a black Pomeranian puppy — The goal of socializing your puppy is not to simply expose it to as many different things as possible. The goal is to build resilience. When socializing is done well, dogs can approach new experiences with confidence and enthusiasm and recover quickly from less-than-pleasant experiences.

Socialization

Socialization is one of those buzzwords that people use all the time, but it doesn’t really mean what most people seem to think it means. For most, socializing your puppy, or even your adult dog, means simply taking them out and exposing them to lots of different people and other dogs. Unfortunately, often times little thought is put into how the puppy experiences these exposures.

This oversimplification of what socialization is supposed to be often leads people to put their puppies in situations that are completely overwhelming for them, which ends up having the opposite of the intended result. Instead of becoming a confident and well-adjusted dog, the puppy ends up becoming fearful of new experiences and reactive to other dogs and people.

What socializing your puppy really means is introducing your puppy to new experiences and making sure that those experiences are positive. You want your puppy to feel safe and happy during each new experience.

New experiences to introduce your puppy to:

Different sounds like traffic, kids playing, grooming equipment, etc.
Different surfaces, both inside and out, like grass, dirt, cement, tile, rugs, water, etc.
Different people and animals, with varying appearances (glasses, hats, beards, tattoos, different colored people) and abilities (people who limp, walk on crutches, wheelchair bound, etc).
Different locations, like stores, parks, and other peoples’ houses.
Different experiences like riding in a car or standing on a vet table.
Being left in the care of other people. (Make sure those people understand how to make sure your puppy’s experience is positive!)
Being left alone.

The goal of socializing your puppy

The goal of socializing your puppy is not to simply expose it to as many different things as possible. The goal is to build resilience. When socializing is done well, dogs can approach new experiences with confidence and enthusiasm and recover quickly from less-than-pleasant experiences.

To ensure your puppy’s experience is positive:

Meet your puppy’s needs first. Exposing your puppy to something new while they are hungry, tired, or need to potty may not be the best experience.
Make sure your puppy is showing confidence and enthusiasm during the experience.
Advocate for your puppy and end the experience if you see any signs of overwhelm or if your puppy indicates they’re not enjoying themselves.
Stop other people or dogs from interacting with your puppy if your puppy has indicated that they don’t want to interact or wants the interaction to end.
Encourage your puppy to participate in the experience without pushing them to participate.

Your puppy’s socialization window

With puppies, there is a very small window for socialization between the ages of 3 to 12 weeks of age. If you acquired your puppy from a responsible breeder, they will have already started your puppy’s socialization before you bring them home, leaving you with just 2 to 4 more weeks to build on those experiences. If you got your puppy from anywhere else, you may have a lot more work to do to properly socialize them, and you may find that you have to undo some not-so-great experiences.

During this socialization window, it’s important to introduce your puppy to the people who will be involved in their life the most. This may include family and friends, vets and groomers, doggie daycare workers, dog walkers, and pet sitters. Make sure that your puppy spends extra time with these people and that their experiences with them are positive.

The Broaden & Build Theory

The Broaden and Build Theory suggests that when people feel positive emotions, their behavioral repertoire broadens. They are more likely to engage with the people around them, be open to new experiences, and be more creative. Furthermore, the theory suggests that experiencing positive emotions may also build psychological resilience.

When people feel negative emotions, their behavioral repertoire decreases. They are less likely to engage with the people around them, less likely to try new things, and their psychological resilience also decreases.

Though I don’t know of any specific research on the topic, I believe that animals have similar experiences with positive and negative emotions. For example, a puppy who has had mostly positive experiences is more likely to greet other people and dogs with enthusiasm, explore new environments without hesitation, and engage in play.

An animal that has had mostly negative experiences is less likely to do any of the above, and their behavioral repertoire can be reduced to purely defensive behaviors like growling, biting, running away, and hiding.

For this reason, when we think about socializing our puppies, we need to think less about simply exposing them to many different dogs and people and more about creating positive experiences for them.

What if you miss the socialization window?

The advantage of resilience conditioning is that it can be done even after the socialization window has closed. Even if you have a puppy who is genetically predisposed to being fearful or anxious, or you missed the socialization window, you can still build your puppy’s psychological resiliency and improve their outlook on life through carefully created positive experiences.

Read more about the broaden and build theory here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693418/pdf/15347528.pdf