To fully understand the process of puppy socialising let’s apply this concept to wild canines – which give us the basis for our understanding of natural canine behaviour.

For the purposes of this scenario let’s imagine two litters of wolf puppies. The first litter progresses as any normal litter of wolf puppies would i.e. they remain in the den for 5-6 weeks. Upon emerging they meet the big world outside. Because they stay close to the den until the age of 16 weeks, they spend a lot of time investigating and getting socialised to new objects – such as the wolves in their pack, trees, insects, rocks, thunder, birds etc – which will become an integral part of their everyday life. After the age of 16 weeks they start exploring further afield and encounter different "new" objects. As they are past their maximum socialising period they view these items with great suspicion and caution. These objects would be other wolves, hunters, snakes etc. and this is nature’s way of ensuring that the wolves exhibit necessary caution as adults.

Now let’s have a look at litter two. Instead of coming out of their den at 5-6 weeks they remained inside until 16 weeks of age. After this age they viewed everything outside of their den such as rocks, birds and insects as highly dangerous and to be avoided at all costs! As the only place they could guarantee no contact with these objects is the den, they spend most of their life in their den and undergo high levels of stress when forced to go outside.

By drawing a parallel between the den and your home one can easily understand how puppies that do not experience proper socialising before 16 weeks of age have a MAJOR problem with the world outside of their den! Not only do they not cope with the "big wide world outside" but they also have problems with new stimuli on their own turf.

A puppy's brain is still undergoing "growth" during the socialisation period and the more positive experiences that they have before this age, the larger their "experience bank". This larger database actually promotes a thought process when the adult dog encounters a totally new experience and not an instant fear reaction of fight, flee or freeze. All under-socialised dogs will be fearful in new situations and how they react to this fear depends primarily on the dog’s breed. In general, bull breeds, terriers and working breeds will fight, gundogs will freeze, while hounds and herding dogs will flee – this is not to say that these dog have no courage as these reactions were bred into these working dogs for their specific working purpose. A good puppy socialising class puts puppies on the path of a thought process as an adult and not a "kill or be killed" mentality. Bearing the above in mind one can understand why it is particularly important for an intrinsically fighting breed such as the SBT to attend puppy socialising classes.

While this may have some merit, a well-socialised dog will not go into a flat spin for example when it hears a motorbike whizzing past from behind a wall. As this dog has been exposed to various stimuli during the maximum socialising period it will apply a thought process to this strange noise and probably only show natural curiosity and perhaps a bit of territorial protection. The same dog will not also try to "kill" the new lawnmower or "murder" that vicious-looking pram that came to visit.

Puppy socialising classes play a critical role in minimising adult dog aggression. As mentioned before, a new situation is met with either a fight, flee or freeze reaction – SBT’s will no doubt go with the former. But by putting your puppy through a good puppy socialising class, they will not instantly go for this option. This is not to say that a mature dog that has gone through puppy socialising will not fight! If there is any challenge or hierarchy confusion, fighting remains the dog’s only way of sorting it out, but a well-socialised dog will not instantly go for this option with a strange dog.

Normally just as a puppy is starting to get the hang of "talking dog" with its littermates and mother, it is removed from the litter. Even if it goes into a household with other dogs, these resident dogs most probably also had their canine communication schooling cut short, so we end up with a pack of semi-literate dogs, that encourages "no-brainer" reactions. So the solution may seem to be to leave puppies together until they are past the magic 16 weeks. But no, because this lands us with an even bigger problem – canine bonding. We must still remember that even though puppies are born into a domestic environment, they must still be "tamed" or socialised. By leaving puppies together, they end up imprinting on one another and not on human beings. A canine-bonded dog can be one of the most frustrating dogs to own – ears become ornaments as soon as another dog enters the picture. So what’s the answer? Puppy socialising – as this is a controlled environment where puppies can communicate with one another, without sacrificing any of their human imprinting potential.

In a nutshell, good puppy socialising classes:

Sadly as this concept has become more popular, many dog trainers have offered so-called puppy socialising classes to meet demand. These are more often than not a chaotic affair with puppies either bullying or being bullied for an hour! A good puppy socialising class will:

A listing of Animal Behaviour Consultants of SA™ (ABC™) approved puppy schools can be found at the ABC™ website: http://www.animal-behaviour.org.za

Maximise your puppy’s genetic temperament – take them to school!