The first year in your baby's life
by Aunt Kathy Iliff


Today, I would like to chat about the first year in your dog's life. There are several stages a dog goes through and apart from being fascinating, they can really be helpful if we understand them.

7 Weeks to 12 Weeks/Human Socialization Period

This time period usually marks a major change in the puppy's life - moving to a new home! This is the safest time for a puppy to leave his mother and littermates, and is usually the time when families acquire a puppy from a breeder.

This is also the ideal time to expose the puppy to more - perhaps bold - sites and sounds. For example, if the puppy has not heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner, a house alarm, loud music, a lawn mower, a car, etc, this would be an appropriate time to do so.

Your puppy should be introduced to a variety of new people and even farm animals. For example, people young and old; short and tall; thin and overweight; and bald and long haired.

This is also a good time to start taking your puppy for car rides so he or she can see the hustle and bustle of a city. All of these activities should be done in the safest way possible, so the puppy does not feel threatened in any way.

During this period, a puppy has a short attention span, but he or she is very impressionable and can learn a great amount from you and his environment. Everything he or she learns during this period is permanently engrained in his or her mind.

He learns very quickly and everything he is exposed to makes a more significant impact on him or her now than any other time.

Since puppies are quick to learn at this stage, this is the best time to initiate obedience training. Your puppy is too young to have learned any bad habits, so the training will come fairly easy to him or her - and it will be fun!


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