How should I socialise my puppy?

Puppy socialisation isn’t something you can wait on. It’s a developmental stage between 3-12 weeks old where dogs’ brains are especially receptive to learning about the world around them.

Between ages 3-5 weeks, puppies should always remain with their mother and littermates. They’re becoming curious, and they’re learning from each other how to explore and play with other dogs.

You’ll take your new puppy home from 8 weeks old which occurs during the main socialisation period; 7-12 weeks of age. During this time, puppies are open to new experiences. They’re predisposed to respond to new situations with curiosity and confidence rather than fear during this period.

As a responsible owner, your role is to give your puppy positive experiences of as many different things as possible while in this confident, inquisitive state. This includes noises, people, animals, and environments.

Puppy socialisation checklist

Let’s look at some of the important things to consider when socialising your puppy.

Socialise before and after vaccination

The key socialisation period for puppies comes before your new dog is fully vaccinated. You need to balance keeping your dog safe with giving them as many experiences as possible.

There are lots of ways to work on socialisation without exposing your puppy to risk. You can let them meet dogs you know are fully vaccinated, let them play in your garden, or carry them to busy places like parks or markets.

Once your puppy is fully vaccinated, you can increase the range of situations they encounter. At this point they can meet other dogs. But it’s still important to be careful. Puppies can lack awareness of social cues and become irritating to older dogs. Supervise all meetings between your puppy and other dogs carefully.

Try new textures

Once your puppy is fully vaccinated, you can increase the range of situations they encounter. At this point they can meet other dogs. But it’s still important to be careful. Puppies can lack awareness of social cues and become irritating to older dogs. Supervise all meetings between your puppy and other dogs carefully.

Use their nose

Dogs have hugely sensitive noses and use them to explore the world. This makes it especially important to allow your dog to experience new smells during their socialisation.

This should include a variety of natural smells as well as ones that they’ll encounter around humans. Think about pungent foods, cosmetics, and different animals and people that they might encounter.

Give your puppy plenty of time to sniff on their walks. They’re exploring and trying to understand the smells they find, so try not to rush them.

Socialisation sounds

Fear of sounds is common in dogs, but you can counteract that by desensitising them during socialisation. Remember that this is a period where they will be excited about new things rather than fearful.

Sounds that you should try to introduce your dog to include fireworks, babies crying, thunderstorms, traffic, and people shouting.

Obviously, you can’t dictate a thunderstorm during your puppy’s socialisation period, but you can find recordings of many of these noises. In-person experiences are usually better, but having a puppy socialisation playlist is a powerful backup. Dog's Trust has a large selection of sounds that you can play for your puppy during this period.

Let Paws in Work help with puppy socialisation

Ethical breeders understand the importance of socialisation prior to the pups going to their forever home. At Paws in Work, one of our main missions is to help puppies have the experiences they need to help them become well-adjusted adult dogs. Our puppy therapy events allow a litter of puppies to meet many people in a safe and secure environment that prioritises their needs.

Email us at breeders@pawsinwork.com to become a breeder partner or to discuss how we can help you socialise your new puppies.