Socialisation Period 3 weeks old

At 3 weeks old Elsie's puppies can solicit and extend invitations to play and they have an emotional response to new experiences and situations.

Elsie has begun to interact with the puppies more socially and is beginning to bond with them in a different way. The quality of the bitches interactions with the puppies has an impact on the puppies for the rest of their lives.

Allowing Elsie to move away from the puppies when she want to is so important at this stage.

A bitch that feels that she is trapped with the puppies may growl or snarl at the puppies to gain space - studies have shown that puppies born to bitches who growl at their own puppies grow up to be less outgoing, and less confident approaching strangers.

Allowing Elsie the space to move away when she wants allows her to spend time with her puppies but on her terms.

Baxter my chocolate Labrador visits the puppies regularly but again has the space to move away if he chooses too.

At 3 weeks old the puppies will be doing lots of growling and posturing towards one another. They are learning to communicate and this is nothing to worry about. The puppies need to learn how to communicate with other dogs if they need to cope as stable adult dogs in the future.

I am also cutting the puppies nails regularly as they grow so fast. This makes feeding more comfortable for Elsie and also desensitises the puppies to having their feet and nails handled in the future. This is a must for all puppies as nail cutting should be a comfortable experience for an adult dog - not something that they are frightened of.

At three weeks old Elsie's puppies are being introduced to a new toy or new visual object each day.

Studies have shown that puppies raised in a stimulus rich environment with exercises and challenges, grow up to have larger brains with more neural connections than animals raised in stimulus poor environments. Puppies raised in a stimulus rich environment can actually have brains that are 5% bigger. (Puppy Culture)

What does this mean?

• Better learning
• Better memory
• More stable emotional responses.
  

As a result of this enrichment Elsie's puppies should have more stable temperaments with less fearful responses.

It is important that the socialisation process is started with people is started during week three as puppies need to become habituated to people to avoid fearful responses later. At 3 weeks old the puppies still have maternal antibodies to protect them from disease, however safety precautions such as washing hands and removing shoes is still important!

Elsie puppies have already met a range of people, including family, friends and prospective puppy owners :)

At 3-4 weeks old we have also begun to teach 'Emotional Resilience'.

A dogs ability to recover from fear is so important. Dogs that don't recover from fear quickly can lead restricted and fearful lives. Fear can affect where a dog can go and what they can cope with, dogs who show fearful behaviours can also develop aggressive behaviours. Through my behavioural work I know the impact aggression can have on people's lives and understand the importance of teaching puppies this emotional resilience.  

To teach emotional resilience involves triggering the startle recovery process at 3-4 weeks old. The more times a puppy is startled and recovers during this time, the more resilient they will grow up to be as adults. At 3 weeks old the puppies have virtually no fear response.

At three weeks old Elsie's puppies are being taken away from the other puppies individually as much as possible. This can help to prevent separation anxiety later in life. If being separated on a regular basis becomes normal the puppies see this as an ordinary occurrence and become habituated to that situation. Separation anxiety experienced by an adult dog can have a huge impact on a dogs quality of life and that of their owner.