Make sure your Puppy has friends and gets out in the Big World.

Puppies need exposure to other dogs, people and places to become well balanced. A dogs personality if developed between 8 and 20 weeks of age and the experience they have will make the dog. 

Now that being said Always make sure your dog is fully vaccinated before taking them out in public, and socializing most pups have all 3 basic puppy shots by 12 - 14 weeks old.  Depending on when the breeder or shelter or wherever you get them from started vaccinations. Most start at six week so, 6, 9 and 12 weeks is when most will have the basic 3 of multiple vaccinations. Some stagger them now so to avoid over vaccinating and getting bad reactions. 

Puppies go through what is known as Fear stages,  normally at 7, 10 and around 15-20 weeks of age. This should not be avoided but worked through it is your job to teach the pups there is nothing to be afraid of. 

Taking them out and about is the best way to show them that the big world is not so scarey a place. Introduce them to all your kids friends, family, neighbors,  delivery people. While I do not let total stranger come up often and pet my dogs, I do when they are little so they know if I say it is OK then they have nothing to fear. The more exposure you give you pup now the more comfortable in the world they will be later.

Sometime they will start disliking other dogs, you need to know you can get their attention I use a focus command if if the pups starts staring at another dogs I will quickly get their attention on me often I will do a quick turn around and then praise them for following and not over reacting. 

If you can expose your pup to a day care after they have all their vaccination that is also a good place for  them to interact safely with other dogs.  

If you have friends with dogs make sure they get introduced and find one they might like to play with, other then dogs you own because they can get comfortable with their own pack and feel the need to warn off outsiders so exposure make the difference there.  Go for walks with friends if you can not do day care. 


Puppies just need to know that you will not let anything happen to them when they meet up with new dogs and scarey new places and soon you will be able to take them everywhere.