The Importance of Socialization

Every species of animal has a critical developmental period during which “socialization” takes place. The purpose of socialization is to ensure that the young of every species learns very early about things to avoid in order to survive. For many species this early learning, taught by the mother, teaches them to flee or fight things that could cause them injury or death. Whether you are a rabbit learning about aerial shadows that might predict a hawk looking for lunch or a mouse listening to a creaking floorboard under the pressure of a cat’s foot, it is wise to learn these critical lessons very early. Each species has its own specific age by which socialization must take place for optimum learning.

Pretzel, 15-month Rat Terrier and 5-month old Breann

The “socialization period” for dogs is between 7 and 12 weeks of age. You might think that there is not much to learn about how to survive if you are a domestic dog. That is true: dogs’ human caretakers provide most of their needs. However, that does not mean that dogs are still no hard-wired to learn the most about their world by the time they are not much older than three months of age.

If your dog does not have good experiences about the variety of sights, sounds, people, and animals in its life by 3-4 months of age, the result can be a lifetime of fears, suspicions, and even aggression. The vast majority of the aggression cases seen by DogPACT are the direct result of poor or improper socialization.

This includes dogs who never learned appropriate play skills who aggress toward other dogs when they misinterpret canine communication signals, as well as dogs who have been mistreated by children during puppyhood.

One of the most common misunderstandings about dogs and socialization is that if a puppy misses being socialized and develops fears and/or aggressive behavior that those behavior problems can be overcome by “socialization” later in life. True “socialization” is restricted to that first three to four months of life. Simply exposing a dog to things later in life is more accurately termed “habituation.”

It can be helpful, but to overcome social deficits caused by poor early socialization usually requires active behavior modification to gradually “desensitize” and “countercondition” the dog to the things he is afraid of. Worse than trying passive habituation is “flooding,” a misguided and dangerous attempt at making a dog deal with his fears by forcing him into situations where he is fearful until he “gets over it.” Many, many dogs’ fears are increased (“sensitized”) as a result of flooding.

Socialize early. Socialize often. Make it fun. Make it positive.

Click here to see photos demonstrating dogs being socialized in a variety of situations.

Click here for an in-depth article by a respected veterinarian about how you can socialize your pup early without unnecessary risk to his health before all his vaccinations are “complete.”

Click here for a letter from Dr. R.K. Anderson, DVM Diplomate, ACVB and ACVPM, an epidemiologist reaching out to other veterinarians about the need for early socialization.

Click here for a Socialization Chart you can use to ensure you are adequately socializing your pup to the multitude of stimuli he’ll encounter in his life.

Click here to learn more about the myths and realities of successful socialization programs.