Activity

Purpose of activity

1

Introduce a variety of people to the puppy and allow gentle handling. 

Including:

·     Adult women

·     Adult men

·     Senior citizens

·     Babies

·     Toddlers

·     Teenagers

·     Young children of various ages from 4 to 12 year olds

Enabling the puppy to interact with a variety of humans will make the puppy more confident around people and less fearful of strangers, creating a stronger emotional bond.  The puppy should be handled gently by humans differing in age, height, size, and race.   Additionally, meeting a variety of people will expose the puppy to a variety of clothes too.

The puppy should be able to willingly choose to approach and make contact with the human.  If we rush the puppy or handle it too roughly this can create a negative association with meeting strangers.  It is especially important that children are supervised when interacting with the puppy.   It should be handled in a calm and gentle way and given treats to re-enforce this was a pleasurable experience. 

2

Introduce a variety of clothing and carry items to the puppy.  

Including:

·     Sunglasses

·     Scarves

·     Hats

·     Handbags

·     Walking stick

·     Umbrella

·     Shopping bags

·     Crutches

·     Wheelchairs

·     Shoes, boots, wellies

This activity familiarizes the puppy with different items of clothing and items we may carry about our person.  Puppies purchased in the summer months when the weather is typically warmer, may not experience their owners wearing, for example, a big heavy winter coat.  However, over the next few months as the temperature begins to drop, the owner now puts on their winter coat.  The now older puppy has not encountered such an item that makes the owner appear bigger and creates a strange outline.  This experience may therefore create a fear response, causing the puppy to back away or even bark.

Walking sticks, wheelchairs and even crutches can be equally intimidating; they move differently, have odd outlines and unreadable facial expressions.  As a result the dog may assume these ‘beings’ are dangerous, and like the winter coat example, this may cause the puppy to run away or feel it has to defend itself. 

By exposing the puppy to such items from a very young age, it will learn there is nothing to fear.    

3

Introduce the puppy to household items or machinery. 

Including:

·     Sweeping brush

·     Dust pan and brush

·     Saucepans

·     Microwave pinging

·     Door bell ringing

·     Television and radio

·     Telephone/mobile ringing

·     Dishwasher and washing machine

·     Hoover

·     Balloons

·     Garden hose and sprinklers

·     Lawn-mover

The sounds of clattering saucepans or the telephone ringing can be daunting as the dog has no concept of what these things are.  Other noisy objects also move, for example, a lawn-mover or hoover, this is even more confusing and potentially frightening for a dog.

It is important not to make an issue or comfort the puppy if it runs or backs away as this will only make a bigger issue out of that experience.  Instead ignore the puppy’s fear response and distract him with food reward or play to help teach the puppy there is nothing to fear. 

I have suggested ‘balloon’s in this list of activities.  We tend to only have balloons in our house for special occasions such as a birthday.  Therefore a puppy may not encounter a balloon until months later, by which time the critical window of rapid learning has closed and the young dog will be more suspicious and cautious of this object.  Balloons smell, feel and look strange to our dog.  Let the puppy approach the balloon in its own time and sniff it, the owner re-enforces this experience with food reward and praise, helping make this experience pleasurable.  Do not, however, burst the balloon.  This would be too overwhelming and frightening for the puppy, creating a negative association with this experience and lack of trust in the owner.

4

Play with your dog.

·     Introduce various toys of different sizes, shapes and sounds

·     Encourage play with visitors  

Playing with your puppy helps builds confidence and a bond between dog and owner.  Furthermore, if the puppy is played with by a variety of people it will enjoy the company of humans and human contact making it less suspicious of strangers in adult life.

Playing also enables the owner to teach bite control and maintain the dog’s soft mouth.  If the puppy bites hard during play, the owner should ‘yelp’ and move away, mimicking what the puppy’s litter mates would do.  By ending the game and moving away, this teaches the puppy the consequence of its action in a non confrontational way.  Playing also helps in basic training, for example, teaching the recall, fetch and drop.  If the puppy learns that it is fun to be with the human, it is more likely to respond when called as everybody likes getting praise and reward when we get things right.

5

Introduce the puppy to grooming, grooming aids, and being touched.

Including:

·     Brushes

·     Combs

·     Toothbrush

·     Smells of dog shampoo

·     Baby wipes

·     Being touched around its mouth, ears, back end area and paws

·     Claw clippers

This activity helps the puppy become familiar with being touched in typically sensitive areas, as well as encountering ‘strange’ looking objects or scented products used for grooming.  The owner should gently handle the puppy, touching and stroking it around his ears, paws, groin and mouth area, using praise and food reward.  By getting the puppy used to be handled in this way, will help it be more confident and relaxed when it has to have a veterinary examination, be groomed or if the dog owner intends to show the dog, where it would be touched in key areas by the judges.

Let the puppy sniff, touch and see the grooming aids, then gently stroke it once.  As the puppy becomes used to this sensation build up the number of gentle brush strokes.  It is important with grooming or clipping the puppy’s claws that this is done in a calm and controlled way so as not to over excite the puppy or create a frightening experience, which could lead to potential biting in later life if the dog is feeling vulnerable when touched in a sensitive area.

6

Visiting the vets.  Introduce the puppy to the sights, smells and sounds of the surgery. 

Including:   

·     The surgery reception and examination room

·     Other dogs

·     Other animals (cats/rabbits etc)

·     People – adults and children

·     Phones ringing

A puppy will experience its first visit to the veterinary surgery for its two sets of vaccinations typically around 8-10 and 10-12 wks.  Any pain or fright at this stage in the puppy’s development could result in a life-long fear of the veterinary surgery. 

It is important to make this experience as uneventful as possible and use a distraction when the injection is given.  Using gentle praise and food reward the puppy will remember the food reward rather than the injection.  

To help the puppy have a positive association with the veterinary surgery, take the puppy into the surgery and ask the receptionist if you can sit there and let the puppy observe and be handled by the staff. 

7

Introduce the puppy to traffic/busy roads.  1.) Sit outside your house and let the puppy see, hear and smell the traffic go by.   

2.) If the puppy is vaccinated walk down the busy road, if it has not been fully vaccinated then carry it. 

Including:

·     Cars

·     Lorries

·     Motorbikes

·     Cyclists

·     Motorised disability vehicles

·     Baby buggies

·     Pedestrians – adults and children, varying ages

·     Other dogs

This activity helps the puppy become used to the sight, smells and sounds it is likely to encounter on a regular basis, especially if the owners live in the city or built up area.  Equally owners living in the countryside would be wise to drive to busier areas to enable the puppy to encounter these experiences.

Exposing the puppy to noisy traffic will help its confidence when facing these situations and help to avoid problems such as car chasing or barking at cyclists and other fast moving objects.

8

Introduce the puppy to crowds.  Take the puppy (or carry it if not fully vaccinated) to a busy shopping centre.

Including:

·     Crowds – adults, children, babies

·     Wheelchairs

·     Motorised disability vehicles

·     Shopping bags

·     Baby buggies

·     Lifts and escalators

·     Tannoys

·     Traffic

Crowds can be very intimidating to a dog.  However by taking the young puppy to an environment such as a shopping centre, it will have a variety of sights, smells and sounds, as it encounters the ‘hustle-bustle’ of everyday life. 

The puppy will interact with strangers, as no one can resist a cute puppy, but ensure all interactions are calm and the puppy is handled gently.  This activity will enable the puppy to also meet ‘strange’ moving objects such as wheelchairs, baby buggies and escalators.

9

Introduce the puppy to the great outdoors. Carry the puppy to a nearby park, open space or recreational area if it has not been vaccinated.  Once fully vaccinated the puppy can walk around these spaces.

Including:

·     Families and children playing

·     Babies and baby buggies

·     Sounds of laughter / children / babies crying

·     Other dogs

·     Birds singing

·     Squirrels

·     Ducks/other wildlife

·     Pedestrians

·     Joggers

·     Cyclists

·     Skate boarders/roller skaters

·     Aero planes

·     Bridges

·     Steps

The purpose of this activity is to expose the puppy to typical experiences it will face when out on a walk. 

Letting the puppy meet children will be a main priority for owners who do not have children at home.  Owners should get permission from the parent’s of the children before introducing the puppy to them.  It is important that the puppy encounters these children in a calm and positive way.  If there are noisy or excitable children then avoid them, it is important the puppy’s interactions are handled in a calm way so as not to frighten it; otherwise this negative experience could have a long lasting effect.

10

Introduction to travel and transport.

Including:

·     Car journeys

·     Travel on the bus / train / tube

·     Crowds

·     Tannoys

Typically the puppy’s first experience in the car will be the journey to its new home and then its first visit to the vets.  Both of these experiences are less then pleasurable when you consider the puppy is leaving its security of the litter for a totally new environment and then it encounters a painful injection! 

The purpose of getting the puppy used to traveling in the car or on public transport is avoid any fearful responses in adult life which could result in barking, thrashing around the vehicle or travel sickness brought on through stress. 

To help the puppy become used to, for example, traveling in the car, journeys should start off at short distances and a re-enforcer should be given at the end of the journey to make this experience a pleasurable one.  This can be done by immediately giving the puppy tasty tit-bits and praise/head strokes or playing ball with it once the car has stopped and you exit.

If the puppy becomes distressed it is important the owner does not act in a ‘human way’ by cuddling it and talking to it.  This behaviour will only imprint on the puppy’s mind that this experience is something to fear. 

11

Introduce the puppy to wildlife.  Once fully vaccinated, take the puppy to fields, the beach and woodland to enable it to encounter the following:

·     Sheep

·     Bird scarers

·     Cows

·     Sheep

·     Chickens

·     Other dogs

·     Deer

·     Wildlife (birds, squirrels, rabbits etc)

·     Farming machinery

·     Horses

·     Water – sea, river, canals

This activity teaches the puppy that wildlife such as birds, rabbits or deer, are not to be chased nor be afraid of.   Large animals such as cows and horses can be intimidating to a small, young puppy so having it on the lead, once fully vaccinated, and distracting it with food reward or a toy will help the puppy to have a positive association with this experience. 

Owners who live in the city would be wise to drive out to the countryside to enable their puppy to encounter types of wildlife, sights, smells and sounds.

12

Meeting other dogs; once the puppy has been fully vaccinated.

Including:

·     Large dogs

·     Medium dogs

·     Small dogs

·     Dogs of differing ages, sexes and colours

·     Attend puppy parties or puppy classes

·     Playing with dogs outside (e.g.) in the park

Many veterinary surgeries or local dog trainers run puppy parties or socialisation classes.  These events enable the puppy to meet a variety of breeds in a controlled environment.  Letting the puppy play and roll about with other dogs will help its confidence when meeting new dogs and has a positive imprint on their mind with such experiences.  These classes or parties are usually attended by families with their children, so the puppy gets the added benefit of having a pleasurable experience with children too.

Playing with other dogs also helps the puppy learn about status and signals for dominance and submission.  Dogs that have had positive encounters with other dogs from a young age will typically be attracted to and enjoy playing with other dogs.  Under socialised dogs will be less confident and be suspicious around others.  This fear and lack of trust could lead the dog to growl, bark or even bite if it feels vulnerable in later life. [6]