Puppy Socialization: Setting Your Dog Up For Success
Puppies come with boundless energy. Oftentimes, the hyperness and excitement a puppy has inside them just cannot be contained. They want to play, and play, and play some more.It can be so cute when they let out a little “yip” and run across the room, bouncing into things and showing off their cuteness. But when is puppy playtime appropriate and when are puppies getting a little too rough and crazy? What is puppy socialization exactly? And how does it involve you? Let’s dive in.
Learning to Play:
In addition to planning for and providing your new pup with all the training and management they need to learn some basic good mannersand how to live in your home, responsible dog owners also manage their puppy’s socialization, known as puppy playtime, in order to help them mature into a dog who is unafraid of and friendly with other dogs. Your dog needs as much puppy playtime as it takes to get them to be unafraid and friendly with people, other dogs and places they go.
The good news is that most pups come with some prior play experience. More commonly, they’ve had littermates to play with for the first several weeks of their lives. Your baby dog may need to learn how to play with humans, but unless they were a singleton pup (an only child), or a unique rescue scenario, they have probably already learned some useful canine play skills.
