Puppy Vaccination and Socialization Should Go Together

A letter from Dr. Robert K. Anderson DVM

Diplomate ACVB and ACVPM

Professor and Director Emeritus, Animal Behavior Clinic and

Center to Study Human/Animal Relationships and Environments

University of Minnesota

TO: My Colleagues in Veterinary Medicine:

Common questions I receive from puppy owners, dog trainers and veterinarians concern:  1) what is the most favorable age or period of time when puppies learn best?  2)  what are the health implications of my advice that veterinarians and trainers should offer socialization programs for puppies starting at 8 to 9 weeks of age?

Puppies begin learning at birth and their brains appear to be particularly responsive to learning and retaining experiences that are encountered during the first 13 to 16 weeks after birth.  This means that breeders, new puppy owners, veterinarians, trainers and behaviorists have a responsibility to assist in providing these learning/socialization experiences with other puppies/dogs, with children/adults and with various environmental situations during this optimal period from birth to 16 weeks.

Many veterinarians are making this early socialization and learning program part of a total wellness plan for breeders and new owners of puppies during the first 16 weeks of a puppy’s life — the first 7-8 weeks with the breeder and the next 8 weeks with the new owners.  This socialization program should enroll puppies from 8 to 12 weeks of age as a key part of any preventive medicine program to improve the bond between pets and their people and keep dogs as valued members of the family for 12 to 18 years.

To take full advantage of this early special learning period, many veterinarians recommend that new owners take their puppies to puppy socialization classes, beginning at 8 to 9 weeks of age.  At this age they should have (and can be required to have) received a minimum of their first series of vaccines for protection against infectious diseases.  This provides the basis for increasing immunity by further repeated exposure to these antigens either through natural exposure in small doses or artificial exposure with vaccines during the next 8 to 12 weeks.  In addition the owner and people offering puppy socialization should take precautions to have the environment and the participating puppies as free of natural exposure as possible by good hygiene and caring by careful instructors and owners.

Experience and epidemiologic data support the relative safety and lack of transmission of disease in these puppy socialization classes over the past 10 years in many parts of the United States.  In fact; the risk of a dog dying because of infection with distemper or parvo disease is far less than the much higher risk of a dog dying (euthanasia) because of a behavior problem.  Many veterinarians are now offering new puppy owners puppy socialization classes in their hospitals or nearby training facilities in conjunction with trainers and behaviorists because they want socialization and training to be very important parts of a wellness plan for every puppy.  We need to recognize that this special sensitive period for learning is the best opportunity we have to influence behavior for dogs and the most important and longest lasting part of a total wellness plan.

Are there risks?  Yes.  But 10 years of good experience and data, with few exceptions, offers veterinarians the opportunity to generally recommend early socialization and training classes, beginning when puppies are 8 to 9 weeks of age.  However, we always follow a veterinarian’s professional judgment, in individual cases or situations, where special circumstances warrant further immunization for a special puppy before starting such classes.  During any period of delay for puppy classes, owners should begin a program of socialization with children and adults, outside their family, to take advantage of this special period in a puppy’s life.

Most behavior problems with your dog are the direct result of failing communication.  Dogs are not human and they don’t speak English, so you need to incorporate an effective communication system that allows you to teach your dog the rules of the household.  If you don’t have an effective way of communicating, then how do you expect your dog to understand and learn what behavior is expected.

When you watch a group of dogs interacting together, you will rarely see confrontation.  Why?  Because the dogs are communicating with each other.  The problem that we (people) run into is when we bring dogs into our homes we somehow forget that they are NOT part of the human race, and that they do NOT instinctively know what we expect.  We have created this image of the dog as being so human-like that we often attribute them with human skills, emotions, and thinking patterns.  As wonderful as dogs are, they are dogs and not people.  If you want them to behave in a certain manner, then you need to communicate with them in way that they understand.

The first step to communicating with your dog is for you to know what it is that you expect him to do.  You can’t teach your dog how to do something if you don’t know exactly what that something is.  Most of us have a few basic ideas, such as not peeing in the house.  After that, things get a little vague.  When asked what they want from their dogs, some people will say that they want their dog to be well behaved, or they want them to be a good companion.  That is great, but how do you teach those things to your dog?  You need to be clearer on your goals.  What does your dog need to do to be well behaved, or to be a good companion.

Make a list of what behaviors you feel makes a well-behaved dog, or a good companion, or whatever roll you have planned for your dog.  If you are not clear on what you do want from your dog, try making a list on the behavior that you DON’T want.  Beside each “bad” behavior, write the behavior you would like your dog to do instead.  When you have completed that you will have your blueprint for what you are going to teach your dog.

Next, you are going to teach your dog what your expectations are.  The way to do that is to let your dog know when he is doing something right.  When you reinforce something, anything, you are making it stronger.  So every time you reinforce a behavior you are making that behavior stronger.  You can reinforce behaviors in many different ways; food, toys, attention, praise, etc.  But to be very effective, and make the behavior stronger faster, it must be something your dog really wants.  The most effective reinforcement would be whatever your dog wants most at that moment.

So when you see your dog doing something that you like, reinforce it.  When you ask your dog to do something and he does, reinforce it.  If you see your dog doing something that you don’t like, redirect him to do something that you DO like, and reinforce that behavior.

When you are clear and consistent in what you want, you are communicating to your dog in a way that he can understand.  When he understands what the rules are, you will have a much easier time teaching your dog what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

Puppies are cute and adorable, let’s face it who doesn’t love puppies! But raising a well behaved puppy is a lot of hard work, and as you have a short period of time before your cute puppy becomes an unruly teenager, you need to lay down the ground rules fast.

Make it easy on yourself as well as your puppy, and don’t allow any behavior from your puppy that you won’t allow once he has grown into an adult dog. Decide what the household rules are going to be, and be consistent and persistent.  It takes much longer for your pup to learn the rules then you would think,  and even though you will need to repeat your self over and over again, make sure you redirect your pup when he is doing something wrong, and always let him know when he is doing something right.

It is going to be much easier to follow through with your puppy training if you have a plan. Decide what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t, and then follow through. If he is chewing on a shoe, get it from him and encourage him to chew or play with his own toy. When he changes his focus and starts playing/chewing on an appropriate toy make sure you let him know that he is doing the right thing by praising him, petting him or even giving him a treat. If you redirect him to the correct chew toy but don’t acknowledge it in some way, it will take way longer for him to know what you want/expect from him. So make it clear when he is doing something right.  Every time he makes the right  choice-tell him. Every time he makes a wrong choice- redirect and then praise him.

It is really easy to get frustrated and give up on the redirection and reward, but if you stick with your plan you will start seeing the benefit of you consistency and persistence. And remember, if your pup is being especially trying, give yourself and your pup a break and let him unwind in his crate. Puppies need a lot of sleep and just like human babies they can get over stimulated, so when your pup is getting  really worked up give him some down time by calmly putting him in his crate. It is very important that he is put in his crate as an opportunity for some quiet time, and not as a punishment for misbehavior.