Mobirise

Importance of Socialization 

Socialization of puppies has stages and processes to go through over the essential weeks of development being 1 week to 12 weeks. It is crucial that certain stimuli and learning is done at a certain age, this is due to the development of the central nervous system. Neonatal Period - Birth to 14 Days during this period the pup is dependent on the mother, the pups’ eyes are still closed, and touch is their main sensor, the mother needs to nurture, groom, and even stimulate the genitals to enable them to defecate. A small amount of human handling and, the stress it induces, in these early days has been proven to aid more rapid growth and the eyes can also open sooner. Transition period - 15 to 21 days this is the period when the eyes open and ends with the ability to react to noise. During this period significant changes and neurologic development occur and the pup becomes more sensitive to its environment. 

Mobirise

Socialization period 22 to 84 days during this phase socialization with both dogs and people is essential. John Bradshaw and his book in defence of dogs describes an experiment in 1961 in which researchers raised five litters in a field with a high fence, food and water was provided through small holes in the fence so they had no human contact. Then every other week from 2 weeks old to 2 months old they were taken out one at a time to spend one week indoors interacting with humans then placed back in the field. The results showed that at age two weeks they were too immature to interact and slept most of their time. At three weeks they were keen to interact with their handler, at five weeks they showed signs of being wary for a few minutes then interaction began, then being taken out for the first time at seven weeks they needed two days of coaxing to interact with a human. This identifies the importance of timing to learn to socialize and interact happily without anxiety. The next stage from 12 weeks to 6 months is called the Juvenile period and they are fully developed and two-thirds of their adult size. Socialization needs to continue throughout their lives and regular exposure to new experiences for the dog to feel confident.

No Dog is Bad 

Dogs simply do not have the brain function to choose to be bad. Making choices to perform a behaviour for personnel gain requires the ability to access and use memories, dogs can only remember long term through association they do not access their memories in the same way as humans. Behaviour we consider undesirable is a direct result of failed communication and lose of understanding with the dog and not because the dog is bad.

 “idiopathic” is defined as, “relating to or denoting any disease or condition that arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown”. (Sheaffer and Sheaffer, 2021)
Idiopathic aggression is a sudden burst of aggression with no apparent stimuli and cause. There was a lot of studies done in the 1970s and '80s but still to date no reason has been found. It usually starts when a dog is between 1 and 3 years old. The condition can be difficult for owners also dangerous when the aggression can come suddenly with no trigger.

As there are no known causes people can theorise their own opinion, some would say that this proves dogs can be ‘bad’. I consider this to be a mental health condition, not a bad dog. The term has no place in the dog world, the definition is “failing to conform to standards of moral virtue or acceptable conduct”. Dogs do not have the brain function to choose to be bad, dogs with idiopathic aggression have a condition, we just do not know what the condition is. We have found many conditions in humans that can cause sudden aggression or uncontrolled outbursts, but we would never call these people bad! 

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