Supplemental information for owners of puppies younger than 4 months
Contact Mel if you have any questions or pick up her puppy manual!
Also check out our NEW puppy socialization package options on our Services page for puppies under 6 months old.
Paw In Hand can help prepare your puppy for confidence throughout their life with our puppy socialization packages. These 1 hour “social scavenger hunts” include walking, rest, socialization, and laying the groundwork for great manners.
During these outings, your puppy will be carefully introduced to people, animals, structures, noises, handling, and more. Every encounter is introduced as a fun game. Puppies who need socialization with dogs can optionally be paired with Zelda and/or Carrot for friendly and safe experiences, and to provide them with a good role-model for how to interact with the situations they encounter on the scavenger hunt.
Conditioned Relaxation
I love Conditioned Relaxation, as it teaches must needed down-time skills. Most of the dogs I teach benefit from learning this, whether they are adult dogs or puppies.
It can be hard to socialize puppies before their socialization window closes, and this is easiest way to socialize any fears or anxieties your puppy has after the window is closed.
Handling Skills
Work hard on your handling:
- Handle your dog’s feet, rubbing between their toes and paw pads and pinching their nails to get them used to the pressure.
- Open your dog’s mouth, running your finger along the outsides, and then insides, of their teeth and gums.
- Play with their ears, massaging the base of their ears, lightly pulling the ears, and sniffing inside to memorize the smell of your puppy’s healthy ears.
- Gently tug on their body and rough them up.
- Mess with their tail, wagging it for them, rubbing the base of the tail, and gently pulling on it.
- Get them used to head pats, since people like to give head pats and dogs hate it.
- Look in their nose and eyes- they should be clear and free of fluid, especially green discharge.
- Lift up the scruff below the collar- if your puppy is well hydrated, it should snap right back when let go.
- Hugs! Gradually increase the length of time and intensity of the hug, and use a restraining hold to get your puppy used to this as well.
- Feel your dog’s heartbeat- on the sternum for smaller puppies, or for larger puppies, gently bring their elbow back, and put your finger on the two ribs just behind where the elbow points. Follow those ribs down and you should be able to feel the heartbeat.
When you find something your dog has trouble with, keep working on it! Small durations, with lots of praise work well, as well as naming the body part and telling them to relax. “This is your paw. Relax.” and then pouring on the praise as you very quickly handle the paw. Gradually increase the length of time of your handling and/or the intensity.
Housebreaking Handouts
Socialization
The socialization window for puppies is extremely narrow, and yet, pivotal to your puppy’s confidence as an adult dog! To best set your puppy up for success as a confident, secure adult dog, your puppy must meet 100 different, non-family-member people between the ages of 2 months (or when they come home) and 4 months of age. This window closes by 5 months! After this, anything the puppy wasn’t properly introduced to is much more likely to cause fear and anxiety, which can cause a host of behavior problems.
Use the socialization list below and try to get your puppy used to as much as possible. Keep it fun and light, and never force your puppy into close quarters with something that scares them. Observing something scary from a distance first is a great way to build confidence, along with the “What is this?” approach outlined in our training manual.