The optimal time to socialize your puppy is BEFORE it is three months old. Unfortunately, your pup needs to be confined indoors until then. This relatively short period of social isolation at such a crucial developmental time could all but ruin your puppy's temperament. Whereas dog-dog socialization may be put on temporary hold until your pup is old enough to go to puppy school and the dog park, we simply can not delay socialization with people. On the contrary, during the first month, while your pup is grounded at home, socializing with people becomes the Prime Puppy Directive. Without a doubt, raising and training a pup to be people-friendly is by far the single most important aspect of pet dog husbandry.
Capitalize on the time your pup is confined indoors by inviting people to your home. As a rule of thumb, your pup needs to socialize with at least 100 people before it is 3 months old. This is actually much easier than it sounds. Invite a different group of eight men each Sunday to watch sports on the television. (Generally, men are pretty easy to attract and train if you offer pizza and beer.) Each Monday invite a different group of eight women to watch Ally McBeal and Dateline. Catch up on all your outstanding social obligations by inviting family, friends and neighbors to weekly Puppy Parties. On another night of the week invite some neighborhood children. Above all, don't keep this puppy a secret. And of course, the great thing about socializing a young puppy is that it also does wonders for your own social life!
...As soon as your puppy is three months old, there is considerable urgency to play catch-up VIS A VIS socialization and confidence building with other dogs. At the very latest, be certain your pup starts puppy training classes before it is eighteen weeks old. Four and a half months marks a critical juncture in you doggy's development, accurately pinpointing the time it turns from puppy to adolescent - sometimes, virtually overnight. And you certainly want your pup enrolled in class well before it collides with adolescence! I simply can not over emphasize the importance of placing yourself under the guidance and tutelage of a professional pet dog trainer, while you are negotiating your dog's precarious and hair-raising transition from puppyhood to adolescence. [/b]
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