Socialization of our puppies

Our puppies are extensively socialized. By this we mean besides the human attention they are also getting aquianted with all sorts of situations and materials. The pups get a run around the whelping box as soon as they grow

out of the whelping box. In here we make a large activity center. Here, for example, we introduce them to all sorts of materials that hang above them or which they need to cross. Besides they all have different sounds and some materials are unstable. Thisway they are continuously  challenged to respond to all kind of situations. It is very special to see how the pups go on a voyage of discovery and always experience a new situation and go further and further ahead in their development.

In addition of being exposed to all sorts of situations in home, they also get out of the house. We bring them for example to childcare, an important development for the puppies as well for the children. Children who don’t know dogs learn how to approach a dog and put their fears aside. The puppies learn to deal with the unpredictable behaviour of children and a lot of screaming and stroking.  

Beside, we take the puppies to my work (people with dementia). They really love being surrounded by puppies. Our grown up dogs also regurarely go with me to my work whether it is an early, late or nightshift.

Orientation on the boss is also a point that we emphasize. We are the leaders of the pach and the dogs learn this immediatly through positive training. We wait for the puppies to be in a calm state of mind, are sitting and looking at our face before we feed them. A calm start for these puppies contributes to relaxed dogs in the future.

In the 8 weeks the puppies are with us, we work with an socialization checklist to give them as much as experiences they can get in this period. The new puppie owners get this list to see which experiences de puppies went trough.

See the document below (only in dutch for now)

Puppy socialisatie checklist