Читать книгу Collins Good Dog Behaviour: An Owner’s Guide - Gwen Bailey - Страница 13

If you take on a puppy, you start with a relatively clean slate. Raising a puppy takes a lot of time and effort but at least the mistakes, or lack of them, will be all yours.

Most ways of achieving good dog behaviour are common to both adult dogs and puppies and are covered elsewhere in this book. However, a most important area that relates specifically to puppies is that of socialization. One of the primary requirements of a pet dog is that he is friendly with people and other animals. This will depend on the quantity and quality of social contact he gets with them as he grows up.

The early weeks of a puppy’s life are very important, particularly up to the age of twelve weeks. During this time, a puppy will approach anything unfamiliar without caution. Meeting plenty of people, including children, as well as other animals, makes it more likely that he will be unafraid and sociable with them in later life.

As a puppy gets older, he becomes more apprehensive of the unfamiliar and, as a result, socialization becomes more difficult. For this reason, it is essential that a puppy is obtained from a source where every care has been taken to ensure that the socialization process is well underway before he reaches you. Never be tempted to buy a puppy from someone who will deliver him or who has numerous litters of puppies, often from different breeds, for sale. Only buy from a place where puppies are kept in a home environment or where each puppy has been given enough individual attention to make him confident and outgoing.

It is unwise to buy a puppy that is older than eight weeks unless he has been well socialized with humans.