When it comes to raising a confident well-adjusted puppy, an ounce of prevention is certainly worth a pound of cure. By socializing one's puppy early on with a variety of new and unfamiliar people (including calm and gentle children), on a regular and ongoing basis (for at least the first two years of the dog's life), you can help prevent serious behavioral problems such as shyness, timidity, and aggression from developing as the puppy matures. Once a puppy has all of his puppy shots (usually by 16 weeks of age), he should also be socialized with other friendly dogs, and acclimated to new environments beyond the owner's home and property, by being taken for regular daily walks on a leash.

Little puppies don't come into our world with ready knowledge about humans or the world in which we live. They need to learn all about us— about car rides, vacuum sweepers, weaving bicycles, and more. If they don't have a chance to learn about the people, animals, and things in their environment, they may grow up to be fearful, anxious, antisocial adults.

The first few months of your puppy's life are the most critical for its development. The socialization process should begin as soon as you get the new puppy. Start with simple, quiet, one-person introductions, and gradually include more people in noisier situations. Invite friends, relatives, and their pets to come to the home to meet, greet, and play with the pup.Iit's important that your puppy meets a variety of people of all ages and appearances. A puppy that grows up in a restricted social group (e.g. all adults or all females) may show fear and aggression when later exposed to people who appear or act significantly different (e.g. children, men with beards).

Puppies raised in country and suburban environments should be gradually acclimated to city noises such as traffic noise, crowds of people and other everyday life scenarios early on. A weekly visit into town (beginning when the puppy is around 8 to 10 weeks of age) can be very helpful in preventing environmental phobias. In order to prevent exposure to disease, puppies with fewer than 3 or 4 series of vaccinations, should avoid contact with unfamiliar dogs, and be carried (in a Sherpa Bag, Snuggly or crate) to avoid contact with the sidewalk (or any other public areas where other dogs may frequent).

Another excellent way to promote early socialization is to take your puppy to training classes. Ask your veterinarian about classes available in your area. Punishment during the early development stages can impact good people skills. Avoid training methods that involve physical discipline, such as swatting the pup, thumping it on the nose, or rubbing its face in a mess.

Properly socializing and shaping your puppy's temperament requires an investment in time. You will find that your efforts are well worthwhile when you become the proud parent of a social, friendly dog.

What To Do If Your Puppy Becomes Timid

  While preventive steps are best, should your puppy or adolescent dog show signs of timidity, he should be gradually introduced to many new and unfamiliar people, until your puppy develops more confidence and trust. The following tips may be useful as a general guideline:

Visitors and passersby should avoid suddenly reaching out to pet your puppy, as allowing a stranger to approach a timid puppy right away is likely to increase the puppy's fear as well as his inclination to react defensively. In fact, when a timid puppy is first introduced to someone unfamiliar to him, the person should remain relatively still and quiet, avoid eye contact with the puppy, offer non-confrontational body language, and allow the puppy to approach the person and initiate contact. The puppy should never be forced or dragged over to meet someone he is fearful of.

Asking the visitor to crouch down near the floor, with their body facing at an angle AWAY from the puppy, and their hand slightly extended to the side while holding a small puppy treat, may help the puppy to gain enough confidence to approach. The puppy should be allowed to sniff the person, and to take the treat from their hand, without the person talking to or reaching towards the puppy. Even if the puppy continues to show fearfulness, the owner should remain upbeat, and resist the temptation to coddle or "poor baby" the puppy.

Once the puppy appears to feel a bit more secure, the visitor should slowly begin petting the puppy under the chin, and continue offering him small treats. These steps should be repeated with as many new people as possible, in as many new environments as possible, until the puppy develops sufficient confidence around new people.

Timidity Around Other Dogs

Fully immunized puppies who are timid around other dogs, should be socialized with other friendly, easy-going puppies (and dogs), beginning with small to medium-sized puppies, then very gradually introduced to larger, more active ones, over a period of a few weeks. Observe both puppies' body language as the meet, interact, and get to know each other. For especially timid or sensitive puppies, one-on-one puppy play sessions are usually best.

Supervised puppy play groups and puppy kindergarten classes may also be helpful, provided that bigger, more dominant puppies are not allowed to bully or intimidate the more timid ones. Puppies should be properly matched by size, age, dominance, activity level and temperament. Unsupervised group "free-for-alls" can in fact be very counter-productive.

Ideally, an experienced dog trainer or behaviorial consultant should supervise all play activity and be present to prevent any overly aggressive interactions between puppies.

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