Puppy socialisation

The first year of your puppy’s life, in particular the first few months, is when they learn about the world around them and gain experience of daily life – this process is called socialisation. During this time, their senses develop, their hormones change, and they’re exposed to new experiences, all of which affect their behaviour as they grow up.

A volunteer Puppy Raiser sits next to a washing machine as two puppies stand beside her.

Why is socialisation important for puppies?

It’s normal for young puppies to respond to new noises, sights, movement and smells. Over time, we'd like our puppies to stop paying attention to everyday stimuli, such as the kettle, vacuum, traffic noise or birds in the garden.

Socialisation, and learning, continues throughout a dog’s life. It’s important to help puppies and young dogs build up a bank of positive experiences, so they grow into confident, well-socialised dogs. This confidence encourages them to be brave in new situations and helps them to interpret new experiences, sights and smells in a positive way. In other words, good socialisation sets them up to be content and more relaxed throughout their lives.

How to introduce new experiences

You should introduce new experiences in a carefully planned and calm way, with plenty of praise and rewards. Allow your puppy time and space to watch, listen, smell, and investigate new experiences in their own time. Gradually, the new experience can be increased in duration, number of repetitions or intensity. For the best results, introduce your puppy to new things when they’re in a calm and relaxed state of mind.

Remember – the first experience, or impression, is often the most important, and should be carefully managed.

Puppies will progress at different rates, so take the lead from your puppy. It’s better to go slowly, and trust that by making learning a positive experience, they’ll gain confidence and progress over time.

It’s important to be aware of your puppy’s body language while exposing them to new experiences and stimuli, as this will help tell you how they’re feeling and responding – as well as when they may need a break from the activity. Keep sessions short and allow your puppy plenty of time to rest afterward. If your puppy appears uncomfortable or stressed, you should stop the exercise or activity immediately and allow them to retreat, or remove the new stimuli, to stop your puppy from becoming overwhelmed.

Learn how you can better understand your dog by monitoring their body language.

Find out more

Rewarding behaviour

Using rewards helps with socialisation. The reward can be food from your puppy’s daily allowance, verbal praise, toys, or something that you know motivates your puppy.

For example, providing your dog with a reward while they experience an unusual noise, such as the washing machine, can help them create positive associations, making it more likely that they won’t fear this noise or similar noises in the future.

Similarly, giving your puppy a reward when they show desired behaviour, such as sitting calmly while watching birds in your garden, means they’ll probably repeat this behaviour. This is called positive reinforcement.

Whilst using food rewards can be useful, try to avoid using food to coax your puppy towards something. For example, if you’re introducing your puppy to a new object, wait for them to show interest in it then reward them with food, rather than bribing them to walk towards it. Remember – if your puppy moves away or appears uncomfortable, you should stop.

Sounds

It’s important your puppy becomes comfortable with new sounds, so they’re not frightened when there’s a sudden noise. This is especially important for household noises, such as washing machines, and loud noises like fireworks.

There are a lot of online resources and recordings to help you introduce new noises to your puppy, for example - on YouTube. Start the sounds quietly, for short durations, at a low volume. If your puppy appears relaxed or ignores the sound, you can gradually increase the volume and duration. Continue with this until your puppy regularly shows relaxed body language when they hear the noise.

Sights

Throughout their life, your puppy will meet a wide range of people, so they need to get used to lots of different appearances. Positive interactions with different adults and children will help them feel comfortable meeting new people when they’re out and about.

You can help this aspect of socialisation by changing your appearance, movements and mannerisms. You can also dress up in wigs, costumes, or hats, or put the television on for your puppy to watch, so they get used to different sights, sounds, and movements. You can also invite friends over to meet the puppy, in a calm and controlled setting.

Continue to monitor your puppy’s body language and change your approach accordingly. It’s important to pair this with positive reinforcement while allowing your puppy to have plenty of time to investigate.

Smells

Puppies and dogs receive lots of information through their sense of smell. It’s important your puppy can sniff and smell new people, animals and objects to get used to encountering lots of exciting scents!

When your puppy is old enough to be walked outside, give them lots of opportunities to sniff – but monitor them to make sure they aren’t eating something they’re not supposed to.

To ensure your puppy is used to being handled by different people, you can try wearing new perfume or varying your hand wash to mimic how other people might smell.

Touch

You can offer your puppy a range of textures and surfaces to walk on, such as cardboard, carpet, sand, and grass. Place the material on the floor and wait until your puppy has made a movement towards it. Encourage your puppy with praise but be sure not to lure them with food or toys – allow them to approach in their own time.

Exposing your puppy to a variety of textures will help them experience how different materials feel under their paws. This exercise will also teach them how to keep themselves stable – for example, they’ll eventually learn they’re more sure-footed on carpet than on sand.

A puppy approaches an older dog who is lying on a tiled floor.

Meeting other dogs

Letting your puppy meet and greet lots of different people and animals will help them gain confidence. Meeting other dogs of various sizes, types and breeds, is especially helpful because it'll teach them how to behave around and engage with other dogs.

Introducing your puppy to other dogs can provide them with role models, help them learn to communicate, and provides a source of enrichment.

Ensure the dog you’re meeting is well socialised and fully vaccinated.

You can introduce them either in your own home, or somewhere neutral, like a park. Your puppy must have completed their vaccination course before they meet another dog outdoors.

Keep both dogs on their leads and the introduction short – just 10 to 15 minutes is fine for an initial meet and greet.

Once the dogs are used to each other, try a lead walk, and then build up to off-lead walks or play.

Closely monitor your puppy’s body language for any signs of discomfort.

Keep meetings short and positive to avoid overwhelming either dog.
When introducing your puppy to an older dog, you still need to make sure the older dog has had their vaccinations. The recommendations for introducing your puppy to an older dog are largely the same as any other dog. However, it’s important that the older dog has a ‘safe space’ to retreat to, such as their crate or a quiet room, in case they’re struggling to engage with a puppy, who may be more energetic or playful. Like people, different dogs have different boundaries, and this is an important lesson for your puppy.

Introducing grooming equipment

It’s important to introduce your puppy to grooming equipment, and the grooming process, gradually:

Let your puppy look at and smell each grooming tool, before giving them a reward.
Place the tool close to your puppy, then give your puppy another reward.
When your puppy seems comfortable, you can try gently touching your puppy’s coat with the grooming tool.
Gradually build up the duration that the tool is in contact with your puppy. Remember to provide lots of praise and rewards and be sure to stop if your puppy seems uncomfortable at any point.

Cars and vehicles

It’s likely that your puppy will travel in a car at some point. You can introduce car travel to your puppy by feeding them one of their meals in the car once a day, allowing them to finish their food before taking them out of the car.

Over the next few days, build up the length of time that your puppy is in the car, and practice shutting and opening the boot or door. This noise can worry some dogs, so look out for any indications of concern.

Eventually, you can try putting them in different locations in the car, turning the engine on, turning the car around, and sitting in the car – perhaps use the time to call someone on the phone or just have a quiet moment with your puppy.

Visiting the vets

Whether it’s for routine vaccinations or an injury, your puppy will have to visit the vets at least once a year. To help them prepare for being handled, you can practice gently examining their ears and teeth, rewarding calm behaviour as you go.

To help them get used to sounds and sensations they’re likely to experience at the vets, try opening medicine bottles around them, cutting dry spaghetti with nail clippers, and build up to using an electric toothbrush or razor around them. You can even gently press the back of a spoon against them to replicate a stethoscope.

You may wish to visit your vet clinic outside of appointments to allow your dog to get used to the surroundings. These visits are sometimes referred to as ‘Cuddle Clinics’, as the vet staff will greet you and your dog and give them lots of praise and positive reinforcement, to help them to build positive associations with going to the vet.

If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to your vet or a qualified dog trainer or behaviourist. If you’re a Guide Dogs volunteer or guide dog owner, you can contact Guide Line.

Learn more about preparing for the arrival of your new dog or puppy.