Socialization

Does this scene sound familiar? You’re enjoying a walk on a beautiful Colorado day, but your eyes are scanning the horizon, not for the mountain views, but for other dogs. The moment you spot one, your stomach tightens. Your dog, who was just sniffing happily, is now rigid, fixated, and about to erupt into a frenzy of barking and lunging. Or maybe it’s the doorbell that turns your home into chaos, or a distant rumble of thunder that sends your best friend into a state of trembling fear.

Like people, dog have certain times in their mental development in which they learn about the world around them. Extensive research on how to impact dog behavior found that puppies who were isolated from human contact between five and twelve weeks were never able to react normally to people later in life. This is called the