Puppy Socialisation
Believe it or not, it’s not just the attendees that benefit from a Paws in Work puppy therapy event, the puppies gain the most from the experience! The litters of puppies that join us, get a great deal of vital socialisation from our events, which is essential to their development and a great basis for them to grow into happy, healthy dogs.
Our socialisation programme helps puppies from a young age develop into confident social adult dogs, less likely to show aggressive or anxious behaviour later in life. This is all whilst being constantly monitored by trained and experienced staff in a safe controlled environment.
What is socialisation?
Socialisation is the learning/training process that a puppy must partake in to learn key life skills to ensure they are happy, confident and resilient dogs. Socialisation should begin as early as possible, typically around the age of 3-16 weeks; reputable breeders may also start socialising the litter within the first 2 weeks.
This crucial window of opportunity allows puppies to develop positive and adaptable behaviours towards various people, animals, environments and experiences. Exposing puppies to a wide range of stimuli, in the right way, helps them become well-adjusted, confident, and well-behaved adult dogs.
“Our programme is perfect for getting pups used to meeting different people and experiencing new textures, smells, sounds, and sights.”
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Why is socialisation important?
Proper socialisation is crucial for puppies overall development and wellbeing and there are many benefits in socialising them from a young age:
It helps to prevent fear, anxiety and aggression issues later on in life.
Controlled and supervised socialisation helps with fear periods; a normal part of a puppy's development and is characterised by more fearful and extreme reactions to various stimuli.
It boosts confidence and teaches puppies not to fear encounters when they happen in the real world.
It encourages puppies to cope with busy or stressful situations.
How do Paws in Work help?
Our puppy therapy events play a crucial role in the early socialisation of puppies by providing a unique, safe and controlled environment to introduce them to new people and experiences from the age of 8 weeks.
Our socialisation programme allows a litter of puppies to meet on average 81 individuals daily, exposing them to a diverse range of humans. This exposure helps puppies develop essential social skills, including how to react calmly and positively to strangers while gradually getting them used to being away from their Mum; easing their transition into their future forever homes.
What do puppies experience?
During their time with us, they will be exposed to a variety of stimuli in a controlled way to ensure they gain the most experience from our events. All our staff have a minimum Level 2 qualification in the Principles of Puppy Socialisation, as well as a variety of animal-related courses. This knowledge ensures we understand the elements required to carefully monitor how the puppies respond to the socialisation and will be able to report back to our breeder partners on how the puppies are progressing in their time with us.
Variety of people
With different skin tones, sizes, hairstyles, and clothing. Being exposed to people with glasses, hats or hoodies for example can help alleviate any fear later on.
Textures and levels
They will be exposed to new textures such as artificial grass and different sensory toys. They are also introduced to wobble boards and tunnels as part of our updated socialisation programme.
Variety of sounds
Hustle and bustle of an office, London traffic, and sometimes fire alarm tests to name a few.
Touch
They learn about being handled by a variety of people. We encourage attendees to touch them in places they are likely to be handled at the vets and/or groomers; helping reduce anxiety in the future.
Car journeys
Many dogs get distressed in vehicles due to the lack of early experience, our events help them build positive associations with car journeys.
Smells
Dogs learn about the world through their nose, during their time with us they will be exposed to a variety of scents. This exposure helps prevent them from becoming fearful or overly conscious of different smells as they mature
Feeding
Providing new surroundings during feed times helps with resource guarding, and supports building good relationships with food.
Check out available dates and get a quote for your office puppy therapy event. Fill in your details and get your brochure today.
If you're a breeder and would like to register your litter onto our socialisation programme, get in touch today for a brochure.