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How To Socialize Westie Pups!
Birth Through Week Two
Puppies need
their mom and the other littermates. They can’t regulate
their own body temperature very well, so they must have a
warm place to sleep. We keep the temp in the Whelping Room
about 85 degrees the first 2 weeks. They don’t do much
except sleep and nurse. We handle them sparingly during the
first two weeks.
Week Three Through Four
We
lower the Whelping Room temp to 78
degrees. They begin wobbly walking. Their eyes are usually
open around day 14-16 and their ears by day 21. They
now have the ability to form an attachment to humans so we
gently handle them often. We supervise all handling and our
grand children are allowed to sit on the floor and hold the
puppies. We give daily individual attention to each puppy,
getting him or her accustomed to positive human
interaction. We begin teaching them to lap milk mixed with
baby cereal beginning with week three. It is just another
part of the socialization process…carefully handling the
puppies.
Week Five Through Eight
The mother will be in the process of weaning
the puppies and we let her do her job. The puppies get
individual attention throughout the day and are able to run
with mom in the fenced yard with our supervision. At this
age, they enjoy being held and need lots of attention. Mom
allows them to nurse only a few minutes daily. They are
eating Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice Puppy Food! They
have massive appetites.
The puppy is
also learning other very crucial skills at this age. He’s
learning to speak “dog.” He’s learning social skills that
will enable him to interpret unspoken messages from other
dogs and give appropriate replies. Things like calming
signals (a kind of a friendly, submissive
gesture) are learned at this time, and this will help your
pup to communicate with other dogs all through his life. If
he is removed from the litter unequipped with this vital
information, he could possibly get “picked on” or attacked
frequently by other dogs when they don’t receive the
information they need from him. If he doesn’t “speak the
language”, it will be hard for him to express himself. He
could also become a “bully” himself, because he won’t
understand the signals to “back off” that the other dogs
are giving him. This could also lead to a nasty fight.
Your New Pup…Your Responsibility!
You have picked up your new pup by now and
the journey begins! You now take over the role of being the
“mother” to your new puppy. To make the first few nights easier on your new puppy, we recommend allowing the puppy to be VERY near you. Those first few nights should hold as little trauma as absolutely possible. If you shut up your puppy away from you when you get home with him, he’s going to assume he’s been LOST or abandoned, and will cry to be rescued. You merely have to assure him that he simply has a new home, with a human parent, and that you can be just as loving and comforting as his real mother (almost).
The puppy is experiencing his FEAR IMPRINT
PERIOD between 8 and 9 weeks of age, and any traumatic
encounters will stay with the puppy for his entire
lifetime if you allow them to occur. Be extremely cautious
during this time. The key is to try to allow the pup to
experience all kinds of different sights, sounds, smells,
all kinds of people, places, and things.
NOW is when you should begin training your
puppy. DO NOT wait until he is 6 months old. The puppy is
a learning “SPONGE” at this age, and to not give
him structured training is to allow him to learn BAD
habits. Puppies have a full adult brain at 49 days of age.
There is absolutely no reason to wait longer than that to
teach the puppy proper behavior. It is much easier to
install correct behaviors than to let the puppy grow up like
a wild savage and then try to “untrain” the bad behavior
later! Socialization is the KEY to a well-adjusted, calm, and happy dog. Training is great too, but contrary to the old “wives tale,” you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. You can’t, however, give an old dog the socialization he should have gotten as a puppy.
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