PUPPIES ARE A LOT OF WORK! It will be harder than youthink and will require a substantial commitment from you. By investing your time and patience now, they will become the amazing adult dogs they are destine to be!
Our hope and our expectation is that your puppy is going to be a valued member of your family. You are going to treasure them as much as you do the human members of your family. They will rely on you for love, their health, behavior and overall well being for the rest of their life. Please do not adopt a puppy or dog if you are not willing to make a lifetime commitment no matter what life circumstances may come along.
A puppy cannot learn living outside in a yard or by living with a family that is gone from home for long periods of time during the day. They need to be exposed to your lifestyle, require a lot of human interaction, and supervised at all times in order to learn. SOCIALIZE your puppy with other dogs, people and places, inside and outside of your home in order for them to grow into an adult dog everyone will love and enjoy being around. If you do not have children SOCIALIZE your dog around CHILDREN anyway. Don't wait until you're expecting a child or have an incident. Do it now! If you move to a new location, the dog moves with you. If you your relationship ends, please do not make the dog suffer. Know now who will always love and care for the dog.
There are very distinct stages of a puppy's development. Sometimes your puppy may suddenly become frightened of something they were never bothered by before.
Early Socialization period
6 to 12 weeks
Learns not to bite too hard.
Learns to relate to other litter mates and develops a pack hierarchy through play
Human Socialization
This is the age when most rapid learning occurs. Greatest impact on future social behavior will be made by any experience that happens at this point.
Fear Imprint Period
8 to 11 weeks
Anything that frightens the puppy during this period will have a more lasting effect than if it occurred at any other time.
Social dominance
10 to 16 weeks
This period is known as the "period of cutting teeth and apron strings."Pups will attempt to clarify the pack and leadership
Flight Instinct Period
4 to 8 months
He may challenge you in an attempt to resolve the question of leadership.He may not come when called.He may not play fetch even though he once did.
Second Fear Period
6-14 months
- In large breeds this period could extend longer since it is tied to sexual maturity.
- May suddenly be apprehensive about new things or shy or timid of new people or situations.
- Puppy begins to mature sexually: male begins to lift leg, and female that have not been spayed will have first heat period anywhere from 6-12 months.
- Puppy coat being replaced by adult coat, starting down the spine.
Maturity
1-4 years
If you were lax in your work earlier on you may now see the things you have missed: object guarding, unfavorable reactions towards unfamiliar people, animals, or things that your dog missed during the socialization stage.