Page 26 - Chow Life - 2025 01 Spring

behavior of her puppies. Three Key Principles of Dog Socialization

“The best way to reduce maternal stress is to offer 1) Start Socialization with Puppies for the
her control of her environment. You want to give Biggest Impact
her an area where she can hide if she chooses. She
should have frequent human social interactions The U.S. military’s “Super Dog” early neurological
1
throughout pregnancy and opportunities to stimulation exercises from
exercise. An enriched environment is linked day 3 through day 16
to better maternal care of puppies.” “ made puppies more
resilient to stress
Citing research published in 2018 in A calm, as adults and
the journal Behaviour, Dr. Valuksa improved
says, “Studies have found that socialized adult
dams that provided high levels of female dog
maternal care produced puppies
that were less anxious, less contributes
fearful of novelty, more social immensely to the
and more interactive with their
environment. health and well-
“Socialization really starts with being of her
the mom. The better care you puppies cardiovascular,
give her, she will make your job adrenal and
a lot easier.” Miller adds another immune function.
benefit of dog socialization. “ It involves spending
“Ultimately, it improves the 3 to 5 seconds daily on
breeder’s image to have each of five exercises:
socialized dogs,” he tactical stimulation
says. “Socialization with a cotton swab
is going to create between the toes;
dogs that are head held erect
going to thrive above the tail;
in a home.”
head pointed
As ICARE down toward the
works toward ground; supine
its goals, position on the
Miller says, back with muzzle
“We’ve seen a facing the ceiling;
huge increase and thermal
in the quality stimulation using
of dogs we a cool, damp towel.
rehome. Breeders "One study found
are trying to do that frequent gentle
the right things handling from day 3
and starting to through day 21 resulted in
understand how much significantly calm puppies at 8
better their adults are with weeks of age . This made an even
2
more stimulation and training greater impact on puppies raised in large-
throughout their lives.”
scale breeding operations than those raised in a
home environment."

24