Your best friend’s personality is really blossoming right now, and it’s up to you to make sure that their personality is built on positive puppyhood experiences.
Your puppy is most open to new people and experiences right now! Soon, after around 3 months of age, you may notice that your puppy is more hesitant to approach unfamiliar people or places. By providing safe, controlled exposures to other people, animals and experiences, you help your puppy avoid the development of fearful behavior.
Consider introducing your puppy to:
- Diverse types of people: This should include different ages, races, sexes, clothing styles and more. Has your puppy ever seen someone with a hat on, a person wearing glasses, someone who uses a cane or a person in a wheelchair? Taking your puppy out and about will help them meet all kinds of people.
- Other animals: We especially recommend exposure to other dogs and to cats (be careful not to stress the cats out!). If your puppy will be around horses or other animals regularly, this is a good time to introduce them as well.
- Physical contact: Get your puppy used to having their paws touched, their lips pulled up and their ears touched. Pet their bellies. Touch their tails. This will be tremendously helpful to your veterinarian during medical exams and will help you with things like brushing their teeth, trimming their nails and medicating ears. Although we don’t want you to routinely disturb their rest, consider also touching them while they’re sleeping.
- Nail trims: Fear of the nail trimmer is common. Start your pup young! Ask your VCA care team to show you how to trim your puppy’s nails.
- Bath time: We don’t need your puppy to love bath time, but we don’t want them to be afraid when they hear the faucet turn on. Make sure to check with your veterinarian before bathing if your pup has any incisions or skin conditions.
- New places: Aim to take your puppy somewhere new at least twice a week. This will help decrease fear of traveling, new places and new situations. Ask your VCA care team for recommendations on safe, low-stress places to take your pup.
- Noises: Play TV shows. Play music. Run the vacuum. Start the dishwasher. Take them outside where they can hear cars and other people’s voices. Safety first! It’s okay if you aren’t able to safely expose your dog to all potential sources of noise fear (think loud, close fireworks). Consider avoiding loud noises such as fireworks when possible if your pup is in a period where they’re responding fearfully to new stimuli.
- Novel objects: New toys, new types of food bowls, dog sweaters and more. Teach your puppy that new objects in the environment are safe and not scary!
- Novel textures/surfaces: Carpets, hard floors, grass, woodchips, pavement, stairs… you want your puppy to be exposed to as many as possible!
A quick note on food! Food aggression is a common behavioral problem in dogs. If your dog is acting territorial about their food, they may growl, snap or even bite when trying to guard their food.
While they’re a puppy, you can help prevent food aggression by:
- Not feeding your pets from a communal pan or bowl
- Feeding them in proximity to people
- Feeding them in proximity to other animals who will not steal your puppy’s food or act aggressively toward them while they’re eating
- Hand-feeding them yourself
- Having visitors hand-feed them
- Periodically put your hand in the bowl while your puppy is eating, occasionally leaving behind an extra tasty treat
If your puppy is already guarding their food, please reach out to your VCA care team for advice rather than attempting to resolve this on your own. If your puppy bites you and you pull away, you may accidentally reinforce this behavior at a crucial developmental time, leading to more issues as your puppy matures.
