The Obvious
The safety of your puppy should be a priority at all times. Allowing your puppy to roam near traffic, eat dangerous items, be near aggressive dogs are all terrible ideas. If you like to keep a collar on your puppy it should not be left on unattended puppies because collars can get caught on another dog's jaw, wire crate latches, or water buckets, or even air vents.
Socialization
Noises
Getting puppies used to fireworks, sirens, loud children playing, dropped items, doors slamming shut, pots banging, etc.
Living Things
Training puppies is about teaching them to ask nicely and quietly to meet strangers - and often accept "NO" for an answer.
Puppies may display the instinct to chase other animals such as squirrels and rabbits early only. It is very important that we teach puppies to control this impulse, but an outlet for it is important too.
Locations & Surfaces
Puppies should be exposed to stairs of various styles, learning to stand on unstable surfaces, and other strange surfaces such as tarps and slick surfaces.
Puppies should not stay at home until they are adults, they need to be taken to club/training classes and a controlled outings. This can be trials where all other dogs attending are on leash.
Puppy Packages
All puppies go home with a socialization check list. Previous results will already be marked on the first row of your checklist. We highly encourage puppy owners to continue their education with their puppies!
Every puppy goes home with a twelve dollar Royal Canin puppy kit and a discount on their first order of Eukanuba Puppy Sport food. We recommend all puppies be fed puppy food from ten weeks old to at least six months of age in order to keep up with their active lifestyle. Certain litters may have higher energy needs and need puppy food for a longer period.
We feed a variety of foods depending on what is for sale at that time. We rotate between Nutro Beef, Purina Pro Plan, and Eukanuba Performance 30/20.
Meeting other dogs
While every family wants a dog that likes other dogs, it is extremely important that you do not force your puppy to attend large play groups such as dog parks. Ultimately, you will have no idea the temperaments of the other dogs there. Because puppies are small they are more likely to be attacked at a dog park. Dog parks are infested with diseases such as parvo, kennel cough, giardia, and even worms.
It is likely a better idea to look for a few one on one play dates for your puppy to make with other dogs. I recommend introducing to one of the following dogs:
The Ol' Grinch
This is is a dog who is less willing to play and socialize with other dogs and would rather be left alone. He is not aggressive, but if pushed he will firmly let a puppy know that their behavior wasn't appreciated through body language, growling, and snarling. This is often an older dog that has been social at a younger age but no longer wants to rough house.
Another Puppy
An important part of being a puppy is interacting with your littermates to learn the doggy language. Continuing this education is generally speaking much easier with a dog the same general age and size. However, most folks should not own two puppies at once (this creates an unhealthy co-dependency or co-aggression).
The Responsible Adult
This is an older dog who has experience playing with other dogs, but isn't a doormat when your puppy eventually decides to do something extremely rude. Play between the adult and your puppy should include breaks for both dogs, but also both dogs should be actively "starting" the play and the play very clearly consensual.