I have been wondering about this for some time now and really should have put it on to paper earlier. However, sometimes you think to yourself that maybe you are on the wrong track, and should spend your time more productively. I do a lot of thinking, little end result, but a lot of thinking!
Whilst walking my dogs I met a woman who was training her three labs to be gun dogs, which although interesting enough in itself is not the subject I wanted to discuss.
Well we got to chatting and she expressed a thought that I had often wondered about.
She said that the four weeks we keep our puppies in quarantine before their jabs take effect, are probably the most important four weeks of their young lives. Yes we all know that the vets are trying to save our young charges, but the pup has gone from a litter where it is in the middle of a steep socialisation learning curve. So from litter to zero socialisation and generally being left alone whilst the family are out at work.
If our own children were treated in such a way, do you think maybe they would have issues! It does appear that Parvo is rife according to Veterinary figures. However, is there a way for a busy family to actually socialise their pup without putting it in danger? The disease is passed through dog and fox faeces, my blogs appear to be taking on a theme! In our environment most probably foxes as most pup owners and responsible dog owners have their jabs kept up to date.
The problem is of course, the chasm in the pups young life can lead to many places. Separation anxiety, fear aggression, aggression to either males, females or children, dependant on the home environment. Of course when you were a young child the most common cause of fear, is that of the unknown. So then combine these characteristics with this huge change and we could be responsible for our best friends bad behaviour before we even get a chance to train them in the basics.
Now I love pups as much as the next dog lover, but I would propose that pups are not separated from their litters until 14 weeks almost double the current time when pups are passed on to their new owners. This would have a two fold benefit, firstly they would get the important socialisation and secondly it would put off many people buying pups because they are 'Oh so cute'!
Could it be worth a try?