A Veterinarian's Perspective

The prenatal period -- It has been found that puppies react to touch and/or pressure from the outside of the mother’s abdomen.  This fact has been confirmed with ultrasound.  Since puppies have such a well-developed sense of touch at birth, the sense of touch would also be well-developed before birth.  Puppies may be sensitive to touch received by the mother while still unborn.  Studies have found that “when a pregnant animal is petted her litter is more docile (Denenberg and Whimbey 1963, in Fox 1978).” According to Fox, this facilitates relaxation, emotional attachment, and socialization as well.  Other studies have indicated that puppies that receive outside contact (petting of the mother) while in utero have a higher tolerance for touching than puppies who receive no contact at all.  One could deduce that gentle petting of the mother’s abdomen could help to facilitate positive, beneficial puppy socialization with people.

Neonatal Period -- During the first two weeks of a puppy's life, also known as the neonate period, puppies can learn simple associations.  However, early experience events are unlikely to carry over into later periods. Studies indicate that puppies in the neonate period do not seem to learn by experience.  It is theorized that this is due to the fact that the puppy’s brain, sense, and motor organs are still undeveloped. Based on its limited capacity to sense and learn it would be difficult to affect the puppy psychologically, either in a positive or negative sense.

That being said, this is an excellent time though to start their early neurological development.  Though they may not be able to "learn from experience" that does not mean that they are not able to develop.

The U.S. Military in their canine program developed a method that still serves as a guide for a lot of breeders today. In an effort to improve the performance of dogs used for military purposes, a program called "Bio Sensor" was developed.  Later, it became known to the public as the "Super Dog" Program. Based on years of research, the military learned that early neurological stimulation exercises could have important and lasting effects. Their studies confirmed that there are specific time periods early in life when neurological stimulation has optimum results. The first period involves a window of time that begins at the third day of life and lasts until the sixteenth day. It is believed that because this interval of time is a period of rapid neurological growth and development, and therefore is of great importance to the individual.

The "Bio Sensor" program was also concerned with early neurological stimulation in order to give the dog a superior advantage. Its development utilized six exercises, which were designed to stimulate the neurological system. Each workout involved handling puppies once each day. The workouts required handling them one at a time while performing a series of five exercises. Listed in no order of preference, the handler starts with one pup and stimulates it using each of the five exercises. The handler completes the series from beginning to end before starting with the next pup. The handling of each pup once per day involves the following exercises:

Tactile stimulation
Head held erect
Head pointed down
Supine position
Thermal stimulation
 

These five exercises will produce neurological stimulations, none of which naturally occur during this early period of life. Experience shows that sometimes pups will resist these exercises, others will appear unconcerned. In either case a caution is offered to those who plan to use them. Do not repeat them more than once per day and do not extend the time beyond that recommended for each exercise. Over stimulation of the neurological system can have adverse and detrimental results.

These exercises impact the neurological system by kicking it into action earlier than would be normally expected. The result being an increased capacity that later will help to make the difference in its performance. Those who play with their pups and routinely handle them should continue to do so because the neurological exercises are not substitutions for routine handling, play socialization or bonding.

There are some additional exercises that I have seen added to some people programs - such as "problem solving" and the timing of the "problem solving", smelling, etc.  I have also seen it reported that the "Super Dog Program" was a complete failure.  According to one of my friends who was stationed at Fort Benning, GA and worked daily with dogs from the bio-sensor program in Aberdeen Proving Grounds,  there were some problems with the dogs - they were weak nerved, slow to recover, and often would shut down when overly stressed.  However, they were superior when it came to healthy, hips, conformation, etc.  There was a "bottleneck of the genetic gene pool with a focus on health with most of the dogs.  And, true, health is essential, but, I personally believe that the "Super Dog Program" can not change the genetics of an individual.  If you want a "super dog" you must have super genes but I do believe that the early neurological stimulation can be of some help in improving the overall dog.  Pups that are handled more are simply more easy to handle and appear to be "smarter" and "healthier".

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises:

	Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
	Stronger heart beats,
	Stronger adrenal glands,
	More tolerance to stress
	Greater resistance to disease

Also, in tests of learning, stimulated pups were found to be more active and were more exploratory than their non- stimulated littermates over which they were dominant in competitive situations.

Although the stimulation proved beneficial, over stimulating had detrimental results. The researchers also found that regular handling and socialization were still necessary.

In addition to socialization, exposing puppies to various sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches allows them to better cope as an adult dog. Enrichment activities can begin at a very early age, perhaps even at birth. Some ideas include providing toys of all shapes and textures; providing a variety of footing such as newspaper, carpeting, window screens, plastic, concrete, gravel; providing a variety of sounds such as radio, cap gun, vacuum cleaner; providing a variety of challenges such as climbing steps, going through a tunnel, playing hide and seek, etc. Just be sure that the enrichment activities you design won't hurt or scare the puppy.

 

Socialization Period -- This is the most important developmental period, beginning around 3 weeks (21 days) old, and ending around 12 weeks old.  The biggest aspect of this period is social play.  Social investigation (curiosity), playful fighting and playful sexual behavior (body contact) is very important to developing social relationships during its life.  This is a time for developing social relationships, both among other puppies as well as with people. These behaviors are relatively easy for any individual who stays with the puppies during this period.  However, there is a point where the puppies can develop a fear of strangers.  At 3-5 weeks of age, puppies will actively approach strangers.  Shortly thereafter stranger avoidance begins and slowly escalates until it peaks around 12-14 weeks of age.  While this natural fear of strangers could serve as a way to keep a curious puppy away from predators, it can also hinder normal relationships with people.

Studies by Scott and Fuller indicated that these were critical periods in a young puppy's development. During these periods, if a puppy does not interact with other dogs (at least his mother and littermates) and with people, he may never be able to bond to other dogs or to people. For an interesting account of how this research was used to dramatically increase the number of guide dogs who successfully completed training, read The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior by Clarence Pfaffenberger.

During this period, startle reactions to sudden movement and sounds is now present.  This serves to help the puppy learn to differentiate between which events are dangerous, and which events are safe or insignificant. (Scott and Fuller, 1965) During the socialization period, the development of attachment to certain locations occurs.  This is displayed by an extreme disturbance in the puppy whenever a change in location occurs. This is known as “localization”.  “Localization” often peaks in puppies between 6-7 weeks old and then tapers off after that time to the point where a change in location is no longer distressing to the puppy.

Dogs that are handled and petted by humans regularly during the first eight weeks of life are generally much more amenable to being trained and living in human households.  Ideally, puppies should be placed in their permanent homes between about 7 and 10 weeks of age.  Puppies are innately more fearful of new things during the period from 10 to 12 weeks, which makes it harder for them to adapt to a new home.

Additionally, puppies can begin learning tricks and commands as early as 7-8 weeks of age; the only limitations are the pup's stamina, concentration, and physical coordination.  It is much easier to live with young dogs that have already learned basic commands such as sit. Waiting until the puppy is older and has already learned undesirable habits makes the training much more challenging.