You gotta love a woman who names one of her Bull Terrier puppies “Betty Pork and Beans.” But there’s a lot more to love about Jane Killion’s latest work, Puppy Culture DVD. I’ve watched every minute of it, and highly recommend it. I’d get it and watch it whether you will ever raise, or even get, a puppy yourself. You’ll learn a lot about dogs by doing so.
The focus of the DVD is the effect the first twelve weeks of a dog’s life on its emotions and behavior as an adult. In the introduction, Ms. Killion correctly argues that many of a dog’s genes can switch on or off, depending on the environment in which its raised (including in utero). The video (all 3.75 hours of it, not counting the hour-long ‘recap’), follows Jane and her Bull Terrier bitch, Daphne, as they together raise seven puppies. The program is divided into sections, correlating with the development of the pups. Starting our journey with the very pregnant Daphne, we listen to Jane talk about research that suggests females who receive “caressing and affection” will give birth to more docile puppies. Watching Daphne’s face as Jane rubs her belly and talks about the importance of affection is almost worth the price of the DVD. [Note: Julie Hecht and I looked for a study that validated this claim and couldn’t find it. There is good research that shows gentle handling has positive effects on pups after birth (Gazzano et. al. 2008, Appl An Beh Sci 110.), but nothing we could find on an in utero effect.]
After the pups are born, we listen as Jane describes the importance of low light and a quiet atmosphere, arguing that too much of either, even though the pups can’t see or hear yet, can cause permanent damage. (She doesn’t mention the research that supports this, but it makes sense, given the evolutionary background of bitches birthing in an underground den.)
Puppy Culture continues through each stage of the pup’s development, emphasizing how the right environment can interact with genetics to create a stable, inquisitive pup who learns well, is resilient after surprised or when faced with novelty, and is affectionate to both people and dogs.
Jane emphasizes that a true “socialization period” is only from 3 to 12 weeks (give or take a week, depending on the puppy). It is a specific period in neural and physiological development during which the brain is programmed to take in certain information. Taking a dog to meet other dogs when it is six months old may be “socialization,” but it has a much different effect than if it occurred during the “socialization period.” Make sense?
We viewers continue watching the puppies grow and develop, as Jane shows us how she makes the most of each state of development. The puppies get new objects and toys in the box starting at three weeks, to help them habituate to novelty. At three weeks, once their ears are functioning, Jane begins habituating them to loud, abrupt noises–a perfect time to help them learn resilience, because their fear period has not begun. The puppies startle briefly, then recover, taking surprises in their stride. (If three -week old puppies can be said to have strides.) Contrast this with the fear period, (beginning around five weeks of age in most pups), when pups are now mobile enough to get themselves into real trouble. I love that Jane advises breeders to continue to introduce new things when the pups are five weeks old, but never to push pups, and to always give them a secure place to escape to. Excellent advice. I do have a small quibble when she says that both “sides” are correct when each argues that you can can or can’t reinforce fear. I’d put it another way: You can’t reinforce fear, but you can reinforce ways to cope with it. I do like her advice to let pups figure things out on their own, unless they are truly frightened, in which case, of course, they should be rescued and soothed.
There’s a great section on preventing resource guarding. Around six weeks of age, Jane suggests that all pups should be conditioned to feel happy anticipation when someone takes away their treasure. She interviews Jean Donaldson, who wrote Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs, who describes the standard “take away and give something better” routine. I’ve used it myself with hundreds of dogs, and can attest that it can be extremely successful. But doing it at this critical stage of development means, at least theoretically, that just a few sessions can be enough to prevent resource guarding for a lifetime in an adult. (Next minor quibble: At one point it is stated that conditioning the pups to prevent RG is “100% successful.” My ears pricked up and my skeptic radar began flashing, but then later both Donaldson and Killion say that nothing in behavior is 100%. Whew. Flashing red warning light went off.)
As long as I’m on quibbles, I’ll mention my only other one: Several times Jane states “Research shows that…” without giving us any information about the study, who did it and where to find it. I suspect that many of the people who are going to take this DVD to heart are the kind that would love to see the study them selves. Second, it’s standard in science that if you’re going to summarize a study, or quote from it, you have to refer specifically to it. I found it frustrating that there was little detail about what study was being referenced.
That said, the DVD is full of good information. It has many invaluable sections, including a detailed discussion of why the pups should start learning polite behavior through the use of positive reinforcement, not force-based punishment, how to have a good puppy party, and the real value of “puppy testing”. Jane does a particularly good job here, making it clear that puppy tests, as commonly done, aren’t necessarily predictive of an adult dog’s behavior, but a good diagnostic to see what a pup might need help with during the important first twelve weeks of life.
Overall, the production values are off the charts, watching the puppies grow and development is beyond charming, and Jane includes interviews with a variety of experts. Well done. Besides the wealth of information about the development of the domestic dog, here are my favorite two parts:
1. Watching puppy Betty Pork and Beans learn to go around a barrier rather than through it. The rest of the litter figured it out within seconds, but Betty P & B couldn’t consider an alternate strategy for the longest time, and began ramming the barrier with her bull terrier ram-like head. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.
2. When Jane Killion sits with a puppy at the end of the first disc and explains why it is so important to teach pups how to tell their humans they want something. (She uses a clicker to teach a pup to sit when it wants something, rather than jumping up or barking.) I got all gooey eyed when she explained how important it is for any social animal to have a way to be heard, to have a voice. That’s why I got into the field myself, to give dogs a voice, and her words melted my heart.
Why should everyone watch this video? Especially, one might say, since there are so many homeless dogs in the world who need homes? Why highlight a DVD that focuses on breeding yet more dogs? Ah, I’m glad you asked. Here’s the reason: Because this video, as much as anything one thing I can think of, highlights how important early development is to a dog’s health, happiness and behavior as an adult, and how important it is to raise puppies in the best way possible. No matter how many adolescent and adult dogs need homes (see Love Has No Age Limit: Welcoming an Adopted Dog into Your Home), the fact is that some people will always want a puppy instead of an older dog. Puppy Culture sets the gold standard for responsible breeders, and illustrates why good, responsible breeders should be celebrated, not castigated.
Thanks, by the way, to Dawn S and Beth V for letting me take photos of their pups, and spend the morning in a bath of oxytocin. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Home Sweet Home in the Walnut Grove Tent Camp! Jim, son Zach and partner Sarah and I spent Saturday afternoon putting up the tent and bringing in the furniture. We are up and running! A few glitches, of course, but overall it is a great success. After we were done we grilled out steaks from the fire pit that Jim built, and munched on cole slaw and potato salad, made of veggies all from the CSA down the road. And brownies. Did I mention the brownies?
Maggie was afraid of the fire at first (a reasonable reaction one might argue), but soon decided that hunks of steak outweighed her concerns. Willie took to it like a duck to water, and by the end of the evening the dogs took over the tent interior as if it had been built for them. (The old rug from the living room is now in the tent, no wonder it feels so homey.) Tootsie hasn’t been up yet. The hill is too long and steep for her, so soon we’ll carry her up, let her sniff around, and then settle her onto the bed, her natural habitat. Then Jim and I will try our first overnight in the tent; it’ll be so fun to see how the dogs react. I expect they are going to love it there.
Here are the BCs on the tent “porch.”
The sheep were afraid of the tent, not surprisingly. Maggie helped me move them around it in circles so they wouldn’t avoid the good grass close by, and overgraze in other areas. Can’t wait for our first night in the tent!
Gayla says
Where did you get a copy of it, Trisha? I don’t see it for sale on her web-site.
liz says
Looking forward to the DVD, and to any tent camp stories the future may bring!
I begrudgingly use “socialization” incorrectly. Try as I might, I can’t think of a better term. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I know that the non-scientific community’s use of the term rarely refers to the “critical period of socialization” and I don’t want to add to any misconceptions. It’s probably anthropomorphic and too casual to say, but in such a social species, might it be possible that just as humans socialize throughout life in addition to having a critical period, dogs experience a similar thing? I think that the relatively new trends in the dog world like play dates, doggy day care, and dog parks have increased the (mis)use of the term, and as people strive for the fullest lives for their companions, we look for words to describe it.
Monika says
Fascinating description about that DVD, I’ll have to check it out. Have a fun time in the tent! 😉
Trisha says
Gayla: I looked for it first on Dogwise, but didn’t find it there. I went to Amazon finally and found it there. It’s expensive, but worth it.
Lacey says
What would you prefer to call it, when dogs past puppyhood learn how to get along with others better?
Martha Chiang says
Trisha,
Thank you for a lovely post about what IMO is a “must see” DVD. And I want to add that I very much appreciate your candor wrt the studies underlying the research–there are many ways scientific data is interpreted and often, if not always, there is some bias in the selection of data, studies reported as well as the interpretation. May we all come to puppies with humility and with a beginner’s mind each day that there “may” be something we can learn from each puppy and/or older dog that “the experts” somehow do not yet know.
I am sorry the DVD is expensive, as I for one cannot afford an expensive DVD right now regardless of subject matter. Patience for me.
Tina Vickrey says
This is, indeed, an amazing video. I am lucky enough to have a puppy raised on it and a breeder who shared it with me. I was able to watch, monitor and even, lucky me, participate in much of his early development. He is a dream of a dog, who consistently amazes me with his intelligence and stability. I ordered my own set for our rescue puppies. I highly recommend it to anyone, it is fascinating.
LisaW says
Suzanne Clothier also has a very interesting puppy raising protocol: The Enriched Puppy. She’s working on a book and DVD now, but you can look at some of what the protocol entails on her website and facebook page. (http://suzanneclothier.com/blog/wulf-spiders-arrive)
I knew about the early 3-12 week window of socialization, but I didn’t realize that it was a specific term for a specific time period. Neither of my current dogs had any opportunity for exploration or new stimuli or handling during those early weeks and it sure does show sometimes.
I love the tent, it’s an adult’s version of a tree house or fort. Happy tenting.
Bruce says
Hi Trish, thank you for reviewing the Puppy Culture DVD, and for sharing information about early development in puppies. Even though we have never started with a puppy, this information is fascinating (and probably explains a few dog quirks we have seen over the years).
That said, can I be the annoying language stickler today? Sorry!
You expressed your (minor) frustration at the misuse of the term “socialization” with regard to adult dogs. As you pointed out, the “socialization period” is a critical window of time in the early stages of a puppy’s development, typically 3 to 12 weeks after birth. In contrast, most definitions of the word “socialization” include learning that takes place throughout life, not just during a critical window of time.
The example you gave – “Taking a dog to meet other dogs when it is six months old” – does not take place during the socialization period, but it clearly falls within the broader definition of socialization. Might I gently suggest editing the fifth paragraph of your blog post to clarify the distinction between “socialization period” and “socialization”?
Thank you!
Trisha says
Ah Bruce, such an excellent point! Thanks for pointing out the distinction, you are correct that it’s an important one. Much appreciated!
Thanks too to LisaW for the referal to Suzanne Clothier’s upcoming book and DVD. That’ll be great fun to see too and potentially a wonderful resource.
Beth says
Why should anyone watch the video when there are adult dogs who need homes?
Because every dog was bred by someone, either on purpose or by accident. The shelter dog was a product of someone’s decision as surely as the most carefully bred puppy.
And every dog was socialized, whether well or poorly.
There is great joy in raising a thoughtfully bred, well-socialized pup and watching him discover the world.
I love the article and may need to find the DVD just to see the puppy head butting the barrier.
Trisha says
Well said Beth! Thanks.
Valery Terwilliger says
Have you posted a blog on the following or is it in one of the few books of yours that I don’t already own? Undoing the effects on a dog of missing out on key parts of the first 12 weeks of socialization.
Jane Killion says
First of all, as I said on my Facebook page, I am beyond flattered that Patricia McConnell, a woman who’s work I respect immensely, is a fan of Puppy Culture. Verklempt. Really Verklempt.
You can read more about the film and the research behind it (as well as purchase the DVD or streaming video) on our website http://www.puppyculture.com
About the annotated bibliography – I understand the concern about the lack of citations in the film. What I’ve been doing is releasing articles which go in depth into the research behind the film – if you go to the Learning Center on the Puppy Culture website, you’ll find our first four articles – Why Puppies Twitch, The Enrichment Effect, Fading Puppy Syndrome, and Puppy Fitness that Fits the Puppy – which explain the research behind the related topics in the film and also have complete citations. I really wanted the research to be accessible to non-academic folks and felt this was the best way to do that.
That having been said, it will take years to get all the articles out, so point taken that perhaps we should just put up a “dry” annotated bibliography in the interim :o).
Thanks again for the kind words – I feel like we’ve “arrived!”
Elizabeth says
I too enoyed watching Suzanne Clothier’s videos while she was raising the Wulf-Spyder puppies – it sounds quite similar. I only wish our Daisy’s breeder had had any idea of puppy socialization, or that I had realized the danger of taking a ten-week old puppy raised in a cabin in the woods by people who didn’t believe in vaccination. (Does it cause autism in puppies???). A puppy who grew into an anxious noise-phobic dog – we were able to socialize her with other dogs but she will always be shy with people and terrified of loud noises…thank heavens she has never shown a trace of aggression, or maybe that she ended up with people who read Patricia McConnell!
Trisha says
Hello to Jane! So good to hear from you. I have so many questions… how on earth did you manage to raise a litter so brilliantly, and yet have it video taped on an almost daily basis? Most importantly, how is it that your hair always looks so gorgeous? 🙂
And thank you for providing some of the citations on your website, much appreciated. I should have looked there first. I loved, by the way, hearing about “puppy twitching,” (do I remember you called it “popcorn sleep?” Loved that! I call the first play in lambs popcorn play, because, well, I guess it’s obvious…). I will enjoy reading the article. I’d love to hear the source for your comment that pregnant bitches who are treated with affection have more docile puppies.
But again, thanks for a brilliant and important piece of work. My hat is off to you.
LisaW says
Beth, I respectfully disagree with your statement, “And every dog was socialized, whether well or poorly.”
If we are using socialize as a verb, then how can a puppy or a dog that has had no deliberate introduction or exposure to outside stimuli and lives in a cage or barn or room be said to have been socialized — poorly or otherwise? If we are using socialization (noun) then it means socialize + action. Either word’s definition includes an action or process.
It may be more accurate to say many dogs are socialized either well or poorly and some dogs receive no socialization (regardless of whether we’re talking about a shelter dog or a breeder’s pup). IMHO.
Marianne Hovde says
Great review of the DVD. I will have to check it out. So many good points in your review alone, can’t wait to see it in full.
Beth says
Lisa, if we define socialization broadly as the early experiences that shape how a puppy learns to interact with its world, then even keeping a litter in a cage with mom and putting in a bowl of food once a day is socializing. Horrible socializing, but socializing nonetheless. (People=food in this case)
Unlike cats, which can successfully raised kittens with no human help, virtually all puppies in this country are raised by people. Only in laboratory conditions could one raise a pup deprived of any interaction. You’d need automated feeding equipment where the people were hidden.
Some pups are poorly socialized, some are well socialized, and the majority fall in the muddy middle.
HFR says
@Beth — Also wondering about this statement “Because every dog was bred by someone, either on purpose or by accident. The shelter dog was a product of someone’s decision as surely as the most carefully bred puppy. ” How does this apply to feral dogs and strays who breed on their own and end up in shelters? Unless you are referring to the dogs themselves as the “someone,” in which case I’m not sure they decide anything.
To be clear, I agree with Trisha that there will always be people who want a puppy that is purposely bred and there will always be people who want to breed them, so I don’t see an argument for not having great resources on how to do that in the best way possible.
I’m buying the DVD!!!!
H
Beth says
If there are feral dog colonies breeding in the continental U.S., I’d be very interested to see information on that. From all I’ve read and seen, that is not happening.
If someone has an intact dog and she gets out and gets pregnant, that is very much a series of decisions on the part of her owner.
Cats do have feral colonies but dogs need a pack to raise a litter successfully and feral dog packs roaming the city and raising pups is just not a thing in most places. I have not seen an unowned dog in about 40 years.
Nic1 says
This is a great post and write up of a DVD I can’t wait to watch. I can’t see me ever wanting to buy a puppy when there are so many adult dogs that need homes. But there will always be people in the world who will want a puppy as opposed to an adult dog so lets spread the word and make sure people have access to the best information possible so that they can make an informed decision.
We need fewer dogs in the world but MORE responsible and ethical breeders IMHO, just like Jane.
Socialisation can be described as the process whereby an animal learns how to recognise and interact with the species with which it cohabits. That process could refer to any environment under any conditions as I understand. So I do think it’s fair to include all dogs at either extremes. However, I do understand LisaW’s point in that there usually conscious effort involved in active socialisation of pet dogs by their owners. Leaving an animal in a cage all day we would usually describe as cruelty or neglect from a welfare perspective, even though it could still be argued that the animal is socialised.
Martha Poole says
Betty Pork and Beans is a big girl now and truly flattered and honored by your review. (She am also seen briefly on the DVD as a big girl using a ramp to get into a car.) https://flic.kr/p/uh6xLR
And she still occasionally has a bit of a tough time figuring things out at first but she never never lets it stop her. 🙂
https://flic.kr/p/pEyXyJ
HFR says
I’m not a researcher/scientist with a study to back this up, but I can attest that there are indeed feral colonies of dogs breeding. Hell, some of them are around me. I just finished watching a series called “Gimme Shelter” that followed a shelter in Charlotte. They regularly showed them going to an area where there were many feral dogs all reproducing regularly and how they spent their time trying to catch the puppies. They knew they could never catch the adults, but if they caught the pups they could stop the colony from growing at least. Yes, indeed, there are feral dog colonies. Granted, not as many as cats, but they do exist. But, even if I take your point that somewhere along the line someone made a decision to dump a dog to start a feral colony, that someone is pretty far removed from the result. And I’m not sure if your dog was stolen from you or the gas man left the gate open whether that should be considered a decision. Anyway, it’s probably all splitting hairs, because bottom line is it’s important to raise puppies right no matter where they come from.
My question is, if you adopt from a shelter, chances are that dog is already over 6 or 7 weeks old and usually much older, so maybe the chance to really have an impact is gone. Or even if you buy from a breeder, how many people get to instruct the breeder on how to raise a puppy from birth (altho I’m sure you’d try to find one that would)? That’s why I’m anxious to see the DVD. I want to learn about what I can do once I get the puppy, given that I myself will never breed a dog.
Trisha says
Martha: LOVE the photos of my favorite girl! How fun that you sent them!
And HFR: Great question: There is a LOT that has a big impact from 6 to 12 weeks (or 13, or 14? the puppies don’t follow the calendar). There’s also tons that can be done, as I know you know, when a dog is an adult. It’s just that things (both good and bad), appear to have a bigger impact during the Soc period.
Mireille says
I loved to read about the puppy DVD, and especially this comment; “making it clear that puppy tests, as commonly done, aren’t necessarily predictive of an adult dog’s behavior, but a good diagnostic to see what a pup might need help with during the important first twelve weeks of life.” was an eye opener.
Since my two guys are only 4, I hope it will be a long time before we might add another dog to our household. Yes, we chose pups, from a responsible breeder (actually they are friends of ours) and I lover raising puppy’s. Love communicating with them and showing them the world around them. I had a discussion once with some-one who claimed that almost all behaviour stems from what the pups learn from their mother in those first 8 weeks. Well, I have raised two pups from the same litter and they were very different in how they coped with stimuli. Shadow boldly went forward to discover the world – to discover that if you run into a river you get wet (ahum, that was a bit scary for both of us) and if you press your nose to the woodstove it hurts (ouch…) whereas Spot was scared by things such as plastic cows, dried sunflowers and other strange objects and man with headphones.
So with Shad our main focus was impuls control 😉 and with Spot dealing with new things. I can still hear the mantra form our puppy-class teacher: “make sure you follow the pups’pace”
By the way, going wildly off topic: Trish IT WORKS! You method of loose leash walking that you described a while ago – using tons of +r en teaching it as a trick, is working for my pulling Siberian! Spot was driving me slightly desperate but we finally seem to be getting there, with him walking beside me occasionally. He is starting to realise that if you walk with a loose leash you still get to smell teh deer BUT you get sausage as well… Thank you thank you thank you 😉 form both of us!
HFR says
That’s good to hear, Trisha. I kind of thought that, given all you’ve talked about in your books, but I sometimes get discouraged by all the talk about how important those first few weeks are. Of course, when I think about my personal experience, it’s obvious you can influence a dog at any time in its life.
My best friend owed me a birthday present, so I asked her to buy me this DVD (yes, we splurge on presents) as my gift. She said “Really?” and I said “Hell, yes!” So it’s on the way.
Thanks, as usual, Trish, for the great post and I covet your Tent on a Floor.
Ellen Jefferies says
I wouldn’t begin to argue with the contention that life experience (sorry, don’t know how else to put it) plays a critical role in how puppies turn out. However, my personal experience with a number of breeds and litters over the past 45 years has been that (a) the time frames are not nearly as fixed as claimed here. Puppies develop at very different rates; the magic 5 – 12 week period is not nearly so clear cut as claimed. And (b) physiological differences play a big role in how a puppy turns out. For example, response to noise has as much to do with how the animal hears as it does with early life experiences, as does it’s response to physical contact. Some dogs, and horses, and cats for that matter, have nervous systems that “feel things” much more intensely than others (I am deliberately avoiding where that intensity actually occurs). No amount of habituation, at whatever age, changes that.
The very dogmatic insistence that “this is how it works” just is not supported by the real world, in my very humble (ok, not so much so) opinion.
And while I’m disagreeing, it seems to me that scientific studies fall far short of infallibility both in terms of sample size and study design. To claim that their results are universal truths is just not very convincing, except to true believers.
Having said all that, I do need to say that I’ve found the McConnell books invaluable and have sent many perplexed puppy owners to them for advise that is much more creditable than mine!
Trisha says
Ellen: I couldn’t agree more that the time frame of the socialization period varies from puppy to puppy. I thought I made that clear in the post, but perhaps not? Jane Killion makes the point repeatedly that the time frame (3 to 12 weeks), is just a guideline, and that every puppy is different in terms of development. What is immutable is that there are different periods of development during the early weeks of a pup’s life, and that every puppy goes through them. And yes, absolutely genetics play an equally important roll in any dog’s behavior as an adult. I found myself wishing, at one point, that Jane had talked about that more, but then, reminded myself that Puppy Culture focused on doing as much as possible to give pups a good start in life. I’d love to see a DVD on canine genetics in relation to behavior, but that would be another topic altogether!
Barbara Axel says
This is all old hat. The information was published by Scott and Fuller in their book in the early 60’s and in Clarence Pfaffenberger’s book published in the early 60’s after he visited Bar Harbor, Maine where the research was being done.
My obedience partner, Anne Glaser, and I published a slide program in 1983 called “Right From the Start,” following my dachshund litter from birth to 5 months, and Anne”s newly acquired pup from 10 weeks to 5 months. Both of us had raised several litters by then, and had taught numerous KPT classes. We showed the slide program all over the northeast U.S. and in Bermuda for about a decade. Do pups learn early? You betcha! Does environment make a difference? You betcha. But each pup’s inheritance plays an equal role. And hormonal development does make a difference too.
A fascinating subject and the references are included above in this comment
Beth says
One thing I like about this is that it brings to light the very important point that operant conditioning later on can do wonderful things, but nothing really replaces what a puppy experiences from before its born to around 14 weeks or so. You can’t go back and change what a puppy learned (and the way the genes got switched) from those early days.
And this knowledge should be an important part of the decision making over whether someone chooses to get a puppy from a good breeder, an older dog from a rehoming situation where the background is thoroughly known (such as a breeder re-placement, or the way Trisha got Maggie), or a rescue. Some people have circumstances where they should nearly always start with a puppy, others can work with just about any dog, and still others need a very stable well-socialized dog who was carefully socialized entirely by someone else, because their own circumstances don’t allow them the chance to do it well.
Indeed, we got a puppy instead of a rescue (and later an adult with a known background) because we wanted the best chance possible of ending up with an adult who was good with kids, cats, strange dogs, 5k runs going by the house, strollers, joggers, and all the rest that goes along with living next door to a busy city park.
What frustrates me quite a lot is the way rescue frequently presents the question “Why get a puppy when so many adult dogs need homes” as if it is a rhetorical question where the only correct answer is “Why, never!” when in fact it should probably be one of the first and most carefully considered questions every time someone is thinking of getting a dog.
Dogs in rescue, if you look at the numbers, has very little to do with “too many dogs” and much more to do with “Wrong dog, wrong place, wrong time.” This isn’t true of cats, where the sheer number of cats well outnumbers the number of cats people want to own.
Beth says
And I’m not sure if the DVD mentions this, but on one breeder website I saw a brilliant idea. The breeder leaves ESPN on in the background for periods of time whenever she has a litter in the home, so they get lots of chances to hear male voices shouting without finding it alarming.
Due to a combination of nature and socialization, many dogs are more fearful of men. I thought this was a great way to help with that! I found personally that it’s much harder to socialize puppies to men than women because women get all gooey and bend over and coo and fuss when presented with someone else’s puppy, and while SOME men do that, many more try to be all reserved and just stand there and smile politely and maybe give puppy a quick pat.
Judi says
For those like me with financial constraints, try your local library. Often they take suggestions on books and DVDs to purchase, and usually the person who suggests a work has the first opportunity to check the book/DVD out. I’ve been able to get access to several books this way over the years. Sometimes I like the book well enough to purchase my own copy later, and sometimes I just check it out again when I want to review it.
Also, many libraries belong to interlibrary loan programs and will bring in works for you. Public libraries are a fantastic resource!
Bruce says
We have always started with adult dogs because we have never had a growup at home during the day to supervise a puppy. We have had eight dogs over the years, a mix of pound pups, rescues, hand-me-downs, strays, purebreds, and mutts.
We have never had any information about any of our dogs’ early socialization. Despite that, all of our dogs have been trainable and perfectly fine with house guests and visiting dogs (and we have taken care of a LOT of other people’s dogs over the years).
I am not advocating for everyone to get an adult dog. But a puppy is not right for everyone, either.
There are a lot of good adult dogs out there. Starting with a puppy gives you more control over the socialization period. Starting with an adult dog allows you to see how the dog turned out.
Either way can work pretty well.
Kerry M. says
Nice review. This is now on my “to buy someday” list. The tent looks like so much fun.
HFR, I went looking for the series you mentioned, Gimme Shelter, but couldn’t find it. Is this available online?
Nic1 says
Wrong dog, wrong place, wrong time.’ Saddened to read that this is thought to be the main reason why millions of dogs are relinquished each year. Has society devolved to support this theory that dogs are almost disposable and to be returned or relinquished if they don’t ‘fit’? Who decides what level of fitness is unacceptable? Well, anyone I guess and I would imagine that reasons vary enormously depending on individual circumstances and their expectations of dog ownership.
My own theory FWIW is that a heck of a lot of dogs get relinquished due to behavioural problems related to SA – house soiling, destructive behaviour, barking and howling etc. A lot of dogs are not genetically prepared to be left alone all day, despite our modern lifestyle and most dogs would benefit to be desensitised and classically conditioned as puppies to help them cope when they are adult dogs. Indeed, it would be useful if breed standards would ensure dogs are selected for breeding who can settle well when left alone, as some service dog breeders do. (Guide Dogs UK). Is teaching dogs to settle and enjoy being alone mentioned in the DVD at all?
Again, this justo emphasises to me how important socialising puppies well is and how important it is to set dogs up for success both genetically and socially. SA is thought to be a bit of a silent epidemic with clear welfare issues. It’s almost like we are creating a vicious circle for dogs if we don’t address this properly from both sides IMHO.
As Bruce said, there are advantages and disadvantages of both adult and puppy dogs. Everyone’s situation is different.
It’s a bit like that graph with the effort vs fun of animal ownership. Guess which is the most fun and the least effort? Your friend’s puppy! 🙂
Guess which is the most difficult? Human babies!
Dragons look like a lot of work though too. 😉
http://www.collegehumor.com/post/6914070/the-official-fun-vs-effort-graph-of-pets
HFR says
@Kerry M.: It was a series on Nat Geo (I think it’s called Give Me Shelter, actually). Really good show, but I have a feeling it won’t be back since they moved it to the afternoons after only being on twice in primetime. It seemed like a really good shelter and the show took pains to present everything just right. Too bad it probably won’t be renewed.
Beth says
Nic1, I’ve done a fair amount of searching about statistics. Many sites conflate dogs and cats, so it’s hard to get good numbers. But as best I can tell:
There are about 70-80 million per dogs in the U.S. in any year.
About 3.9 million dogs go through the shelter system each year.
About 1.2 million are euthanized.
That means about 95% of pet dogs do not go through the shelter system in any year.
About 1 to 2% of the total number of dogs on the U.S. is euthanized. Other studies show about half of those are bully breeds and their mixes.
Only about 25% of shelter dogs are purebred. We can likely assume that most of the rest were accidents.
Some of those numbers include people relinquishing dogs due to a change in circumstance: death, move, extreme loss of income.
Can we do better? Sure, but we are doing pretty darn good. There is just not a huge overproduction of puppies by good breeders, and even most whoopsie litters end up not being sent to shelters.
We will never reach 0% euthanasia. To me, the 1 to 2% rate we have now is a huge SUCCESS story. I hate to see it turned into a story of failure, but alas that is what has happened somehow.
Beth says
By the way, there is a small movement afoot, which I hope grows, to try to help people surrendering dogs find ways to keep them. Short term donations for vet care, training, fostering for dogs when owners need to move on short notice and can’t find pet-friendly housing.
Surrendering a dog is often an agonizing decision and not always a symptom of a throwaway mentality.
LisaW says
Beth, how are they defining “shelter system”? Does that include the thousands of small to large rescue operations? One reason that 25% of shelter dogs are “purebred” is there are lots of breed-specific rescue groups taking dogs before they go into shelters or pulling them out when they do end up in a shelter. I’m not sure you can assume a “mixed breed” is an accident. I’m also not sure you can assume “whoopsie” pups don’t end up in a shelter or rescue. It would be good to see more inclusive data or how these terms are defined.
I agree with you that it is a very good thing that there is a movement gaining ground to help people keep their pets. It is usually an income issue or lack of accessible vet care in communities or breed discrimination in housing that forces many folks to relinquish a dog or cat. Here’s one organization in Brooklyn that is doing great work: http://beyondbreed.com/
Beth says
Lisa, I am using other groups’ definitions of those terms. Obviously I don’t have the resources to personally contact all the various rescue organizations out there and find out their numbers. Yes there are people intentionally breeding cross-breds, but many of the “mutts” out there in shelters are probably just accidents.
It’s hard to get a good handle on the numbers, agreed. Breed-specific rescues pulling dogs out of shelters would presumably still have those dogs counted in the numbers because I believe shelters count all intakes, even strays who are reunited with owners. So I get your point that some dogs are probably missed, but others are counted more than once as they don’t succeed in their new homes and end up back in another shelter somewhere else.
My main point is that contrary to while many people believe that millions and millions of unwanted adoptable dogs are dying every year because people are choosing puppies instead, the numbers don’t back that up. That used to be the case decades ago. The push to spay and neuter and the great decrease in the number of unwanted accidental puppies over decades is a giant success story. I think there is a fear that if it’s told as the success it is, people will stop adopting or something.
Here is some good reading.
http://www.shelteroverpopulation.org/SOS_Chapter-1.pdf
We will always need some sort of shelter systems because there will always be people who need to relinquish pets. Socializing puppies is a good way to reduce the number of pets that are relinquished for behavioral reasons, and also helps make those dogs more adoptable if they are relinquished. How many homes are there for, say, a fearful, mouthy dog who needs an experienced owner AND needs to be the only animal in a home?
I was just reading an article in Parade this Sunday about a guy who trains dogs for acting roles. He uses shelter dogs, which is awesome. Two of the dogs he has now are Corgis playing the Queen’s dogs on Broadway. What I found frustrating about the article was this: the article stated that the dogs were unlikely to be adopted because they were almost 9 and almost 10 when they ended up in the shelter, and people want young dogs.
Except I know for a fact, since Corgis are my breed of choice, that there are waiting lists at many shelters for Corgis. Any Corgis, any age, any sex. In fact, quite a few people don’t WANT a puppy and are looking specifically for an adult, and adult Corgis can thankfully be hard to come by. Many breeders keep lists of people looking for older dogs who are returned or show prospects who don’t work out. Moreover, breed rescue is active in just about any state and will pull them out if they are in a high-kill shelter. So it was a heart-warming story, but I’m not sure what was gained by implying that if it weren’t for this particular rescue the dogs were probably doomed. They likely were not. More likely the rescue wanted them to stay together (understandable) and heard this guy was looking for adult Corgis to play on Broadway and thought it was an awesome chance for the dogs.
And btw, nearly all the small private rescues in our area actually pull adoptable dogs out of other shelters in other states and literally van them up here for adoption, since we don’t have nearly enough dogs in our county shelter to meet demand. There is a whole network out there. Transporters, people to actually pull the dogs, foster homes, people willing to take dogs who need a little work. Some of them take local dogs but most of their dogs are pulled from bigger shelters and their numbers would be captured out of those shelters. Other things, like breeders taking back a pup who didn’t work out and rehoming it, are perhaps not accurately described as rescue.
Nic1 says
LisaW, I think this may be the source for Beth’s statistics.
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html?referrer=https://www.google.co.uk/
It does mention that it’s estimated that 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred but doesn’t detail any methodology on the data collection.
Percentages can be a bit misleading sometimes so I like to look at the absolute numbers when it comes to euthanasia. 1.2 million dogs euthanised is still too many, even if 0% euthanasia is an unrealistic standard and pragmatism is the sane choice. Indeed, it’s estimated that a healthy dog or a cat is euthanised every 12 or 13 seconds in the US.
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/?referrer=https://www.google.co.uk/
Despite the great work being done, The Humane Society does acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to do and that it is estimated that only around 30% of dogs in homes come from shelters.
But then again, it depends where you read stuff on the internet!
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), about 60% of dogs entering shelters are euthanized (ASPCA 2011).
http://blog.smartanimaltraining.com/2014/08/11/shelter-dogs-studies-highlight-why-some-are-adopted-others-arent/
A link to the 2014 Annual report for the UK’s biggest dog charity.
https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/about-us/audited-accounts-annual-reviews/annual-report/dogs%20trust%20digitally%20signed%20annual%20report1.pdf
I haven’t read it all yet, but page 9 has a breakdown of the statistics in absolute numbers of the fate of the dogs taken in during 2014. On page 10 they breakdown mostly the ‘types’ of dogs, not breeds, in their care. They only specifically refer to Greyhounds, Lurchers and Jack Russells as breeds. This may reflect that most of their intake were mostly mixed or cross breeds or that they simply prefer not to specify breeds if they have no through history.
I agree with you in that one can not assume that ‘whoopsie’ pups don’t end up in rescue. Maybe not always as puppies, but highly probable as adolescents or adults. On page 8 of the Dog’s Trust report, many pups bought on a whim, often end up in their care six months later. It is mostly a reference to people who purchase puppy farmed dogs (online). But you can see how the same mentality can apply to someone who isn’t a responsible or knowledgeable person/dog breeder and are super keen to get rid of a whoopsie litter. They are probably not going to be fussy about who takes the animals and may not even be aware what effective socialisation of a dog actually entails. Interestingly, one of the main reasons dogs are relinquised to the Dog’s Trust is that the owners claim that’ the dog won’t do what I say’. Or, ‘behaviour problems’ due to lack of training.
I love the work Beyond Breed are doing, thanks for the link. It’s amazing to see how the awareness for compassion for animals is growing. Compassion fatigue and burnout in people who volunteer and work with unwanted and neglected animals is a very real issue and this needs more awareness I think.
Beth says
Nic1, sadly some of the biggest offenders of giving people misleading information in the attempt to place dogs are certain private “rescues.” I don’t mean your local shelter.
I have personally known several people who paid $300 or so to “rescue” a dog only to find the dog had heartworm or worse and required ongoing medical treatment. The “rescues” in question supposedly had tested all the dogs and held them for quarantine.
I was just walking through an adoption event a few weeks ago where some private rescue had, among other dogs, a Rottweiler pup (or at least they said he was a Rottie; he looked like a mix to me). He was maybe 10 weeks old and cute and cuddly in the way of most puppies. They quipped to anyone who would listen “Oh, and they say they are so mean but he’s just a little lovebug!”. The thing is, anyone placing a protection breed puppy should be explaining in detail the rewards and risks of owning the dog that the puppy will likely mature into, not trying to convince people that the biggest factor is how cute and cuddly he is.
Go into PetFinder and type in “Corgi” in the search and you will get dozens and dozens of dogs labelled “Corgi-mix”, 99.5% of whom look like they have not one speck of Corgi in them. Since Corgis are thankfully not very common and most of them come from good private breeders who sell on spay/neuter contracts, there simply are not very many intact Corgis running around out there to be producing mixes with anything. But if calling it a Corgi increases its risk of adoption, than it will be called a Corgi.
I’ve had Greyhound rescue tell me greyhounds are excellent with cats. Really. We stopped to visit some greyhounds at a rescue event and commented that they are lovely but we have a cat and wouldn’t take the risk and she said “Oh no, they are usually good with cats.” I’ve heard too many stories of people coming home to find kitty dead after greyhound got over-excited playing tag (after living peacefully with the cat for years) to ever take a chance on that.
We had a pit bull rescue tell me how friendly all her dogs were right before the female she had at the event tried to attack Maddie (luckily the dog was leashed).
We met a guy with a purebred high-energy, high-drive English Pointer that he got from an out-of-state rescue who labeled it as a lab/hound mix. One would expect a little big more laid back dog from that mixing. Luckily he was able to adapt his life around the dog he ended up getting rather than the one he set out to rescue, but not many homes have the time needed to keep a Pointer happy and in sufficient exercise. Labelling the dog as something else, either out of lack of knowledge or as an attempt to place an otherwise hard-to-place dog, is not helping anyone and increases the chance the dog will end up being surrendered at a later date.
So yes, people not being knowledgable (both buyers and sellers) contribute to the number of dogs in shelters when people get overwhelmed with the reality of the dog they have, but sadly it is the rescue industry itself that is doing a lot of the misinforming. There is a fair amount of money floating around with private people calling themselves rescues.
The other big offender is of course pet stores and puppy mills who have gotten clever. People know to avoid puppy mills so they mask the origin of their dogs. They will place a whole litter in a private home for viewing, or pet stores will claim the puppy was from a small home-based breeder who couldn’t place all the pups.
My final thought on the issue is that fully half of the euthanized dogs are pit-type dogs. There is serious, serious overproduction in that area, but sadly the people over-producing are not likely to be easily reached by information campaigns trying to get them to stop. I’d say about 75% of the dogs in our county shelter are pit-mixes. Most are labeled as unable to live with another animal. One of them has been there for about 3 years. So how many homes are there for people who are experienced enough to handle a powerful, dog-intolerant pet and also don’t have any other pets? When I dropped a found Pomeranian at the shelter, they said if his owners didn’t show (they did) he’d be gone within a day. I know more than one person who waited a year or more for a small dog from the local shelter and never found one and ended up buying a puppy. The numbers euthanized are troubling but there aren’t easy answers because it is not so much a problem of “too many dogs” but “too many of a certain type of dog that not many people want.” The easier problems have been solved and what is left is tougher to deal with.
Nic1 says
http://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/why-i-hate-socialisation/
Interesting reflection on socialisation from David Ryan, APBC. I think he is correct about epigenetics being such an important consideration in overall temperament, irrespective of socialisation. It actually begins in the womb…