Once you've brought your new puppy home, the socialization process must continue. The first few weeks in your home actually provide some of the most important moments in the socialization process. There is, however, one stage in the puppy's life that puts a bit of a wrench in this plan. Some refer to it as a puppy's fear stage, which occurs around the ages of eight and ten weeks. Though it would be easy enough to infer the point, this stage actually has little to do with the change in the puppy's surroundings. During this time, once rambunctious and self-confident puppies suddenly seem anxious, apprehensive or fearful of situations we'd expect them to do well with. Anything from loud noises to new places might elicit this new response. The best thing to do is to gradually continue to increase your puppy's socialization, but keep the situations controlled. Introduce him to one child as opposed to a whole group of them, a well-behaved dog as opposed to a rowdy one. Puppies usually mature through this by twelve weeks of age.

More about early socialization for your dog.
Back to previous section on dog socialization.