Critical
Periods In A Puppy's Development
"What the puppy
learns now will shape it into the kind of dog it will be for
evermore"
Acquiring a puppy at
the right age and providing it with the proper atmosphere during the
critical periods of its life (when character and personality are being
formed) is the only absolute way that the man/dog relationship,
character traits, and trainability can be pre-determined and
pre-ordained.
Many people who
acquire dogs at the age of six months, eight months, a year or even
two years, are perplexed to find that their dogs just can't seem to
demonstrate much of an emotional bond with their owner. Sometimes,
they are shy which usually results in a characteristic known as fear
biting, or perhaps the reverse is true; over-aggressiveness and
bullish tendencies.
Scientific studies
have shown that there are FIVE critical periods in a puppy's life.
That is five phases of mental development during which adverse
conditions could cripple a dog emotionally for life. Conversely,
positive conditions during these five phases, will produce dogs of the
highest caliber mentally and socially. So important were these
scientific findings that the Guide Dog Foundation instituted these
"positive conditions" for puppies being raised to become
Guide Dogs for the blind. These dogs received the most rigorous and
exacting training of any dogs and therefore must be perfectly
adjusted.
Dr J Paul Scott.
Director of The Animal Behavior Laboratory directed a project to
determine just when these critical periods is shown in one particular
test - extreme though it may have been.
A puppy, twenty-one
days old was removed from the litter and completely isolated. Although
it was carefully fed and watered, its caretaker was careful not to
play with or even speak to it. The only toys the experimental puppy
had were a water bucket and food dish. By sixteen weeks of age the
puppy had not had any contact with other dogs (except for the first 21
days of his life) and no human contact except for being fed and
watered by a caretaker who barely acknowledged the pup's existence.
At four months of age,
the experimental puppy was once again placed with its litter mates. It
did not recognize them, either as litter mates or dogs. The puppy's
isolation during the critical periods of its life, its complete
removal from the companionship of other dogs and humans had developed
as character to such an extent that it would never adjust to the
society of either. The puppy had passed the age of being capable of
adjusting socially.
Zero
to 21 days: As a result of many years of scientific research
it has been determined that the first critical period covers the
entire first two weeks of the puppy's life. During this period the
puppy's mental capacity is nearly zero, and the puppy reacts only to
its needs of warmth, food, sleep and its mother.
Tests were conducted
to determine whether a puppy was capable of learning anything at all
during the first critical period, and it was determined that it was
not. It was, however, determined that something nearly miraculous
occurs on the 21st day, and that it occurs in all dogs, regardless of
breed.
21st Day:
On the 21st day. ALL of the puppy's senses begin to function. The
senses were present in the puppy during the first critical period, but
were dormant. The 21st day of the puppy's life is like an automatic
switch that turns on. It also turns on the second and possibly the
most important critical period in the puppy's life.
21st
to 28th Day: During this period the puppy needs its mother
more than any other time. The brain and nervous system begin to
develop. Awareness begins to take place, and, in this mental stage, a
new puppy finds the world that surrounds it rather frightening. Things
that happen can be frightening experiences. A puppy removed from its
mother during this second critical period will never attain the mental
and emotional growth that it COULD and WOULD have, if it had been left
alone. The social stress of being alive - and the awareness of it -
has its greatest impact during this second critical period in the new
puppy's life; that is, between the 3rd and 4th weeks.
It may seem peculiar
to some that no other times in a dog's life presents the same
proneness to such emotional upsets and that such upsets could have
such a traumatic and permanent effect on the puppy's social attitudes.
It is during this second critical period in the new puppy's life that
the characteristic of nervousness can generate shyness and other
negative qualities in a puppy. Once adverse conditions have developed
negative qualities in this second critical period, no amount of
re-conditioning or training, later in life will alter or significantly
modify the resultant negative characteristics.
5th
to 7th Weeks: This must be considered as the third period in
the puppy's life. The puppy will venture away from home, not very far,
and do a little exploring. At the beginning of the 6th week, awareness
of society will dawn. That is, the society of man and the society of
the dog. The puppy's nervous system and trainability are developing
and by the end of this critical period, will have developed to
capacity.
During this third
critical period, your puppy will learn to respond to voices and will
begin to recognize people. It is during this period that a 'social
pecking order" will be established among the puppies in the
litter. Some of the puppies will learn to fight for food, they will be
the bullies. The litter mates that are cowed by the aggressive
tendencies of the others will become shy.
The scientific tests
at Hamilton station have shown that it is an advantage for a puppy to
remain with the litter long enough to acquire a little competitive
spirit. but that too much is detrimental to the puppy's emotional
growth. Puppies that remain with litter mates after the seventh week
will develop bullish or cowed tendencies which will remain with them
into adulthood.
The third critical
period ends during the 7th week and the puppy is now considered
emotionally developed and ready to learn. The training ability system
within the dog is ripe and is operating to capacity. What it learns
during the fourth critical period will be retained and become part of
the personality and characteristic of the overall dog. If the puppy is
left with the mother, its emotional development will be crippled. It
will remain dependent upon her, but in her will find very little
security since she will begin to totally ignore the pup.
If the puppy remains
with the litter beyond this point, and without adequate human contact,
its social adjustment will be learned from litter mates. The optimum
time for taking a puppy into a new household is at the end of the
seventh week and the beginning of the puppy's fourth critical period.
8th
to 12th Week: This fourth critical period extends to the 12th
week of the puppy's life. Since the puppy's trainability, or learning
facilities, are operating at full capacity now, it is better that he
do his learning from his new owner. And learn he will. This period
marks a time when the puppy will learn at a fast and furious pace.
Although the "come, sit, stay and no" commands are
invaluable if taught during the fourth period, perhaps the most
important single response during this period is learning to fetch. At
first glance this may sound unnecessary and unimportant.
It should be pointed
out however that puppies who cannot learn to fetch are dropped from
the Guide Dogs Program. Moreover, adult dogs bring trained as Drug
Detector Dogs and Bomb Detector Dogs must first learn to fetch. A dog
that cannot learn to fetch or refuses to learn will not become a
detector dog or guide dog. The significance of fetching cannot be over
emphasized. How such a game expands a puppy's mind and what such
willingness to fetch reveals about a puppy would require an article in
itself. Learning to fetch in the 4th critical period can spell success
or failure in your dog's desire and ability to work for you.
13th
to 16th Week: The fifth and final critical period is from the
13th to 16th week of the puppy's life. A highly significant thing will
happen during this period and the owner should be prepared for it and
ready to handle it smoothly and with confidence. The puppy will make
it's first attempt to establish itself as the dominant being in the
"pack" (family). It is now that the puppy will learn whether
it can physically turn on its owner and get away with it.
It would be well to
point out here that if the puppy is allowed to get away with it, the
confidence and the respect of the owner that developed during the
fourth critical period will be lost. The tolerance level towards the
owner will narrow.
The puppy learns by
rebelling that it get things its way. It is during this 5th critical
period that absolute authority will be challenged. It is here that the
challenge must be met, head on, by the dog's owner. Instructing people
as to the best method of dealing with the problem is difficult because
no two dogs are exactly alike. Disciplinary measures for one dog are
not necessarily suitable for another.
In dog training
schools the question is often asked: "What shall I do it my dog
bites me?" The answer usually goes something like this:
"What would you do if your child hit you?" Suffice to say
that the new puppy will challenge your authority during the fifth
critical period and try to establish itself as the dominant being. It
should be shown swiftly and firmly that, although you love it
implicitly, by all that's holy, YOU are the dominant being and there
is only room at the top for one!
Formal obedience
training should begin during this fifth critical period, if the full
potential of the puppy's intelligence and companion ability is to be
realized.
Being aware of the
five critical periods and providing the correct environment during
these periods, as well as instituting proper learning techniques, will
allow a puppy to develop emotionally and socially to full potential.
Each time you marvel at a guide dog leading its blind master through
busy traffic, you can be assured that the five critical periods were
the criterion for the successful performance of the dog.
When you bring your
puppy home, the critical periods which will follow will be critical
periods in your life as well. The way you handle those periods will
determine what kind of dog you will have in the years to come. It may,
however, determine what kind of dog someone else will have. If the
puppy you acquired doesn't grow up to be what you wanted it to be, if
it has strange quirks in its behavior which embarrass or distress you,
the dog may end up being passed from home to home. Chances are, no one
else will be satisfied with those quirks either.
Who can enjoy the dog
who rolls over on his back and piddles at the approach of a stranger?
Who can be satisfied with the dog who wants to bite anything that
moves? And perhaps, most important of all, who can be satisfied with
the dog that refuses to give of himself, his devotion and his loyalty
and his love?
The puppy you acquire
can grow up to be all the things you want and desire it to be, if you
acknowledge and adhere to the critical periods in its life. These are
the periods which shape and mould it's character and personality. The
puppy is in your hands. What it is to become, it will become during
these critical periods.
(Taken from: Dog
Fancy)
