The Imprint - Socializing Your Puppy

A Snitker Goldens Specialized Imprinting and Puppy Enrichment Program
What if puppies who were socialized could go from a failing grade of 9% to a passing one of 90%? 

That's exactly what Clarence Pfaffenberger, trainer and educator with Guide Dogs of the Blind, describes. In 1958 and 1959, socialization so radically changed their approach that not only did 9 out of every 10 dogs graduate to become guide dogs, but Guide Dogs of the Blind had made their standards more rigorous than previous years. (6)
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 The Socialization Period
Starting in 1945, J. P. Scott and John Fuller started a 20 year study and were among the pioneers of research that changed our understanding of puppy development forever. We now know that the first four months are the most critical in a puppy's life and more specifically, the 7-12 week period. "The younger the animal the greater the effect." (118)

The socialization period, approx. 7-12 weeks of age, they discovered, is a small window of time within an already small window time which is 0-16 weeks of age. A puppy learns and develops so rapidly, that if one missed the opportunity, you could never make up to your dog what had been lost and to Pfaffenberger, it was like letting gold slip through your fingers. (40)

​Drs Scott and Fuller also discovered something else - these principles could be applied across the board with any dog breed and thus, could be replicated with consistency! (Scott & Fuller)

"...starting a puppy in positive training at a very early age is the best way to mold him into the kind of dog that you want him to be." (Pfaffenberger 40)

What Makes Us Different?

Socialization is more than just randomly adding toys to a playpen, introducing your puppy to everyone in the neighborhood, or playing a sound CD. Experiences are the catalyst for learning and how behavior modifies and changes. Learning is what allows our dogs to adjust and respond to the environment around them. (Bond)

However, too much is just as dangerous as too little; the risk being unskilled handling and not understanding of each puppy's threshold. Sensitivity is also at its peak, so negative or traumatic experiences can be psychologically damaging and permanent. (Scott & Fuller)

​A good handler knows how these experiences impact your puppy, why they are critical during one week instead of another, and how to adjust experiences to fit each individual puppy based on their own rate of development. We don't believe learning ends for the Golden or the handler, so we continue to study how socialization impacts our own puppies and follow the latest studies and information available, all while integrating this acquired learning with the unique temperament and genetics of our own breeding Golden Retrievers. ​

​​You cannot have an excellent imprinting program without actually putting in the effort. If a puppy is not learning from you - they are learning from something or someone else and what they are learning will either help or hinder your ability to train effectively. No matter how exceptional the parents are or how great the genetics, your puppy will never reach their potential unless you give them the opportunity to do so! (Pfaffenberger) ​​

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REFERENCES

• Pfaffenberger, C. (1963) The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior. Wenatchee, Washington: Dogwise Pulblishing.
• Scott, J. P. and Fuller, J. L. (1965) Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press. 
• Bond, Christina. (2008). Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior Vol. 2, No. 1. Retrieved from http://www.associationofanimalbehaviorprofessionals.com/vol2no1bond.pdf

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