What is the “fear period” for dogs? “Fear period” means that dogs will experience some special periods in their early growth stages, and if the correct countermeasures are not taken, it will have a negative psychological impact on the dog, resulting in the dog’s adult “people, things, objects, and sounds” that should not have a special reaction. And sound” and so on appear incessant barking or fear, run away and other excessive reaction. The fear period in dogs generally lasts from about 8 weeks of age to about one and a half years of age, with four occurrences during this process. The first fear period for puppies starts when the dog is about 8 weeks old and lasts for about 1-2 weeks. 8 weeks old puppies should stay with their mother and leaving her care and protection can lead to stress and great insecurity. Therefore, if you want to take a puppy home, wait until after 10 weeks of age. If you choose to bring home a dog younger than 9 weeks, then you will need to keep the owner on hand and provide enough companionship to make him feel secure. The second fear period for puppies begins around 4 1/2 months and also lasts 1-2 weeks. During this time, you should avoid taking your dog into stimulating, noisy public environments, or participating in any activities that may cause fear in your dog, and pay special attention to not having more contact with other adult dogs. Do grooming projects carefully to prevent encountering groomers who ignore the dog’s reactions. For example, if the dog’s head is soaked during the bathing process, making him uncomfortable, and the owner does not respond in a timely manner, the dog will resent the bath or even show aggressive behavior during the bath as an adult. The puppy’s third fear period begins at about 9 months of age and lasts about 1 week. It is also important to avoid stimulating environments or surgery such as ligation. The fourth fear period for puppies starts at about 13-14 months along with the dog’s puberty, which also lasts about 1 week.
Dog socialization training When it comes to the puppy’s fear period, we cannot help but mention the dog’s socialization training. Good socialization not only helps the dog to pass the fear period peacefully, but also enables the dog to grow up healthy and strong. How important is dog socialization training? If you have been to a stray animal shelter or other institution, you may easily understand this problem. Many stray dogs and cats are abandoned by their owners due to the lack of good socialization training, which leads to bad behavior. Puppy fear is a stage that dogs will inevitably go through as they grow up, and all we have to do is take our dogs away from the stimulating environment and make sure we don’t overreact emotionally, and just wait calmly for our dogs to pass the fear period. A special reminder that in order to avoid the permanent psychological impact of the fear period on your dog, you need to pay more attention to your dog’s emotional reactions during these special periods and not to make too many demands on your dog to avoid too much stress.
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