5 ways to socialise your puppy before they’re fully vaccinated

You’ve brought your sweet new puppy home. And now you’ve got to socialise them to teach them the world isn’t scary. Socialising your puppy can feel like there’s a ticking clock. You’ve only got a few short weeks when they’re in their socialisation period and less likely to think new things aren’t scary. But for most of that time your puppy won’t be fully vaccinated and so they can’t walk on the ground in public. You want to do the best for your puppy, but it’s really stressful and confusing to know what’s best when you feel like you’ve got to choose between risking your puppy getting ill or developing serious behaviour problems.

The scary reality is that it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of your puppy catching a disease while providing the appropriate socialisation. Even once they’re fully vaccinated they’ll be a small risk they can get sick because vaccines aren’t 100% reliable. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t socialise them. You can introduce your puppy to the world and everything it contains while minimising those risks.

Carry your puppy

The world is full of things to see, hear and smell: traffic, other dogs, people (adults and children), bikes, livestock and wildlife etc. Your puppy should experience all these things while they’re still young so they grow up to be a confident adult dog. And luckily they can without walking on the ground. You just need to carry them.

But that’s easier said than done. Unless you’ve got a small or toy breed puppy, your puppy’s going to get surprisingly heavy, surprisingly quickly. Which makes carrying them in your arms pretty difficult. Puppies also get very keen to explore the world themselves, so often get very wriggly and can try to jump out of your arms. If you’re struggling, putting your puppy in a bag, a pram or a cart will help you carry them safely.

When you do take your puppy out, it’s important to keep those socialisation trips short (10-15 minutes max) so they don’t get overwhelmed and scared. And watch your puppy’s body language. If they seem worried about anything, comfort them and take them away from the situation so they know you’ll always keep them safe.

Visit friends and family

Letting your puppy walk on the ground is risky because there’s always a chance an ill dog walked there recently. But if you can guarantee that that’s not happened then it’s pretty safe to let your puppy walk, sniff and explore. So you can visit family, friends and neighbours houses and gardens as long as they don’t have any unvaccinated dogs and haven’t had any unvaccinated dogs visiting recently.

This gives your puppy the chance to experience another environment with all the new sights, sounds and smells and to meet new people. Because you can let your puppy walk on the ground, they can move freely to approach things they’re curious about and move away from things that scare them. Which will help your puppy build their confidence better than when they’re restricted by being carried. So ask around to see who you and your new puppy can visit. You’ll get lots of yeses - people love tiny puppies. If you know anyone with relatively calm, polite children then try to visit them. But it’s best to avoid over-excitable children who might accidentally scare your puppy.

Meet vaccinated dogs

As long as a dog is up to date with all their vaccinations, the risk your puppy will catch something from them is very small. It is important for puppies to meet other dogs to learn social skills and arranging playdates with vaccinated dogs is a great way to do this. But don’t just choose any dog. They need to be a calm, well socialised adult dog. Your puppy’s only going to learn good social skills from a dog with good social skills. And other puppies and teenages dogs don’t have great social skills. They’re really bad at reading dog body language so they’re not going to know when your puppy wants to play or needs space. So your puppy might learn other dogs are scary - which definitely isn’t good socialisation.

When you introduce your puppy to any dog, start on-lead. This will allow both dogs to sniff each other to say hello but you’ll be able to easily separate them if one dog becomes too boisterous. You’re looking for calm play and interactions, not both dogs doing crazy zoomies. It’s important to watch both dogs’ body language to make sure they’re both having fun. If either dog seems worried or is trying to avoid the other, then it’s time to move them away from each other so they can have a break. If your puppy is annoying the older dog, find a way to separate the dogs. It’s not fair to expect the older dog to tell your puppy off - it’s your job to teach your puppy how to behave, not theirs. It’s also a good idea to practise calling your puppy away from the older dog. Being able to stop playing and come to you is an essential skill for your puppy to learn.

Have visitors in your home

Throughout your life you’re likely to have other people, and possibly other dogs, in your home. Even if you’re not a sociable person and prefer not to have visitors, you might need a plumber or an electrician one day. It can be pretty scary for puppies and older dogs to suddenly have strange people or dogs inside their home. So it’s a good idea to get your puppy used to the idea while they’re young. You can ask the same people, children and dogs who you’ve visited in their homes, or find new people.

Even just having someone ring your doorbell, say ‘hi’ and not come into your home is great socialisation. Dogs often find visitors at the door super exciting, so it’s worth teaching your puppy now that people at the door are normal and not that fun. An easy way to do that is to have a food delivery or a takeaway. You know roughly when they’ll come so it’s easy to prepare and they’ll come and go in a few minutes. Having a puppy is exhausting and stressful and sometimes you don’t have the time or energy to cook or go shopping. So you’ve got the excuse to make your life slightly easier, have a tasty takeaway to reward you for training your puppy and you can justify it as excellent socialisation…

Play recorded sounds

The world is noisy. Traffic, children, other dogs, fireworks, thunder all make a lot of noise. Even your home is full of sounds: running water, hoovering, doorbells, washing machines etc. And all these new sounds can be scary for your puppy. Luckily you can introduce your puppy to all these noises without having to leave your home. Just play them recordings of these noises, starting very quietly and slowly increasing the volume as long as your puppy doesn’t look worried.

By exposing your puppy to these sounds at home without any of the associated sights and smells your puppy will be less likely to get overwhelmed and become worried by them. And you can control exactly how loud the sounds are. So your puppy can get used to them when they’re quiet and much less scary. Your puppy can also learn about the world from watching videos. So yes, you can sit and watch TV with your puppy and call that socialisation too.

Need more support with your puppy’s training?

You can get personalised support to socialise your puppy and to teach them all the skills they’ll need for your life together with the Your Young Adventurer 1-2-1 puppy training programme.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter