The true meaning of socialisation is sorely misunderstood. I’d prefer to think about it as the ‘brain wiring period’. This is a period of time when puppy’s brain is wiring at the fastest rate it ever will. What I mean by ‘wiring’ is ‘learning’. They are learning all about the world around them and they are learning every second of every minute of the day that they are awake. We want them to learn that the world is a safe place where they don’t need to worry about anything. Socialisation is about careful, controlled exposure to the world at a distance where they can calmly observe and receive DELICIOUS treats while they do so. This type of exposure builds a resilience to novelty so when they are exposed to something new in the future, their default response is “well, new things have always meant good things in the past so it’s probably nothing to be worried about”. It is far more about exposing them to different sights, sounds, situations, and environments than it is about socialising them with lots and lots of random dogs and people. Socialisation isn’t something that can be ticked off the list by attending one group puppy class a week for 6-8 weeks, it is so much more than that and requires a huge amount of input from you outside of any training sessions. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of group training classes after you’ve had your 1-1s – this gives you a GREAT opportunity to practise your skills in a more distracting environment and can really take your foundational training to another level entirely.