Hearing dog Koogle stands or quietly lies down while his nails are trimmed. He lets me brush his teeth and clean his ears without complaint. At the vet, he calmly wags his tail while being examined or getting vaccinated.
Calm behavior in most circumstances is the hallmark of a fully trained service dog. While it is true that Koogle, like many other service dogs, was specially bred for calm temperament, breeding alone does not guarantee acing a trip to the vet.
Dogs from reputable programs are properly socialized from a very young age until they are about eighteen months old and ready for professional training. Trainers who advertise programs designed to turn pet dogs into service dogs are ignoring the fact that the window for canine socialization closes at about 16 weeks of age. Unless the breeder, owner and trainer have been actively working towards the goal of creating a service dog, fears, patterns of behavior, and aggression will already be established and the pet will likely not be able to become a service dog that can calmly exist in any given circumstance.
What is Socialization?
According to Canine Companions, socialization is the process of a puppy developing relationships with other living beings, both people and animals, and becoming acclimated to sounds, sights, smells and movements that occur in daily life.
The first sixteen weeks of a puppy’s life profoundly influence its personality and how it will react to people, animals, and its environment, according to Keith Vaquera-Little at Sirius Strides Dog Training and Grooming. The American Kennel Club states the socialization period is limited to the first three months of the dog’s life.
Either way, proper socialization can only take place when a puppy is young. After six months the opportunity to shape a dog’s temperament has passed. Dogs that have not been exposed to a variety of situations and sensations are more likely to be fearful, reactive, or aggressive.
How Are Service Dogs Socialized
Many service dog organizations have their own breeding programs. Their puppies are given enrichment activities to build up their confidence. In this Canine Companions video, you can see puppies that have been given a toy bridge with tunnels to encourage them to explore.
Most service dog providers with breeding programs send their dogs to puppy raisers after weening. Puppy raisers teach the dogs basic obedience, but their primary role is to ensure good socialization. Puppy raising takes place from around eight weeks to sixteen to eighteen months of age.
As stated in the Canine Companions Puppy Manual, socialization takes place through two processes:
- Passive socialization, through experiences that occur during the puppy’s natural exploration and development.
- Active socialization, which is guided by the puppy’s human handler.
Active socialization ranges from simple activities, such as exposing a puppy to nail trimming, a visit to a veterinarian, and loose leash walking. More complex activities include exposing the puppy to traffic and busy crowds; taking the puppy to restaurants, stores, and airports; and exposing the puppy to people and dogs it hasn’t met before. Bigger socialization tasks are often formalized as group events. Koogle and I recently joined a group of Canine Companions puppies getting exposed to large crowds at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
How is This Different from Most Dogs?
Many pet owners are unaware of how puppies develop into adult dogs. They may be hesitant to expose young puppies to what they consider to be stressors such as nail trimming, or large crowds. Owners may feel that crate training is cruel or unnecessary unwittingly creating separation anxiety, and preventing their pets from learning how to self soothe. Pet owners are also unlikely to have the kind support that volunteer puppy raiser groups offer.
Why Does it Matter?
Future service dogs in formal programs enter professional training only after they are around a year and a half old. This is when the dogs are developmentally ready for intensive training, and they have had adequate socialization.
Some organizations combine the mission of rescuing shelter dogs with that of providing service dogs. Some of the rescues do go on to become service dogs, but unless the rescue dogs enter the program as young puppies the benefits of structured socialization have been lost. There is little way of knowing exactly what a rescue animal experienced in its early life.
Some dog trainers offer service dog training, like the package seen below from a Houston trainer’s web site. It’s hard to imagine that the results of a 35-day training program will compare well to those from a program where the dog was raised and socialized from birth to be a service dog before training even began.
The cost of the Houston trainer’s program ($3,550.00) should be considered completely unreasonable. There are dozens of programs in the United States offering specially bred, fully socialized, professionally trained service dogs free-of-charge (or for a minimal application fee).
It takes more than a month or so of training to make a service dog, and the client should never have to pay. If you, a relative, or a friend could use a service dog, consult our guidelines on how to find a provider or reach out to me at jim@jimandhisdog.com.
