Friday, January 25, 2013

Frequency of illness in puppy socialization participants

Here is a wonderful study Collins Canine participated in through the University of California at Davis.  They gathered data on the instances of illnesses in puppies that attended socialization classes as opposed to those that didn't.  They found no greater instances of illnesses in puppies that attended socialization sessions further supporting many trainers experience that it is much more likely to have issues with a dog due to lack of socialization than to contract an illness from being around other puppies.  Unfortunately many vets still prescribe to the theory that puppies should not be around other dogs until they are four or even six months of age.  This misses out on the window of socialization which can cause dramatic problems as the dogs mature.  If your vet is one that still thinks puppies shouldn't socialization please pass this on to them.  The more well socialized dogs we have out there the fewer behavioral issues we will have and therefore the less dogs in shelters and euthanized.  Please spread the word!  http://www.jaaha.org/content/49/2/95.abstract