critical periods

[magical Merlin]

Im currently working on my phycology course and im getting a real head ake....

The question says

Discuss the mental and physical development of the puppy from birth to twelve weeks, identifying the three critical periods and also the effects of the interactions which take place between litter mates and the dam.

Include your views on at least three situations to which the breeder should expose the puppies prior to sale, and say why you consider this to be important.

I can answer this fine, well all except the bit about 3 critical periods! I make it 4 critical : neonatal, transitional, socilisation to dogs, socailisation to humans.....

Any suggestions? Would you say there are three or four?

Brain ake!

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

erm...................... have no idea lol - soo sorry heather hope you find out tho

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Im currently working on my phycology course and im getting a real head ake....

The question says

Discuss the mental and physical development of the puppy from birth to twelve weeks, identifying the three critical periods and also the effects of the interactions which take place between litter mates and the dam.

Include your views on at least three situations to which the breeder should expose the puppies prior to sale, and say why you consider this to be important.

I can answer this fine, well all except the bit about 3 critical periods! I make it 4 critical : neonatal, transitional, socilisation to dogs, socailisation to humans.....

Any suggestions? Would you say there are three or four?

Brain ake!

Maybe they are lumping all socialisation in together? As its not just dogs and people they need to be socialised with but everything they will encounter in their every day life fo instance a pup that is born to be trained as a gun dog should be exposed to a range of different loud noises from an early age to prevent it being gunshy..?

[madmally]

Yeah i would assume that the socialisation period would be an overall heading.

Im doing my training at the moment too so im sure i will be on here with essay headaches soon as well. xx

[Andy]

Did a quick search found this.

There is a fourth critical period but it starts from 12 weeks.

Hope it helps

FIRST PERIOD (0 - 3 weeks)

The puppy is on its mother, or substitute mother, for thefirst 21 days of it's life. Some of us have worried because a mother willscarcely leave her litter during this first five or six days after the puppiescome, even to eat or to relieve herself. This is because the puppy is socompletely dependent upon her and its litter mates for warmth, that it isnecessary for it to snuggle up to its mother and brother and sisters. Atemperature of 85 F - 90 F (29.4 c - 32.2 c) is about right for the first weekof a puppy's life.

It has been noticed that the puppies just seem to sleep andeat, and the mother constantly massages them with her tongue. This licking isnecessary, not only to keep them clean, but to cause elimination, for thepuppies at birth and for many days afterwards are not able to eliminate ontheir own. Nursing puppies eat a little and then rest against their mother'swarm breast and she massages them. This is repeated many times a day.

The first 21 days of a puppies life is very crucial as thetime of survival. Warmth, food, massage, and sleep are the things a puppy needsfor this period.There is a slight variation in the length of the first period,but with all puppies of all breeds it is complete by the 21st day and thenthere is a sharp break. A PUPPY UNDER 21 DAYS OF AGE CANNOT LEARN OR BETRAINED!

SECOND CRITICAL PERIOD (4 weeks - 7 weeks)

Beginning on the 21st day, the puppy can see quite well, andcan hear and smell. From now on, environment plays its part in the developmentof the dog. Suddenly the big world about him is opened up to his attention andhe needs his mamma very much. He can be handled, however, and socialization canstart so that he will start to form attachments to human beings. For the nextfour weeks, his brain and nervous system are developing, and at the end ofseven weeks of age puppies have the capacity of an adult dog, but of course,not the experience.

During this period (4 weeks - 7 weeks) the puppies socializewith their mother and litter mates and thus form their attachments to otherdogs. This is the normal thing for them to do and plays a very important partin the well-rounded development of a dog. If they are taken from their motherand litter mates before the end of the seven weeks, they miss some of theircanine socialization and show less interest in dog activities than if they areleft the full seven weeks. Experience has shown that the puppy who does notcomplete his seven weeks of canine socialization is often the same dog that,when grown, picks fights with all the strange dogs he meets, is terrified ofother dogs, or is difficult to mate.

During this four-week period, from 21 days to seven weeks ofage, playing and even play fighting begins. In some of the litters this becomesquite serious fighting, and order of dominance has begun.

It is believed that the ideal time for the puppy to go to anew owner is at approximately nine weeks of age, which is also a good time forweaning. The two things are probably best accomplished at the same time.

Experiments have shown that you cannot really teach a puppyuntil it is about 21 days old, and that it is probably best to leave it withits mother and litter mates until it is 8-10 weeks of age. The question arises'When is the best time to teach a puppy." The answer is, of course, assoon as it can learn, which is during the second critical period (21- 49 daysof age).

THIRD CRITICAL PERIOD..... (7 weeks - 12 weeks)

During the third critical period, from the 49th day to the84th day (7 - 12 weeks), the puppies should get as wide a variety ofexperiences and instructions as their puppy minds and emotions are capable ofabsorbing. Experience has indicated that it is detrimental to give puppieslonger training periods than daily 15 minute sessions at this age. The adviceis that a puppy should have the benefit of its trainer's wholehearted andundivided attention to make it feel important.

Evidence points to the fact that puppies have a short periodearly in life when social relationships are established with members of theirkind and after which it becomes increasingly difficult or impossible toestablish them. The same applies to their relationships with human companions.The period in which puppies can best be socialized and begin their training isin the period of 5 weeks to 12 weeks of age.

[Removed #1]

I agree with Sarah. You could probably combine the socialization if you HAD to get it down to three phases, but I like the seperation you've done. Perhaps you could lump it all together as the general category and then break it into sub categories. It's not uncommon in psychology in general. For example you have your autistic spectrum disorders...there's Autistic disorder, Aspergers, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD~NOS), (You also have Rett Syndrome which isn't always thought of as an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, but it is recognized by just about everyone as a PDD, which could lead you to toss it in with the Autistic Spectrum). While these are all the same general disorder, there are different elements to each that make each individual possible more specific diagnosis much more accurate for providers and family members in terms of providing support.

So yeah, if you have to bust it down to three then it's doable...just not preferable I suppose.

[magical Merlin]

Thanks guys thats great!!!

i shall make socailisation one out of three!

Perfect!

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[ocspirit]

A great discusion topic for the first stage would be about the Super Dog program! If I ever do a breeding where the bitch and pups are here during that period I am SO doing that program! I have watched litters where 1/2 were on the program and 1/2 were not and the difference later on in life really is notable. Also talk about socialization including more than just meeting other animals and humans but experiences in general (ie different flooring, learning its ok to be away from the pack or littermates, learning about stairs, etc). There is a great write up on this called The Rule of 7's