The pitfalls of hand-rearing a puppy

GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - We often think that hand-rearing a puppy will ensure that the puppy grows up to be the perfect dog because you can shape his behaviour from a very young age.

However, this is not true. There are many other contributing factors, like genetics, that shape a puppy into a dog.

In this article local animal behaviour practitioner George van Huyssteen, explains why puppies should stay with mom and siblings until they are at least eight weeks old.

Taking a puppy away from his mom and siblings too early might negatively affect him later in life, and it can pretty much guarantee some or other behavioural problems.

Why is this and at what age should I get a puppy?

The best age to get a puppy is between 8 and 12 weeks of age. If you take a puppy away at a too young age, the pup will miss out on many life lessons that only his mother and siblings can teach him.

A puppy learns very important behavioural lessons from his mother and siblings between three and six weeks of age.

By engaging in play behaviours with his siblings, he learns how to communicate appropriately with other dogs. He will learn about the meaning of different body postures as they play. He will learn not to bite too hard down (bite inhibition) on his siblings.

At this age, the puppy has very sharp teeth, and biting down hard will get an unwanted response from the puppy he is playing with. The puppy will respond with a yelp, and play will stop immediately.

By this, the puppy will learn that softer bites mean play will continue, but any hard bites will end his fun, and play will stop. It is a crucial life lesson that will shape his future interactions with other dogs.

The puppy will learn how to interact with other dogs appropriately. Should the pup step way out of line, the mother will teach him basic manners by growling, snarling, or even snapping lightly at him. By doing this, the puppy quickly learns about more acceptable behaviours.

Photo: Thirdman, Pexels

Should a puppy never be allowed to learn these lessons, the puppy will tend to become more challenging to train later in life. In addition, the puppy will most probably be nervous and might tend to bark and even bite.

As a result, such puppies might become less tolerant or even show aggression towards other dogs later in life.

A puppy who was removed from his mother too early might have a hard time tolerating frustration. When the puppy feeds, his mom might stand up and walk away while the puppy is still attached.

Photo: Andrew Kota, Pexels

This struggle over his very highly valuable resource, in this case, his mom’s nipples, teaches the puppy that he cannot always get what he wants and teaches him to self-soothe.

All the above and a few more can cause severe behavioural problems. The bottom line is, should you adopt a puppy at too young an age, the pup might not know how to communicate with other dogs or humans appropriately and might even become fearful of people or other animals later in life.

In addition, such a dog will now not know anything about bite inhibition or fair play. This might result in the dog now biting hard down should he engage in play with another dog.

In cases where pups are orphaned or where a mother is killing her pups, you do not have a choice but to take them away, but in normal circumstances, for the puppy’s physical as well as psychological well-being, it is best to obtain a puppy after at least eight weeks of age.

Photo: Sergio Souza