The first 14 days in a life of a puppy is known as neonatal phase.
The behaviour a small puppy shows is more or less genetically fixed. Since research into the behaviour of puppies began there has been much argument of how much of the latter displayed behaviour is inherited or learnt. The Nobel Prize winner Tinbergen says behaviour is 100% inherited and 100% learnt. He hits the nail on the head.

On the one hand behaviour can only develop on the basis of the genetically inherited hard ware, a dog has not got any wings and therefore will never be able to fly. On the other hand from the second he is born, a reciprocal action between the puppy and its environment takes place.

The puppy shows certain reactions in his behaviour to reactions in his environment and so learns from the beginning which of his reactions have positive consequences and which ones don’t.

A development of behavioural repertoires on the basis of genetic predisposition takes place. You could say that all hereditary factors of the puppy put in an offer to his environment/surroundings and it depends on those experiences what behaviour or which character attributes develop more strongly. The genetic frame is decided with the fertilization of the egg, into which the growing organism develops.

This doesn’t just mean looks alone, it also includes behaviour. This genetically fixed behaviour in the early development stages ensures the survival of the puppies. Through millions of years of evolution it has been established and proved.
It would result in a high mortality rate amongst puppies if a bitch whelping for the first time would have to learn through trial and error, the reactions of the first cries of help from her puppies.
Puppies are quite helpless little chaps in the first 2 weeks of their life. Apart from sleeping, eating, growing and the calls of nature, nothing more seems to happen. Calls of nature can only be initiated by the licking stimulation of the mother. She massages the stomach, sides and spine with her tongue, stimulating the movement of the bladder and bowels, the actions of the adductor muscel.
Puppies are born blind and deaf, measurement of their brainwaves show a state of permanent sleep. Their kinetic capabilities limit them to movement of the head, feeding and being able to move about in a circle. Puppies know the difference between warm and cold, react to pain and even though their ears are closed, show a typical fright reaction to loud noises.

Even at this stage, substantial changes in the body, brain and nervous system take place.

The Nervous System

Our behaviour, movement and emotions are co-ordinated through the nervous system. As long as an animal is alive, as long as the nervous system controls the signals and commands and the muscels work, the animal shows behaviour. Sleep is behaviour as is feeding
The central nervous system is the brain and the spinal fluid. These control the movement of the body, including the peripheral (outer) nervous system. Through these nerve cells along with their network, information from the CNS will be passed onto the rest of the body.
These nerve cells are separated by those, which conduct fast (12mt/second) and those which are slow (1 mt/second). The nerve cells are different in their anatomy. The slow ones are “naked” whilst the fast ones are coated with protein, known as MYELINSCHEIDE.
This covering is not present from the start. Puppies and human babies are not different, both are born with complete naked nerve cells. It is in the first 2 weeks of life that these cells are coated with the MYELINSCHEIDE. This coating does not just begin anywhere and it is completed suddenly all over the body.
They follow a strict regularity, they begin where the nerves leave the CNS, the nearer the head the quicker. This is the reason that puppies are never active with the lower half of their bodies. The nerve cells that control the motor of the front legs are covered first and therefore more efficient than the back legs.

We can follow the growth of the MYELINSCHEIDE from the front of the body, across the back down the back legs by the constantly improving movement of the body. At first the control of the head and neck is better, then they start to push themselves up with the front (upper) part of the body by positioning the front legs, finally they start to pull the back legs underneath their belly and with a huge effort lift the bum into the air.

The breeder who ensures that the puppies move as little as possible by putting them onto the teats of the bitch doesn’t just slow down the growth of the MYELINSCHEIDE, under these circumstances he could cause a defective development of the aforementioned, with negative consequences of the motors of the puppies for their whole later life.

Mild stress is necessary for the organism to develop normally. Those who grow up in paradise can in later life only live in paradise. This mild stress in the early part of life encourages the development of the immune system and is the basis for the ability of the organism to deal with stress.

When a puppy is hungry or cold he must become active to sort this out, he must work to satisfy his needs. At the end is success, a full stomach or warmth, the puppy received the basic information about what is happening, both physical and psychological.
It is very important for the normal behavioural development of the puppy to go through all these components.

For instance, a bottle fed puppy, which does not have to suckle due to a large hole in the teat, will never achieve the correct way to motivation, he does not act in the same way as he would with his own kind.

Principle of the behaviour pattern:

Motivation - > hunger
Appetence - > looking for and finding the teat/suckling
End of motivation - > full stomach

The same applies to the body temperature.
If you place your puppy in an environment with a constant temperature, it reduces their ability to regulate their temperature themselves.

At the beginning of the third week the ears and eyes start to open. You could call this phase the consolidation phase, where the puppy gets more and more chances to get in touch with his environment and learn with the independent ability to wee and pass motion on their own, an important procedure takes place in view of later cleanliness in the kennel, what type of ground he likes to feel under his feet when passing water or motions.
The preference stays with him for all his life. Lucky is the new owner of a puppy whose breeder offered the puppy a variety of places, eg grass, concrete, etc. Most puppies need to go to the toilet as soon as they wake up, after eating and playing.

Socialisation

The socialisation phase takes place at about 4 weeks and finishes , depending upon the breed, between weeks 12 and 14.

In every day language, the concept of character and socialisation are mixed together, scientifically, it means 2 different types of development. Character means a strict procedure of the inherited genes which are triggered individually at certain times, for example, when a gosling hatches, it follows the first thing it sees moving, (it does not have to be another living creature), and sees that as its mother for the rest of its life.
Character development cannot be reversed. When socialising, animals react to a number of signals and the results or behaviour pattern cover a broad spectrum and don’t follow the principle, either as is so often the case in character building.

Growing Phases

At the beginning of the 4. week, we have the impression that we have a little dog in front of us. The ability to move improves drastically, and the social interaction with his mother and siblings, increases all the time. They are very inquisitive and react to environmental signals massively. Important growth takes place within the brain.

Every individual is born with a number of nerve cells within the brain, these cells in the brain can separate under certain circumstances so brain tissue can regenerate itself.
What happens in the socialising phase of the puppy is not the regeneration of the tissues but an interaction of cells, when the organism is born every single cell is connected with 10 to 100 other cells, these are called Synopses.
Only when growth and development are complete, a single cell can have more than 10.000 synopses. The more nerve cells are interconnected the more capable the brain is. The dog can learn better, copes better with environmental stresses and is variable in his behaviour. He is better equipped to deal with the various aspects and stresses of life.
The more exposure the puppy receives in his socialising phase and interprets, the more synopses are developed. Even here mild stress is beneficial.

The Dog Is A Social Animal

Dogs are social, which means interaction with their own kind is essential. Everything a dog learns during its socialising phase, even meeting other living creatures, can be more or less stored as one of their kind.
In order to develop required social behaviour, during his socialising phase, the puppy needs the correct signals from his environment. Social gestures such as threatening behaviour, body language, submissives are inherited, but the ability to recognise these behavioural traits and the ability to respond correctly are not.

Exactly this behaviour is described as socialising, in other words, when muscle control is reasonably developed, eg baring his lips, wagging his tail or growling, he has to learn to read these signals in others, interpret them and react using his own body language at the correct time. If a dog is not able to learn this, he will later show deprivation syndrome. If dogs are frightened of a particular type of human beeing, then they did not meet this type during their socialiation and therefore are frightened as an adult dog.
The averidge German dog breeder is rarely old, disabled or ill, a small child or of ethnic origin. As deprivation leads to fear, and fear being the main cause/reason for aggressive behaviour, it is not surprising that the aforementioned are more frequently the victims of dogs.
Everything the puppy does not meet during his socialising phase will evoke fear later. Fear is a negative emotion. This leads to both physical and mental reactions to stress, of both real and imaginary danger. Puppies are inquisitive to their environment and react fearlessly. Only in the 5. week of their lives do they develop the skills of fear. However, up to the 8. week, the natural curiosity towards the new and unknown outweighs the fear. After this, the awareness of fear increases and eventually outweighs the curiosity factor.
Those who wrap their puppies in cotton wool to protect them from negative experiences, prohibit them a good start in life. The puppy has to learn to cope with fear.
Through fear he can run away, attack, freeze or show submissive behaviour. Each one of these behavioural traits has to be practised by the puppy. Fear is a life saving emotion, courage would be foolish in the animal kingdom. Courage, despite fear or pain, to carry out a specific ration, could develop into a disadvantage.

One of the most important learning curves in the social phase is the ability to deal with aggression adequately. Aggressive behaviour is first seen in the 4. week of the puppies life, seen in the interaction between puppies, then with 3. party objects eg bones.
Dominance/submissive behaviour is practised in this phase and makes a serious offensive attack unnecessary.
A further emotion a puppy has to learn is frustration. Frustration leads to stress and is often the reason for aggression.

Many of the dogs, which are observed as aggressive, failed to learn to deal with frustration. They only have one channel to reduce this stress, they bite. Frustartion arrives when we want something we are not able to have/obtain.
The puppy has to learn that not everything in life is as he imagines it to be. Here puppies react invariable and grumble, or show aggression.
From the reaction of their environment they learn which behaviour is adequate for the situation. They learn to react to frustration variably and accordingly.

By now the mother leaves the whelping box for longer periods, the puppy learns that not everything is available permanently and that the world does not end because of this. The breeder should offer his puppies a variety of stimulants and exposure to life, to offer him the opportunity to deal with them on his own. Even negative experiences are a part of this.

The “new” owners of the puppy should be aware that the socialisation period is complete at 12 weeks, and does not end just because the puppy has arrived at his new home.

Now the juvenile phase begins. The dog now practises the skills he has learnt in the socialisation phase and rehearses this in the bite inhibitions.

The juvenile phase ends with the entry into puberty.

Puppy Protection

Puppy protection only exists in a family or pack environment. This is due to the fact that all members of the pack are related and one does not kill relatives. Also the fact is that puppies quickly learn submissive behaviour and employ this in a crises. Dogs which meet in the park are generally not related, it is therefore normal that if a puppy is growled at or even snapped at, a well socialised puppy shows signs of submission, a well socialised adult recognises this and leaves. One should not interpret puppy protection as a way to allow the puppy to do what he wants. Neither should one declare an adult dog a pathological dog just because he growled at a puppy.

Werner Rapien
Working judge
Germany

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