One of our goals at Fernweh Schnauzers is to prepare everyone of our puppy schnauzers for their future life while they are at our home. We want to ensure they have experienced as much as possible in their early life so they adjust to their new homes as smoothly as possible. An effective socialization program will provide a foundation for future training, improve human/canine relationships as the puppy grows and will even help foster positive relationships with other dogs and pets in their new home. These positive characteristics are possible because socialization replaces fear with experience, it creates personalities that are calm and confident instead of cautious and suspicious. By allowing each Schnauzer puppy to “know” more of the world through experiences, positive life responses are opened up and made possible.
We base our socialization program on unique experiences that build confident and positive behavior. This method of socialization was first introduced by Dr. Carmen Battaglia and is a requirement for every puppy that is placed into an adopter’s home. Below is an example of the type of checklist of experiences that every Schnauzer puppy is introduced to at Fernweh Schnauzer’s breeding program.
Fernweh Schnauzers Socialization Checklist
Walking on different types of flooring:
Indoors-
o Hardwood
o Tile
o Carpet
o Linoleum
Outdoors-
o Gravel
o Grass
o Cement
o Woodchips
o Sand
o Dirt
New environments:
o Car rides
o Vet office
o Walk outdoors (town and country)
o Visit another family’s home
o Attend a ballgame, camping or similar social event
Variety of toys/oral objects (reminder these should all be age appropriate toys, if your puppy can chew it up throw it out, absolutely NO rawhide):
o Rope toy
o Stuffed animal
o Hard rubber (Kong)
o Deer or elk antler
o Tennis ball
o Frisbee
o Squeaker toy
Eating experience:
o Eaten from human hands (adult and child, owner and nonfamily member)
o Had their food taken away mid meal (and then given back)
o Eaten from a glass dog dish
o Eaten from a metal dog dish
o Eaten outside
Obstacles/Challenges:
o Climbed at least 3-4 stairs
o Walked through a door way with a step up or down
o Climbed over an object
o Taken in and out of the bathtub or wash style sink
o Played hide and seek.
New people/Social situations:
o Have been around (male and female)
o A baby
o A toddler
o A child
o A teen
o An adult
o An Elderly person
o Special needs such as: a wheel chair, walker and/or crutches
o Person wearing a hat
o Man with a beard
o A very tall person
o Been introduced to complete strangers
o A cat
o Others dogs (variety of breeds)
o Small animals if possible (rabbit, guinea pig or similar)
