E Litter Tehillah German Shepherds Puppy Journal Socialization stages of puppy growth

The Second Stage of Socialization is called the Period of Curiosity. (5-7 wks) This period is where weaning begins, the puppies are curious, they have little sense of fear, the participate in group activities & play and is usually when the dominance order begins.

This is an extremely important time in the puppy’s life. The puppy is totally dependant on the environment; what ‘we’ provide for them to stimulate and develop their genetic qualities. It is also very important for them to receive attention from humans. There will be rapid change and growth in this period. During this period the puppy acquires full use of their eyes and ears, and their legs become stronger and more coordinated. At the beginning of this stage the puppy still have little sense of fear and is quick to approach anything and anybody. By the end of the two weeks though, they will begin to be more cautious in their approach, which is part of learning to discriminate among sites, sounds and smells.

Sexual play is also evident at this age. Mounting is quite common among males and sometimes females. This is a normal part of puppy play and is important in teaching puppies what is normal sexual response as they mature.

Wow…can’t believe the pups turn 5 weeks old today. Seems like just a few days ago I was waiting for them to be born! This past week has been a lot of fun. Lots of time outside, which the pups are enjoying immensely!! Lots of exploring to do!!! They have briefly met some of the other dogs (grandpa, Aiko, ½ sibling, Dangi and weird looking gsd, Riggs (who is a border collie). All the dogs are very curious to see these little guys! So far Tikka still does not want them too close so we are respecting that. She will likely relax about this in the coming weeks.

It is SO much fun watching Tikka engaging the puppies in play!!! I think this is so important. It teaches the young pups how to play with other dogs and how to read dog language. Hopefully they will take this with them as they leave and be good playmates with other pups/dogs as they grow up. It is really important for them to have very positive experiences in this now and later as they are growing into adult hood.

The puppies spend a lot of time with human interaction! If they are not sleeping they are playing and interacting with someone! They come running when I call, and love to be touched/cuddled and kissed when they ‘find me’. We will start to have more visitors now as well. We have had visitors all along but this is a fun time for others to ‘play’ and interact with people and we have lots who want to visit!

One can certainly see their lack of fear. Today they even started to take the few steps down the stairs outside by themselves. I am there to ‘help’ when needed. They love to run and explore!! Now is the time we will also provide many other things for them to interact with (tunnel, obstacles to get over, lots of variety in toys, different sounds, different surfaces etc.

They have done very well on the wood floors, tiles, grass, cement and dirt! We have a little dip in the front yard and initially when they walked/ran through it would stumble. Now I am noticing that it hardly affects them….they just keep running. Their legs are definitely getting stronger. We have some loud trucks that come through the work driveway (goes back to the barns) and the puppies have noticed the ‘sounds’ they make. They will stop and listen and then continue on in play. Course, the other dogs barking, banging of pots and pans in the kitchen etc.don’t seem to phase them at all.

Some have managed to get out of their ‘confined’ area in the living room. It is a short wooden enclosure with enough room at the bottom to get their paw through.and we noticed ½ their heads. Then they ‘pop’ it up and run underneath to ‘escape’ into the kitchen!! Also introduced an empty water bottle as a new toy last night. It makes lots of ‘crinkly’ sounds when they bite….and they enjoy that! Some have crawled into the ‘big crates’ to explore! Soon I will stick a small crate in their sleeping area for them to get used to.

I have even had a few ‘fights’ between a couple of pups when the play went a bit passed play….teeth showing /growling etc.. Course, it was only a few moments later when they decided it was o.k. to play together again.

They are eating very well. It is now tripe, chicken and some beef that they are getting. I will add a bit of veggies soon. They are also getting goat’s milk separate and they lap it up no problem. A water dish is left in the sleeping area and they are using it as well. In the next day or so, I will be giving them some lamb bones. Their baby teeth are large and ready to ‘tear’ away at these!!

I can’t really say who is the most dominant at this point. A few stand out to be a bit stronger but all can hold their own! We will see how this develops over the next few weeks.

Outside Photos - 5 weeks