This checklist is meant to be completed carefully and slowly; it is not a push to expose puppies to as many things as possible. The goal is slow, safe exposure. Start with low-intensity presentations for short durations at a distance.
Watch the puppies’ behavior carefully during the presentation. If puppies are interested and appear relaxed, or if they startle mildly but recover quickly, meaning they can continue eating, playing, or exploring, you are probably in the right range. If puppies are avoiding, freezing, screaming, refusing food, or otherwise unable to recover, the exposure was too intense and should be made easier next time.
Not every puppy needs every exposure on this list. Use your breed, your individual puppies, and the likely future home as your guide.
Also, note that any outings should be chosen carefully based on vaccination status and disease risk.
Signs You’re Doing It Right
Green Lights (continue)
- Puppies approach or investigate the stimulus within a reasonable period of time
- Puppies can eat, play, or sniff during the exposure
- Puppies startle briefly but recover quickly
- Puppies can move away and then re-engage
- Puppies remain relaxed or return to appearing relaxed quickly
Yellow/Red Lights (stop and reduce the intensity)
If you see any of the following in even one puppy in the litter, the exposure was too intense:
- Prolonged freezing
- Escaping, hiding, or seeking comfort without recovering or re-engaging
- Screaming
- Refusing food or play when they would normally accept it
- Repeated startle without recovery
- One puppy consistently struggling more than the rest of the litter
Exposures
Visuals
Many puppies and young dogs struggle with stimuli that suddenly appear “out of nowhere” or move rapidly.
Think about gently exposing your puppies to:
- Moving overhead fans
- Moving doors (e.g., room door, fridge door, oven door)
- Running dogs
- People walking into and out of rooms (e.g., walking through doorways)
- Things falling from low heights (e.g., dropping a sheet of paper)
- Moving cars
- Moving bikes
- Moving lawn mowers
- Strollers
Sounds
Every new family will have their unique combination of daily sounds, many of which can be easily replicated by the breeder in their own home or using sound recordings from online sources. Everything should be played/replicated at a low intensity to start and only carefully increased in intensity if the puppies seem relaxed. Sounds we recommend having your puppies hear before going home could include:
- Oven door opening
- Fridge door closing
- Ice cube machine
- Oven fans
- Microwaves
- Dishwashers
- Food processor/blender
- Coffee machine
- Garage door
- Barking dogs, low volume
- Washers and dryers
- Opening and closing cabinets
- Doorbells/knocking
- Cell phone alerts
- Vacuums
- Flushing toilets
- Lawn mowers or other outdoor equipment
- Fire alarm beeps*
- Fire alarm low battery beeps*
- Cars/traffic
- Children laughing/screaming
- Sneezing
- Singing
- Raising voice/yelling*
- All types of music
- Rain, wind, thunderstorms*
- Things falling to the floor from very low heights*
- Car doors opening/closing*
*Start intense or startling sounds at very low volume and short duration. The goal is a safe history with mild versions of these sounds, not to scare the puppies.
Surfaces
- Tile/wood floors
- Carpet
- Rugs
- Stairs
- Gravel
- Grass
- Metal surfaces
- Low platforms
- Cardboard
- Wood decks
- Cement/sidewalks v2026-08-05
- Wobble boards
- Puddles or shallow kiddie pools
- Wet surfaces
- Various textures
People
Puppies should start by seeing a variety of people at a distance. If they appear comfortable and interested, then the puppy can be allowed to get closer to the person and even interact with them, if desired. Puppies should not be allowed to interact with every person, as you want them to learn that not every person = interaction.
- Adults of different genders, body types, sizes, and presentations
- Children (toddlers, young children, teenagers)
- People wearing things on their heads (summer hats, winter hats, sunglasses, glasses, bicycle helmets)
- People wearing bulky coats
- People wearing backpacks
- Facial hair
- Various voice pitches (high, low)
- Clothing styles
- Skin tones
- Wearing uniforms (e.g., FedEx, Amazon)
- In various locations (e.g., in the home, at Home Depot, on a walk)
Procedural notes for introducing people:
1. Ideally, the breeder should give the puppy treats/toys during the interaction and not the stranger. This helps the puppy learn to orient back to their handler rather than rushing toward every stranger.
2. When seeing strangers, I recommend having the puppy on a leash or behind a barrier. Only allow the puppy to greet the person if the puppy appears comfortable, the person appears comfortable, and you have given a verbal cue (e.g., “Wanna say hi?”), and you have practiced having the dog walk away with you on cue (e.g., “Let’s go” + treat when they turn away). This ensures that everyone is comfortable and that your dog doesn’t randomly try to greet everyone they see, which often results in leash pulling. Having greetings on cue can help preserve polite leash walking, even when other people are present.
Human Movement Styles
- Exercising (e.g., yoga, weight lifting, dancing)
- Running
- Limping
- Bending
- Squatting
- Reaching
- Using canes, walkers, or wheelchairs
- Carrying things
Handling and Touch
Handling should be introduced slowly, paired with food or play, and adjusted if the puppy pulls away, freezes, or panics. I recommend using a vocal cue for different types of handling so the dog knows what to expect. For example, the vocal cue of “ears” = I’m going to touch, inspect, and flip your ears. Handling recommendations include: v2026-08-05
- Touching or looking in ears
- Paw and nail handling
- Nail trim with clippers
- Nail trim with a Dremel
- Touching various body parts. Make sure to use various cues, such as “shoulder,” “tummy,” “tail,” etc.
- Gentle restraint, such as for veterinary care
- Checking eyes
- Brushing fur
- Checking mouth/teeth
- Touching or grabbing collar
- Picking the puppy up
- Putting on a collar
- Putting on a harness
- Lifting up paws while standing (make sure to keep puppy’s body steady)
- Wiping paws
- Wiping the belly, groin, and rear area
- Being toweled off by a dry towel
- Warm, wet washcloth to body
- Lifting the tail to check the rear end and back legs
- Brief restraint in various positions
- Listening with a stethoscope-like object or touching with a cool object
Environments
- Different rooms in the home, especially bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and laundry room
- Backyard
- Front yard
- Patios
- Ex-pens or other playpens
- Brief controlled exposure to novel environments
- Barriers such as baby gates
Objects Behaving Strangely
- Umbrellas
- Plastic bags (don’t leave out unsupervised)
- Vacuums, brooms, mops
- Trash cans
- Boxes
- Toys that move or make noise (wobble, crinkle, walk, crawl)
- Picking up and moving boxes/bags
- Opening lids on trash cans
Other Experiences
All animal introductions should be safe and supervised, involving healthy animals known to be appropriate around puppies.
- Family dogs
- Stranger dogs
- Cats
- Livestock/poultry, if relevant
Experience with Rest and Recovery
When getting the puppy used to crates, try to have a variety of crate types, including wire and fabric crates.
- Short periods of quiet alone time
- Eating in a crate (wire and fabric)
- Brief time in crate in car with food/chew
- Short periods in a comfy crate with door open while people are nearby (preferably while tired so they nap in the crate)
- Rest in crate with door closed for brief periods
- Resting or playing calmly in an ex-pen
- Being separated briefly from littermates with food, chews, toys, or attention available
- Quiet times in the home without stimulation
- Lots of breaks between novel stimulus exposures
- Having a chew while separated briefly
- Being behind a baby gate while people move around nearby
Transportation
The majority of these steps are preferably performed in a crate with a chew and not free in the vehicle:
- Carried to/from car
- Sitting in a parked car
- Turning on/off engine
- Brief car movement
- Short car ride around block
Training Foundations
- Anti-resource guarding training: Approaching the puppy while they are eating out of a food bowl and dropping treats into the bowl. This can help teach the puppy that people approaching their bowl predicts good things. Do not just put your hand in the bowl or take the bowl away.
- Marker training: Say “yes,” then immediately give food so puppies begin learning that the marker predicts reinforcement.
- Potty training introduction: When puppies are close to 8 weeks old, breeders can start potty training. This involves saying “yes” and giving a treat whenever they pee or poop outside.
- Polite play: Whenever you and the puppies are playing with toys, stop play for a moment if their teeth touch your skin, but continue the play soon after. If they are clearly overtired, put them down for a nap and stop playing.
- Polite interactions: If you are sitting on the ground and a puppy puts their teeth on you, give them a toy instead. If they keep putting their mouth on you, stand up or put them down for a nap.
- Basic sit: This is optional, but if you have time, you can start training a basic sit behavior using luring techniques.
- Recall foundations: When a puppy moves toward the breeder, mark with “yes” and provide a treat.
Speciality Needs
Having a good understanding of what your puppies will do in their new home can help you tailor their experiences in-home. For example, the following categories could use extra training: v2026-08-05
- Hunting/gun dogs: Water, field surfaces, bird scent, distant nature sounds, vehicles, and gunshots. Introduce gunshot recordings only at very low volumes and pair them with food, play, or other good outcomes. Do not expose puppies to real gunfire at close range.
- Grooming-heavy breeds: Focus on body handling and grooming experiences (e.g., brushes, dryers, tables, clippers near body without cutting).
- Urban living: Focus on traffic, elevators, strollers, bikes, delivery workers, scooters
- Livestock guardian dogs: Safe, supervised exposure to target livestock through barriers, outdoor rest, and farm sounds.
Conclusion
A strong puppy socialization plan is not about doing everything all at once. It is about offering slow, safe, developmentally appropriate experiences while closely observing each puppy’s behavior. When breeders use the puppy’s comfort, curiosity, and recovery as their guide, they can help build puppies who are more flexible, confident, and prepared for life in their future homes.
And socialization doesn’t end when a puppy goes home. New puppy families can build on that early foundation by continuing to introduce new people, sounds, surfaces, handling, and environments gradually and positively, always paying attention to the puppy’s individual comfort and response.
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