Socialization

Socialization is the process by which dogs adapt their behavior to the requirements of a human-dominated environment. There are three essential parts to this process: handling by humans, exposure to different situations and training. 

Handling
In addition to the loving handling provided throughout the day by us and friends, we give each puppy a daily sequence of handling specifically for the purpose of socialization. No one wants a dog that will growl or snap at a child if its ear is pulled or tail tugged. These Kalein puppies are petted, kissed, rolled over, held like babies, cuddled and caressed. We gently touch their eyes, ears, nose, feet, bellies, and bottoms. Each pup also has its tail rubbed and gently pulled. This daily routine helps to desensitize puppies to handling by humans. It's important for each puppy to realize that grooming and being handled is a part of life as a poodle. Techniques such as rolling puppies onto their backs and holding them up high or holding them upside down for ten seconds help to reinforce the puppies' trust in humans.

4 month old puppy enjoying the snow. Notice the tail wagging.

Exposure to Different Situations  Starting at four weeks old the puppies are split off from the rest of the litter for short periods of time. This helps to get them accustomed to being separated from their siblings. Also starting at this time they are socialized outside the house. Pups travel in crates for short rides to the vet, to the Wichita Kennel Club building and to our friends' houses. These experiences allow them to see, hear and smell different environments, people, (those in uniform too!) and much that life in the city outside of their home has to offer. We make sure pups experience different weather climates. We also make sure pups have been on 7 different surfaces by the time they are 7 weeks old.  Exposing pups to a variety of surfaces instills confidence in pups no matter what their little paws may touch.  They become comfortable in their surroundings.

Training
When feeding the pups, we often put our hands in the food, take the food away, move the food around and move the bowl around. This prevents from having a dog “guard its food”… growling at people when it's eating, snapping at a child that comes up to it's food bowl, etc. We encourage you as their new owners to continue this practice from time to time.

While the puppies are in our home we play with them inside and out, with various toys and in different settings.

A rule of thumb on potty training… as soon as your pup wakes from a nap, take it out. In the early stages when it's played a long time, say 30-45 minutes and is just about to take a nap, take your pup out again to “potty”. You'll have very few accidents this way. Pups are fed three times a day at 6 am, noon and 4:30pm. They go out for the last time around 10:30. We feed dinner early so that they eliminate during this last time outside. It helps them make it through the night.

Feeding 
We feed and water puppies out of a variety of containers so that they will eat and drink out of anything. It also makes them good travelers and less finicky.