A safe environment is essential for puppies

Having a healthy psychology is quite important for dogs. A healthy psychology allows dogs to better get along with other dogs or people. Furthermore, it helps dogs better cope with the outside world, greatly benefiting their lives. To shape a healthy psychology, it should begin from the puppy's early age.

The psychological development of puppies is closely related to their environment. While puppies meet their basic survival needs or shortly thereafter, they interact with the external environment. At this stage, puppies are less active in influencing the outside world and mainly receive various external information. Therefore, controlling the living environment affecting puppies influences their perception of the outside world. Shaping a dog's well-rounded psychology can start from the following aspects:

1. Meeting the puppy's need for safety is the foundation of psychological health. "Benefit and harm are the puppy's only ways of perceiving the outside world." During survival, the characteristic of "seeking benefits and avoiding harm" is very prominent in puppies. For puppies aged two to six weeks, sensory organs gradually improve, and "imprinting" learning plays a significant role. During this period, harmful stimuli from the outside are likely to form stable and hard-to-change memories. Thus, a safe environment should be created, preventing puppies from being unintentionally startled by sudden stimuli. Puppy caregivers should establish good relationships with both the mother dog and the puppies. The caregiver, as an important "environment" apart from the mother, provides a "safe" place to create favorable conditions for puppies to separate from the mother and grow with confidence. Multiple case analyses show adult dogs' timidity and neuroticism often relate to harmful stimuli experienced as puppies. Safety means everything to puppies.

2. Group relationships among puppies are an important step in their psychological growth, promoting further development of senses and enhancing information exchange abilities. Dogs' social habits are laid during their early life, and adult dogs' interaction habits often reflect socialization traces from puppyhood. For dogs younger than five weeks, their functional differences are small, their activities very similar, and interactions rarely cause harm. Behaviors like biting and chasing during this time are rehearsals of hunting instincts. Therefore, providing places that stimulate dog communication, such as lawns, during this period can promote spatial awareness and increase puppies' physical strength.

Friendly play among dogs is also very important

3. Guiding the dog's individual consciousness is key to psychological growth. As physical differences appear and intensify, dogs develop a stronger "self-awareness," characterized by behaviors like food competition. The evolution and intensification of individual consciousness lead puppies to better recognize themselves and exhibit behaviors based on conditioned reflexes, such as hesitating to take food or contest ownership of objects. At this time, it is important to separate dogs, choosing when these behaviors have appeared but have not caused serious psychological stress. This method helps build confidence.

4. Puppies' play behavior reflects their psychological traits. Interaction among puppies occurs more frequently than among adult dogs. Their play behavior evolves as they grow and serves as an early stage in cultivating certain working abilities. Two necessary conditions for this behavior are: firstly, an inner feeling of joy; secondly, surplus energy. Thus, providing dogs with a good play environment is very important for cultivating a healthy psychology.