The Importance of Early Puppy-hood Development
The Austrian Ethologist, Konrad Lorenz won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his contributions to animal behavior.
Lorenz was the first person to thoroughly investigate the imprinting process in animal behavior such as geese and dogs.
The first person to thoroughly investigate the imprinting process was the Austrian ethologist, Konrad Lorenz, who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his contributions to animal behavior. Imprinting takes place during a relatively brief period of time called the sensitive period, after which the information learned during the imprinting process either cannot be or is very difficult to reverse.
Imprinting is a form of learning that happens at an early age and lasts the lifetime of the animal.
Lorenzo discovered that in geese, ducklings and quail there is a period of time after hatching where they respond to visual and auditory cues and they learn who their mom is and they begin to follow them. If that is a human at hatching then they think the human is their mom and they will follow them.
Imprinting is not limited to birds it is found in numerous mammals as well.
Dogs will also learn about future mates and their social group from the imprinting process.
If a puppy is taken away from her mother at week 4 or 5 this is a disaster because the puppy does not have a chance to receive the imprint from the mother and other dogs as social patterns.
Dogs can imprint on both dogs and people during the sensitive period of imprinting.
The reason for puppies to not go home with humans until 8 weeks is because o the imprinting the are required to receive from mom and littermates happens up to this point.
Barbara Williams
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