During the Transitional Stage and for part of the Socialization Stage, anyone working with puppies under eight weeks should work on building a foundation for basic manners for their puppies and setting expectations for proper interactions with their world. Note, this is not formal obedience training where behaviors are paired with commands. Building this foundation […]
Christine Mielke
Christine Mielke has fostered over 100 dogs and puppies and assisted with countless more through volunteering at local rescues and shelters. She is an experienced medical foster who has worked with cleft palate puppies, dying and premature newborns, and critically ill and injured puppies. She has worked side-by-side with veterinary professionals in nursing newborn and young puppies back to health, which has given her renewed purpose in life.
She has logged thousands of hours of on-site volunteering from assisting with adoptions, intakes, vaccinations, deworming, emergency transporting, and creating and writing documentation to be used in the shelter and rescue environments.
With her fosters, she loves to be creative in their puppy photoshoots to show them at their cutest and improve their chances of adoption! She is incredibly proud of being able to get the majority of her fosters adopted within 48 hours of being available.
What is Puppy Socialization?
You may have heard the term “socialization,” and many people think that socialization is puppies interacting with lots of people or being friendly with humans and dogs, but it is much deeper than that! Socialization is really socialization AND familiarization, which means learning how to interact with others (animals and people) AND how to interact […]
Puppy Fear Periods: Developing Fear and Handling Fear Responses
There are two fear periods that puppies go through, one during the Socialization Stage and another during the Adolescent Stage. The onset of the fear period depends on the individual dog, and it can be influenced by breed.1 Studies have shown that German Shepherds can experience an onset of fear at five weeks old; Cavalier […]
Puppyhood: The Five Stages of Growth
There are five stages of growth that a puppy experiences before they become an adult. The stages can be generalized by age but often our responses have to be guided by the pup’s individual development rather exactly their age.1 Neonatal Stage (0-14 Days) The Neonatal Stage begins as soon as the pup is born and […]
