[107barney]

Originally Posted by Furbaby Friend

Training and socialization will help with this. I second the "plant" idea. You should pick people you know will listen to you to help train. After they are well trained enough, they will listen even if the human isn't obeying the normal "calm" rules. You just have to start out slow and then start adding distractions until they get it. For instance, Rylie sucked at laying down and not moving until I released her... now I can jump around like a freak and scream and she doesn't move until I give her the command. I worked up the distraction level slowly.

Note: I would not recommend having a bunch of people/dogs over or taking your pup outside until the little one completes their shots. You should not take them out to pet stores or outside, etc. as they can get sick. In addition, most puppy classes will not let you join unless the pups are fully vaccinated. If they do, I would not take your pup to that class.

I let people over my house to see Rylie after she adjusted (I gave her a week, you don't want to bombard them after such a big life change IMO). However, I made them remove their shoes so that they didn't traipse in any kind of germs/disease from outside or anything. People can bring in dog illness. I also made them all wash their hands before they saw her. Rylie was 12 (almost 13 weeks), I would be even more careful with a younger pup. JMO. Once she completed her shots though and the vet okayed it, we were outside right away!

I disagree. The guidelines of the American Veterninary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) also adopted by others such as the AKC regarding puppy socialization state differently. Animal Behaviorist Ian Dunbar also believes that a puppy meet at least 100 different people by age 12 weeks.

Taken from the AKC website, this sums up the importance of early socialization to a variety of different people and other puppies--

"Because of the evidence that early socialization can prevent serious canine behavior problems such as fear, avoidance, and aggression, in 2008 the AVSAB issued the position statement that it should be the standard of care for puppies to be socialized in the first 12 weeks.
An excellent means of early socialization is for puppies to attend puppy-kindergarten classes. Although many vets have held that puppies should not be exposed to strange dogs before 12 to 16 weeks because of disease risk, the AVSAB supports participation in puppy kindergarten classes before the full series of puppy vaccines has been completed as long as all puppies in the class are vet-checked to be healthy and parasite-free upon entering the class and are kept current on vaccinations" American Kennel Club - AKC Breeder

The full position statement of the AVSAB is here:
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Position_Statements/puppy%20socialization.pdf