Building Better Puppies: Longevity Matters But So Does Socialization

Mavis J., Bay Woof's newest intern, practices her socialization skills at every opportunity.  photo: M Rocket

For nearly all species, longevity offers the single best overall index of physical and behavioral health. But in the past hundred years, while human life expectancy has roughly doubled, life expectancy for dogs has decreased, even with the same types of advances in veterinary medicine and surgery. 

Most purebred dogs are still selectively bred for conformation or working ability, even though very few of them ever enter a show ring or get the chance to perform the jobs they were bred for. Instead, 99%-plus of modern dogs enjoy their lives as beloved companions, living with us, their human families. Surely, we would all like our dogs to live longer so it makes sense that today’s domestic dogs should be selectively bred for longevity.

Breeding for longevity should be falling-off-a-log easy with purebred dogs: only breed from dogs descended from long-lived forebears and specifically, only breed male dogs that are at least 10 years old. In fact, I presented this notion to the International Congress of Kennel Clubs way back in the 1990s. Yet to this day, so many male dogs are bred before they are three years old. A male dog can sire as many puppies in a single afternoon mating spree as a female dog can produce in her entire breeding career. But what if that male dog dies of cancer or another serious health condition just a year or two later? Allowing him to breed before we know anything about his longevity and overall health seems irresponsible to me. 

In my latest book, Barking Up the Right Tree, I gave a shout out to those breed clubs and breeders with longevity programs. The Doberman Pinscher Club of America, for example, offers a Longevity Certificate to any Doberman that reaches the age of 10 and Bred for Longevity Certificates to any Doberman whose parents and all four grandparents lived to be 10. Similarly, Gayle Watkins of Gaylan's Golden Retrievers says, "We use four tools as we seek longevity: bitch lines with longevity, older sires, high genetic diversity, and outcrosses." Way to go, responsible breeders! And let's not forget, many mixed breeds are descended from a concoction of purebred dogs so every bit of longevity helps.

Training Matters, Too

Of course, when it comes to breeding, it’s not all about a sperm and an egg. Nor is it all about longevity. Ensuring that the puppies grow up to be good-natured and well-mannered canine companions depends entirely on early socialization, handling, environmental enrichment, and basic training, including teaching a human/canine version of ESL to open communication channels. It’s no favor to a dog to grant him a long life if he can’t safely be around other dogs or humans. 

Domestic dogs are generally bred for their speed and ease of socialization with people and with each other, but we still need to socialize young puppies with people and other dogs for them to be good domestic companions. I have written at length about how to safely socialize young puppies, which requires time and exposure to other humans and canines. Obviously, we cannot socialize puppies via Zoom or during individual training consultations.

As puppies collide with adolescence, they naturally become increasingly wary and stressed by unfamiliar people, unfamiliar dogs, and unfamiliar places and situations. Early puppy socialization and training can prevent this predictable and otherwise normal course of development and the concomitant stress and anxiety. The goal is to make the unfamiliarity of adolescence as snoring/boring as their carefree puppyhood was. 

For dog owners back in the 1970s, the only resort was attending Kennel Club Obedience classes that mainly comprised repetitive, on-leash obedience drills. Training went off-leash in the 1980s when SIRIUS Puppy Training expanded the syllabus to include every conceivable aspect of behavior, temperament, and training. 

Among other things, this provided a safe forum for puppies to socialize and be handled by another two dozen unfamiliar people (the other owners in class). It also helped bump-start puppy play behavior to develop that all-important bite inhibition and help them acquire social savvy for dealing with other dogs that may not be similarly socialized. Additionally, it helped owners to master off-leash skills during puppy play to better control their dogs at home. Most important, it allowed the trainers to identify incipient temperament problems and prevent the development of aggression towards people and other dogs or extreme fearfulness. (Check out the many short videos in my recent posts on the Dunbar Academy Facebook page to see how quick and easy it is to nip unwanted behaviors in the bud). 

When I first founded the Association of Professional Dog Trainers in the U.S. and other countries, the original acronym was APT — the Association of Puppy Trainers. We started with 307 trainers at the 1994 Orlando Conference, then 1,100 in Chicago in 1995, and surpassed 1,500 puppy trainers at the San Diego Conference just a few years later in 1999. These days though, teaching off-leash puppy classes and class training in general seem to be on the decline. As a result,  adult dogs are less prepared for meeting unfamiliar people and dogs. The isolation of the Covid pandemic has only made things worse, leading to an increase in dog-human aggression, dog-dog reactivity, and generalized fear and anxiety. 

Luckily for puppy owners in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are a wealth of off-leash puppy socialization and training classes, some led by trainers with over 40 years of experience. So let's take the time to train our pups and get back to producing behaviorally healthy and ultra-confident dogs once more. After all, to paraphrase the great Frederick Douglass, it is easier to build strong puppies than to repair broken dogs.