The adoption process

From the moment of birth until the second week of life, the dog is not capable of perceiving almost nothing of its surroundings. On the first days of existence the only things the litter needs is warmth, calmness and an adequate feeding. It is essential to have at hand a warm, comfortable and spacious delivering receptacle to be put on the most peaceful area of the house. Instinct will take care of guiding the litter towards the mammary glands of the mother to feed themselves.

Towards the third week of life, the pup begins to wake up becoming aware of what surrounds him, and to participate with all that is new, which is basically everything.

From that moment on, and until the seventh week approximately, the dog develops the so called stage of adoption, also known as wedge, impregnation, imprinting, etc. In it, by means of the interaction with its mother and with the rest of the litter, the pup will learn all the behavioral patterns that will rule his life in the future, regarding contact with its peers.

The early detachment of any of the pups from the mother's boundaries will at a great extent determine its attitude towards other dogs in the future. He will be almost entirely adapted to its human family, but won't know how to interact with other dogs. Although the pet will get from its new family all the loving care he needs, it won't be enough to make it up for all the behavioral patterns it could learn from the litter and the mother. In consequence, he won't learn to subordinate before other more dominant exemplars, even if these are its brothers, nor will he know at what point to ease of in a fight for the possession of any object. The sense of property is very fixed in the dog, even since a puppy. In other words, if all the previously explained situations occur you must consider that the pup hasn't learnt to be a dog yet.