Dog Behavior: Neonatal Period (Birth to 14 Days)

Developmental Behavior: Puppy to Adult (Dog)

• The development and behavior of domestic dogs have been studied extensively for over 60 years.
• The conducted studies identified particular developmental periods where puppies are exceptionally sensitive to their environment.
• Early experiences are important in the later behavior of dogs.
• Early behavioral development is divided into 4 major stages: neonatal, transitional, socialization, and juvenile.

Dogs- Neonatal period (birth- 14 Days)

• This period is characterized by behaviors adapted for the puppy's ability to get food, warmth, and maternal care.
• Dogs are an altricial species, meaning they are born in a relatively helpless state.
• Newborn puppies cannot see or hear because their eyes are not open and their ears are not functioning.
• Puppies motor abilities are limited to crawling short distances.
• Puppies can't regulate internal body temperature and depend on an outside source of warmth.
• Tactile stimulation by the mother is necessary for the stimulation of urination and defecation.
• Neonates have the most well-developed touch and olfaction (smell).
• Neonates can react to hot and cold surfaces and learn to respond to their mother's scent shortly after birth.
• Puppies are born with adaptive behavior patterns, such as the rooting reflex, suckling reflex, and high-frequency, most of which fade with the maturation of the nervous system.
• Root reflex is triggered by maternal licking and is characterized by a "swimming" motion with the front legs as the back legs push forward toward the warm stimulus.
• This reaction allows the puppy to locate the mother's underside and teats shortly after birth.
• The suckling reflex occurs as soon as the puppy finds the teat for its first meal.
• It can be elicited by placing a finger in a pup's mouth.
• Suckling is accompanied by a treading motion of the front limb.
• The legs move against the mammary gland and aid in stimulating milk.
• During the neonate period, vocalization patterns are limited to distress-calling.
• High-pitched distress calling is only a vocalization pattern.
• It is elicited when the puppy separates from the warmth of the litter or when they are hungry.
• Puppies grow very rapidly during the first 2 weeks of life, but their behavior patterns do not change much.
• Puppies are entirely dependent on the mother's care and must be monitored and maintained with its mother for the first 2 weeks.
• Mothers have reciprocal behaviors that help the puppy's development.
• Mothers will lick the puppies, lay on their side to feed the puppies, and respond to the cries of their puppies.
• The mother's material capabilities will profoundly affect her puppies' health and well-being during this time.
• The learning abilities of puppies appear limited, but early handling by human caretakers is advantageous because they are sensitive to olfactory cues and tactile stimulation.
• Handling gently can be beneficial to them for the first 5 weeks of life.
• These include accelerated maturation of the nervous system, increased growth rate, enhanced development of motor skills, special senses, and problem-solving abilities

Dogs- Transition Period (14-21 Days)

• The transition period represents a period of rapid physiological change during which the puppy's ability to perceive the outside world and process information increases dramatically.
• This period starts when the eyes start to open (12-14 days) and ends when the ear canals are open 1 week later.
• Puppies will show an auditory "startle" response at the end of this period.
• Deciduous teeth erupt around 21 days, and puppies are interested in solid foods.
• During this week, neonatal behaviors slowly disappear and are later puppyhood behaviors.
• Puppies begin to stand and walk, tail wagging first observed.
• Stimulation by the mother is no longer necessary for urination or defecation, and puppies will move away from the sleeping area for elimination.
• Puppies will distress call if away from their mother or littermates.
• Social behaviors also begin to emerge, including rudimentary play fighting, body postures, and vocalization.
• Puppies are capable of learning, but the rate of learning and the stability of conditioned responses do not reach the level of adults until puppies are about 4-5 weeks of age.
• Puppies can now react to olfactory, auditory, and visual stimuli and can be introduced to toys or other novel objects.
• Exposing puppies to normal household sounds, smells, and sights; daily handling; petting; and gentle brushing are advantages during this stage.

Dogs- Primary Socialization (3-12 weeks)

• The primary socialization period is the most important period of social development.
• This is a time of very rapid behavioral change, including the development of species-specific social behaviors.
• At less than 3 weeks of age, the puppy's neurological system and special senses are too immature to allow socialization.
• During this time, the maturation of the puppy's electroencephalogram and with final myelination of the spinal cord changes signify that the puppy is now capable of perceiving and reacting to the environment the same way as an adult dog.
• The end of this period is characterized by a gradually increasing tendency to exhibit reservation when exposed to new stimuli.
• This happens around 12 weeks, the Puppy's ability to easily accept new experiences starts to decline.
• Occurs during a period in which certain events are likely to have long-term effects on an individual's development and behavior.
• Puppies are highly responsive to stimuli that are present in their environment through opportunities to learn and to form a primary social attachment to other puppies, humans, and other companion animals with whom they share time and space.
• After this period, the individual gradually develops decreased sensitivity to those events.
• They are more reserved at the end of this period for new stimuli.
• Socialization is how an animal develops special-specific social behavior and forms a primary social relationship.
• Dogs can simultaneously be socialized to their species and humans.
• Adequate socialization to both species has value in preventing the development of inappropriate behaviors or deficits in behavior that can seriously hinder the dog's ability to bond with its human caretaker or interact with other dogs.
• Socialization also serves to habituate young dogs to novel stimuli to decrease a dog's reactivity or fear response.
• The puppy learns its species identification during the early portion of primary socialization and towards humans later in the period.
• Dogs that are properly socialized with other dogs and humans will incorporate both species into their social structure and will tend to direct species-typical behavior patterns.
• Puppies develop particular communication patterns toward each species
• A rapid increase in activity and the appearance of increasingly complex behaviors are seen in the early parts of primary socialization
• When puppies are between 3-4 weeks of age, exploratory behavior increases dramatically.
• Puppies play with each other and their mother and will go towards all new things with no fear
• After 5 weeks, this response diminishes gradually as the puppies start showing some wariness of novel stimuli but will actively approach new things over being nervous
• By 8 weeks, the puppy will start to show nervousness or fear of new things.
• Puppies will start to form attachments to known areas.
• Play between littermates is more complex where they learn to inhibit biting, and start reacting appropriately to distress vocalization of littermates.
• Puppies need to play with other dogs because it teaches them body posture to communicate dominance, submission, play solicitation, and care-seeking.
• It is important for puppies to be with their littermates and their mother during the first portion of socialization, as the interactions between the dam and her puppies provides information about social behavior.
• Mothers will discipline a puppy when the puppy becomes too rough or too demanding.
• The mother will use growls, body posture, or muzzle bites.
• A dog reprimand can be very loud and aggressive with no marks left on the puppy
• California state law requires puppies to remain with their mother until 8 weeks of age, with 7-9 weeks being optimal.
• Frequent human handling is also important, but puppies need to remain with their species to develop species-specific communication and social behaviors
• Mothers will start weaning at 3-4 weeks of age and complete it by 7-9 weeks of age.
• Mothers will start to walk away as puppies are nursing, allowing short periods to nurse, and spend more time away from the litter.
• The time away from the mother teaches self-confidence in the puppies and allows the development of independence from their mother.
• The mother is still an important source of comfort and discipline for the puppies until 8 weeks of age

Placement In New Homes

• The later part of socialization (after 7-9 weeks) is the best time to be placed in a new home and away from their littermates and mother
• Puppies removed too early may lack the ability to communicate and interact normally with other dogs because they need that time with mom and litter time.
• Too early weaning may cause the puppy to become too oriented to humans and predispose them to overattachment issues later in life.
• Puppies who remain with their mother and have no interaction with humans until 14 weeks of age will have a difficult time socializing, show extreme fear, and also be more difficult to train even as an adult.
• It's important for the puppy to have frequent and positive interactions with humans during the socialization period
• The latter half of the socialization period (after 8 weeks) is the best time for a puppy to go to the new home, so they will shift the social attachments of the littermates and mothers to humans and other mammals in the new home.
• If the puppy is the only pet in the household, interaction with other dogs is still important for development
• Puppies show the highest level of curiosity and a lower level of hesitancy or fear of new stimuli at 3-5 weeks of age, gradually starting to show some uncertainty about new people, objects, or situations after 5 weeks.
• At 8-10 weeks of age, they can show the most uncertainly, which is the period referred to as "fear imprint“.
• Proper socialization results in fearful or apprehensive dogs, so care should be taken to not expose puppies to any traumatic event during this period when they are usually brought into their new home.
• Proper socialization procedures include: Proper socialization results in a dog who can form social attachments to other dogs and humans, adapts well to new situations, does not react fearfully to new stimuli, and is responsive to training
• Inadequate socialization in a puppy can result in a dog who does not form strong attachments, is susceptible to stress, and is abnormally threatened by new situations, people, or dogs.
• Puppies can benefit from continued socialization during the juvenile period, like having a puppy in a class with other puppies (puppy kindergarten), and by getting positive experience getting treats from the veterinarian

Dogs- Juvenile period (secondary socialization)

• The juvenile period extends from the end of primary socialization to sexual maturity
• A period of refining existing capability and increasing coordination as the dog matures physically
• Motor skills become more coordinated and adult-like, and attention span gradually increases
• Permanent teeth replace deciduous teeth at 4-5 months of age and Canine permanent teeth at 6 months of age are fully erupted
• At 3-5 months, puppies increase exploratory behaviors as they become more confident and independent
• Female dogs become sexually mature at 6-16 months of age, and male dogs become sexually mature at 10-12 months of age, depending on size and breed
• Dogs will continue to develop social behaviors and change until 10 months or older
• With puberty, androgen-facilitated behaviors in males, such as urine marking, aggression, inclination to roam, and mounting, can occur
• Territory, protective, and dominant aggression develops after sexual maturity in both males and females

Cats-Developmental Behavior

• Cats have not been as well studied as dogs in behavior, though they are altricial which means they are born relatively immature and helpless.
• They are born with eyes and ears closed, relatively immobile, and dependent on mother and other kittens for warmth
• Tactile stimulation by the mother is necessary for the stimulation of urination and defecation
• Newborns are born with a developed sense of touch and olfaction (smell), which they use this to find the mother and her nipples to nurse

Cats- Neonatal period (0-2 weeks)

• The rooting reflex, characterized by a swimming motion with the front legs as the back legs push forward toward the warm stimulus, is triggered by maternal licking.

• Starts when finding a teat for the meal

• Cats make a treading motion of the front legs against the mammary gland to aid in stimulating milk secretion

• Kittens develop nipple preferences using scent as a cue, which will last until weaning

• Scruff reflex: the mother picks up the kitten by the loose skin at the base of the neck, and the kitten becomes limp and remains almost completely motionless Allows mother move kittens to a new location out of danger, the reflex can persist into adolescence, or when cats are adults

• Kittens can purr and have a high-pitched distress call.

• The neonatal kitten must be nursed most frequently during the first 2 weeks of life and then continues to decline until weaning

• The mother cat initiates feeding until about 3 weeks, then the kittens starts to feed for themselves

• The eyes of the kittens open 2-16 days after birth, and most open 7-10 days.

• Kittens born to young mothers open their eyes sooner than those of older mothers, and females open them sooner than males,

• Kittens that are handled by humans will open their eyes sooner than those who are not handled.

• By 3 weeks, kittens recognize their mother by slight

• Kittens are not able to see distance until 5 weeks

• Ear canals gradually open over 2 weeks, and kittens can get startled by loud noises as young as 5 days.

• Kittens have an adult cat-like orienting to sound by 4 weeks

• Deciduous teeth erupt starting at 2 weeks and continue until 5 weeks

• By 3 weeks, stimulation by the mother for urination and defecation is no longer required

• After 3 weeks, many neonatal behavioral patterns slowly disappear for kittens and are replaced by adolescent and adult behavior

• Kittens have an increase in mobility between 9-14 days, which corresponds to the opening of the eyes and ears

• At 4 weeks, kittens begin to run

• At 7 weeks, kittens have full adult locomotion

• Early handling of kittens by human caretakers can have long-term positive effects on behavior, because these effects include improvement in stress resistance, emotional stability, and learning capacity

• At 0-2 weeks, kittens will show rooting, suckling, nipple preference, response to touch and temperature changes, purring and crying, and limp response to scruff carrying by mother

• At 2-3 weeks, kittens will show opening eyes, respond to visual and auditory stimuli, crawl and walk, deciduous teeth erupt, and recognize the mother cat visually by 3 weeks

• At 3-4 weeks, kittens show improvement in mobility and coordination, begin to move away from the sleeping area to eliminate, begin to differentiate between types of feline vocalizations, exploratory play continues to develop, and social play begins

• At 5-6 weeks, kittens show air-righting reflexes perfected, gaping in response to strong odors, lateral display with piloerection toward threat stimuli fully developed, and weaning begins

• At 6-8 weeks, kittens show object play develops; social play begins to decline; competition between siblings during object play and predatory learning develop; increased observation of mother's predatory and prey manipulation

• 2-7 weeks is a sensitive period of socialization where sensitive primary social attachments and behaviors starts to form and therefore interactions with kittens, mother cat, and caretakers are important

Cat-Sensitive Period of Socialization

• The sensitive period of socialization was originally called the critical period and is an age range during which a young animal becomes capable of responding to certain types of stimuli, and exposure to these stimuli influences long-term behaviors
• For kittens, the socialization period is 2-7 weeks of age
• If there is no human interaction with a kitten before 8 weeks of the kittens become fearful or unfriendly towards humans
• Handling by humans for 30 minutes a day starting before 4 weeks of age most likely results in a cat who is friendly and outgoing towards humans.
• At 7-14 weeks of age, increasing the amount of time each day a kitten was handled by a human had a greater effect on increasing the cat's sociability
• Kittens should form attachments with human caretakers as long as sufficient handling occurs during the first 2 months
• A cat's propensity to develop into a friendly and affectionate companion is affected by genetics
• The 2 common personalities in cats include outgoing confident and sociable, and relatively timid or shy
• Early handling by humans almost always improves a cat's degree of friendliness; kittens born to shy/timid parents are not easily socialized at an early age
• Kittens of outgoing parents commonly develop attachments to humans, even if handled later in kittenhood; The temperament of the male correlates with the temperament of the offspring even though he has no role in raising the offspring

Mother-Kitten Relationship

• The male is not usually involved after mating, in fact a solitary female cat will be the only influence on her kittens- However in a colony, where if a female cat is in a social group with other cats, the females of the entire group can have a role in raising the kittens

• The influence of the mother on her kittens is important for normal species-specific behavior

• After parturition, the mother will stay with her kitten for 24-48 hours where she encourages newborns to suckle by nuzzling and licking them

• She will then leave for short periods but will spend 90% of her time with the kittens

• When the mother returns to her litter, she will utter a characteristic "chirp" and then encourage the kittens to nurse

• If a kitten crawls away from the nest area and begins to cry, the mother will retrieve the kitten by the scruff and bring them back

• At 26-32 days of age, the free-living mothers will bring killed prey to the nest for the kittens to eat so they can start learning to eat solids

• Kittens with human caretakers should be offered kitten food at about this time in week 5, and the queen will bring live rodents to the nest for the kittens to manipulate and kill while being monitored

• Queens adapt her posture to prevent kittens from nursing when they approach her

• Natural weaning is over 4 or more weeks where there is a slow and gradual progression from complete dependence on the mother to social independence, usually by 8-9 weeks of age

• In human-controlled settings, the abrupt removal of kittens from their mother can have negative consequences on the kittens' health and behavior.

• Mothers give kittens important information about social behavior, predation, and play behavior

• Kittens without a mother are at higher risk of developing fearful or aggressive reactions to other cats and are reported to show impaired learning abilities

• Kittens will learn from watching their mother or other adult cats. But they are more successful in learning the task if they can watch their mother

• A mother cat who is calm and friendly towards humans reduces anxiety in kittens and encourages them to explore new areas and interact with people

• Kittens will learn to be predators even if not taught by their mothers.

• Kittens will learn faster when taught by their mother; Kittens learn food preferences from their mothers and will start to eat solid food at 5 weeks. Kittens that weaned too late will be slower in developing predatory behavior.

• It's best to let the mother wean her kittens and for the kittens to stay with the mother until 8 weeks; a mother cat will have them weaned by this time, and human handling while with the mother is important

• California law states that kittens should stay with their mother until 8 weeks old.

Play Behavior in Kittens

• There types of play in kittens: exploratory (locomotion), social, and object play
• Play is important for a kitten's behavioral development, as exploratory play increases during the first 7 weeks along with the kitten's motor skills.
• Learning to jump, climb, and balance, in order to become agile adult is extremely important for cats
• Social play is play that includes littermates, mothers, or any other cat in the group and includes species-specific postures develop, like belly-up, standing over, pounce, and face-off.
• Biting is inhibited when used in social play and begins to decline as object play increases
• Object play develops once kittens have the eye-to-paw coordination needed to manipulate small objects or toys and uses predatory skills, with object play increasing as it continues
• Then will they sniff, lick, and circle objects and then touch them with a paw, bat, pounce on, toss in the air, grasp, and bite the object