when I socialize a puppy I take it to 1 new place everyday, whether it be my work, a friends house, an outdoor mall, a store, etc, and expose it to a minimum of 100 people a week; before 12 weeks of age is the most crutial time, but its important to continue regular socialization beyond that age.

the last 2 puppies I board & trained were 16 weeks old when they came to me, and pretty undersocialized, one mostly to people and the other mostly to loud noises but some people too. the contrast between beginning socialization at 8 or 10 weeks, and 14 or 16 weeks is HUGE. the puppies I boarded at 9 & 10 weeks almost never had any fear of novelties, whether it be busy traffic, loud noises, strangers, bikes, joggers, vacuums, etc etc, and when they did spook it was only very minor and the recovered almost immediately. When you start to socialize a dog past 12 weeks it become much much more difficult to change their minds about the world.

With Royal I started taking him out the day I got him at 7.5 weeks. His mom was healthy so he had antibodies from her milk plus his 1st DHLPP so the risk of infection was very slim, but I would avoid any common areas of disease such as the dog park, major pet stores, etc. I took him to outdoor malls, indoor malls, stores that allowed dogs (barnes & noble, fireworks, victoria's secret, hollywood video, ross, etc), parks, friends houses, the beach, downtown Seattle, etc etc. I encouraged him to approach and explore everything, and everyone of course wanted to meet and pet the cute fluffy puppy. lol He never ever balked at anything, and remains fearless and confident which is exactly the result I wanted.

Because of my work I had various dogs and puppies going in and out of my home while he was growing up too for him to play with and learn proper doggy social skills from. He also joined in on puppy play in all the group classes I assisted in, as well as our weekend play groups that I run. He literally had at least 1 other puppy to play with every single day from the day he was born until last week. He had experience with dogs of all ages, sizes and breeds. I took him to the dog park for the first time on Wednesday and was very pleased with how well he did. He was freaked out for the first 30 seconds or so but then opened right up and confidently approached and played with every other dog there.

As for training, believe it or not I havent done much obedience stuff. lol Personally I dont care how well trained my dogs are, as long as they have good manners. So he knows how to wait at the door and in his crate until I say "okay", he knows sit & down on hand signal, and will sit for getting his leash clipped on, and sit or down for his meals, he is 100% comfortable in his crate now (that took some work) and is completely alone trained (FINALLY), meaning he doesnt freak out when I leave the room, or when hes in his crate or ex-pen (that took a LOT of work lol), and his potty training is coming along well (had a minor set back after his UTI..), he doesnt counter surf, doesnt jump on the furniture, doesnt chew or eat stuff hes not supposed to (knows "ah-ah" means stop), doesnt guard toys or food from humans anymore, he can be manhandled ALL over his body and be bathed without a single bit of resistance, he knows his name and has a great casual recall. All in all he has been a joy and pretty easy. He has a great temperament and personality. I adore my little munchkin man!