Simple Summary New dog owners are given a plethora of advice on how to socialise their
puppy, but such advice is often outdated and based on very few experimental studies. The
resulting inadequate socialisation can lead to behavioural problems in adult dogs. This
review aims to describe all relevant literature regarding canine socialisation. Many of the 29
studies identified were retrospective owner-filled questionnaires, which are susceptible to
bias. Few modern studies experimentally investigated the effects of different socialisation�…

There are over 10 million pet dogs in the UK alone, and they have become a member of
modern human families. If not properly socialised as puppies, dogs have a higher risk of
problematic behaviours during adulthood, yet socialisation studies are lacking. Much of the
experimental research was carried out at least 50 years ago, and the importance of
socialisation was demonstrated so clearly that further studies with unsocialised controls
would be deemed unethical. In this review, the aim was to evaluate all literature relevant to�…