Why Study Socialization?
Socialization is an integral part of development for all social animals, including canines, primates, and humans. Learning more about socialization and the mechanisms through which early experiences affect later behavior are important for many reasons. First, learning about social development is important because it is the context in which all other behaviors are observed in social species. Keeping the concepts of social development and socialization in mind while observing animal behavior can provide new insights as to why certain behaviors are performed. Also, understanding dog development is very useful. People who have pets can use knowledge regarding socialization processes to better train and raise their dogs. Dogs have coexisted and coevolved with humans for thousands of years, and they are thoroughly integrated into human society and serve humans in many capacities. Perhaps most importantly, knowledge gained from studying socialization and the development of social behavior may
