After adopting a dog, you find yourself Googling to answer to almost every question that pops into your head.
First-time dog owners can become paranoid over the strangest of things - such as whether their has taken too many or too few toilet trips that day.
But according to a vet, most owners have been making a huge mistake with their dogs, which could be the reason for their training or behavioural issues.
Taking to Reddit, one vet has explained the common mistake owners make when welcoming a new puppy into their home.
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They said: "Not letting your dogs around other dogs until they have all their vaccines.
"Their socialisation window closes about 14 weeks, meaning it is pretty much closed if you wait until 16 weeks.
"This causes a lot of dogs to go nuts and freak out whenever they see something they didn't see during that period."
While urging owners to socialise their new puppies in a safe environments, they warned them against taking their dog to a park or open space commonly used by dog walkers.
"They need to be around other dogs and other people in controlled situations - puppy socialisation classes, friends houses," they added.
"Make sure the dogs they are around are healthy, vaccinated, and good with puppies and let them have positive experiences with other dogs and people. Obviously never get behind on their vaccines while you're doing this."
To accustom a puppy to different people and 'unknown' objects, the vet says owners should introduce them to their "tall friends, friends of different races and friends with beards, hats and sunglasses".
They added: "Pull out the broom, an umbrella, an iron board while giving them treats and having fun the whole time.
"Try to let them walk on slick floors, bricks and carpet so they won't have fears of those things - and always happy.
"Every happy, positive interaction with something makes them less afraid. Every lack of exposure, or negative interaction, makes them more afraid.
"Your dog is your friend, not your slave. Your goal is not to make him do exactly whatever you want no matter what. It's to make him have good manners, but also let him have his own preferences, too.
"You're not training him like he's in the circus to do a bunch of stuff for your amusement. You're teaching him how to move safely in the world, which means not doing something - biting, urinating in the house, jumping uncontrollably - that will be a threat to his life some day.
"More dogs are surrendered and euthanized for behaviour reasons than any other reason."
When asked how an owner can socialise an older dog who missed this step during their puppyhood, the vet advised the 'classical conditioning' technique.
The vet added: "Most training relies on operant conditioning, which is the 'when you do desired action X, I give you a reward'.
"Classical conditioning does not rely on a given action or cue, so it's less intuitive.
"You'll often hear lies like 'If they're scared, don't give them a treat, you'll reward the fear.' This is not true, especially when it comes to emotional responses in dogs."
Do you have a dog story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
