Choosing Your Ability to Socialize a Puppy. When a puppy is eight to sixteen weeks old it is in a critical stage of its life. This two month period is when a puppy is socialized with people. Conceptually speaking, socialization is the process the puppy goes through that acquaints him with the word in a way that he becomes a confident, well-adjusted adult. If this process is completed successfully, you will have the dog you are probably hoping for right now. But if you do poorly with this task, your dog may grow up to be shy or fearful. This can result in a dog that bites because he is frightened by the world around him, or with some other problem with his temperament. Some breeds need more time and effort devoted to socialization than others. A typical family can usually provide average socialization experiences to a puppy as a result of their normal daily activities. This includes things like new sounds (for example, running the vacuum cleaner or garbage disposer), having new guests to your home, and so forth. If you have a very quiet lifestyle, then unless you make an extra effort, you may not be able to provide an average level of socialization. If you have a very active life you may be able to provide an above average level of socialization. People with this lifestyle may have multiple children who continuously bring home friends offering the many opportunities to meet new people. This level of socialization would also include taking the puppy out on a regular basis so he has new experiences. A report designed to help you socialize a puppy is included as an added bonus with this eBook. The second screen of the breed selector lets you indicate how much time and effort you are willing to devote to socializing a puppy. Once you make your choice the Breed Selector will automatically exclude the breeds that require more socialization than you feel you are able to provide. Note, if you have decided to get an adult dog the socialization period is over and you should choose the "VERY HIGH" option. This will result in more breeds being considered in the next step. After making your choice, click the "Next" button. Choosing the Traits You Want. The third screen of the Breed Selector is where you enter the list of traits you previously made. If you didn't make the list of the traits you want in a dog, simply choose them on this screen. For best results, choose the four to six traits most important to you by putting a check in the box to the left of the description of that trait. The fewer traits you select, the more dog breeds you will likely have to choose between. If the Breed Selector does not find any breeds that match all of the traits you chose, you can remove one or more checked traits from this screen to increase the likelihood of a match. If the Breed Selector has too many recommendations for you, you can come back to this screen and choose one or more additional traits you would like to have in your dog to reduce the number of breeds recommended. Once you have chosen the traits that are most important to you click the "Next" button. If you want to remove all the checked traits and start choosing your traits over again, you can click the "Reset" button.