Is 4 months too late to socialize a puppy?

It’s not too late but it’s important for you to be careful with your socialization strategy. If we’re talking about dogs over 6-7 months you’ve missed the critical time period when puppies are most impressionable because, even though they’re still young, your pup is starting to move into adolescence. This is when anxiety starts to present when they start to form preferences, and when it’s okay for them to have those preferences! By 7-8 months you’ve started to lose that flexibility that comes with a younger pup’s impressionability and it’s important for you to not force interactions. Ideally socializing your puppy when they’re still within the impressionable stage is best but you’re not necessarily too late either! It’s about shifting from quantity of socialization to quality. Socializing doesn’t necessarily mean interaction: Don’t force interactions after a dog is 7-8 months if they’re still hesitant to be social. Know when it’s better to limit social time: Just like humans, dogs get less social as they get older. If your pup doesn’t have the social need and they’re not successfully socializing with other dogs it can be helpful to think about why you want your pup to socialize.