As a kid, I used to watch cartoons. I remember they showed ducklings who had just hatched imprinting on the first thing they would see, thinking that it’s their “mama”. Little did I know that this could happen with puppies too. PetHelful.com explains rightly, “Imprinting describes the way in which [animals] identify the first being they encounter after hatching as their mother.”

Mary Burch, Ph.D., Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, told PetMD, “Puppies can imprint on people. The imprinting period for puppies is between three- and 12-weeks-old.”