Puppy Socialisation

Puppy socialisation should be an ongoing part of your puppy training. The puppies should not all be free to run around together at one time. This can terrify a nervous puppy and it allows over confident pups to learn the wrong dog etiquette.

Puppy training classes should incorporate socialisation throughout your training. This is such a massive topic and it continues for the life of your dog to some degree. Everything new your puppy meets, sees or hears is all part of the socialisation process.

Watch this Video

Watch this short video here to show you how to help your puppy overcome any nervousness around things.

Your puppy needs to get positive associations with everything it comes across, particularly in the early days. Pup will already be used to household noises, if the breeder has kept them in the family home. This doesn’t mean your house won’t have different noises though.

The Early Days are so Important

What happens to puppy in the early days will affect puppy for life. Puppy training classes should help you to follow this on in a positive way.

In a puppy training class, puppy will meet new people and pups. This should be managed appropriately, ensuring no pup is overwhelmed, but likewise ensuring any over confident pup learns some dog etiquette.

Keep Good Control

Meeting people and other dogs should all be in a controlled way. You don’t want puppy to think every person it sees is for them to run up and get attention from. In the park your puppy needs to be under your control. Not every dog wants to meet your puppy. Not every person wants to meet your puppy or have your puppy jumping up at them.

There are so many dangers with a puppy that thinks it can run up to anyone it sees or run over to any dog it sees. Dog law is much stricter than ever before. If your puppy jumps up at someone in the park and the person is scared of dogs, you could find yourself in serious trouble.

Think carefully about dog theft. How easy is it to steal a puppy that runs up to anyone it sees.

Be sure your puppy training involves a lot of recall training. Understand your pup’s motivators and be sure not to leave these lying around the house for free play.

Puppy socialisation is about positive interactions, not being anxious and nervous, but it is not about being free to run up to every person or dog.

Introduce Puppy to Many Things – correctly and safely

In puppy training classes you should get opportunity to learn correct puppy play and pup should be introduced to many different things, such as high vis vests, wheels, umbrellas, bags, people wearing glasses and so on.

It’s important that pup learns how to meet people by keeping all 4 feet on the floor and not jumping up.

Don’t let puppy become overwhelmed. Some puppies will be confident and happy to be stroked by anyone, but some puppies may be a little more reserved and need more support and encouragement to meet people. Watch your puppy’s body language. If your puppy is showing signs of nervousness or anxiety, don’t force it to be stroked by people, let puppy take it’s own time to come forward and say hello.

Make sure people get down to pup’s level and give pup a stroke under the chin, not looming over their head.

Barking

A puppy, if overwhelmed, may bark at things. Pup usually then gets removed from the thing it is barking at and often attention from the owner as you try to reassure. This then encourages pup, that when they see something they don’t like, barking at it will make it go away. This can lead to long term problems and aggression.

Puppy Socialisation is for Life

Socialisation continues throughout your dog’s life. Anything new might need careful management as your dog takes his/her journey with you through life.

I remember a customer once asking me to help with her dog, because since they moved house, he had suddenly started reacting to something. They had no idea what, but every so often, this usually confident dog, would suddenly show signs of being scared and start barking.

Breaking everything down throughout the day, we discovered that the new house had a saniflo system and everytime someone flushed the basement toilet it freaked the dog out. This dog was 5 at this point. Every days a learning day. Support, encourage but don’t overwhelm.

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