Puppy puppy puppy! We have a new puppy! We should take it to the off-leash dog park or beach for some “socialisation"..... right?!
I encourage you stop right there! Do you know that by doing this, you could unintentionally be setting your dog up for failure?
Most of us know of the importance of socialisation. But, what does "socialisation" REALLY mean? And, what’s the best way to go about it? The true meaning of socialisation in dog training is not just introducing our new puppy to other dogs, but introducing it to EVERYTHING that it will encounter in its lifetime, in a POSITIVE way. The list includes (but is not limited to) all of the sights and sounds it will encounter, all kinds of people, dogs, vets, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, fireworks, nail clippers...the list is endless. Much emphasis is put on meeting other dogs, but often we overlook the importance of ALL aspects of socialisation.
So how do we go about socialising our puppy to these things? Throwing our puppy in the deep end by overexposing it, and then expecting it to just “get used to it” is unfortunately not the answer. With each encounter, a dog can have a positive, neutral or negative experience. Negative experiences in puppy-hood can sadly have lifelong behavioural consequences for our dogs. To ensure that no negative experiences take place, we can ACTIVELY ensure that every experience is positive by controlling who and what our dog meets, and how they feel when they meet them. This means introducing your puppy only to dogs that are friendly and balanced, and avoiding any unknown dogs in a dog park or beach, where one negative experience could trigger fear learning in your puppy at its most vulnerable time, and cause behavioural issues to develop.
We can also pair experiences such as a visit to the vets, meeting a new person, a passing skateboard and so on, with yummy treats. This turns a neutral or potentially negative experience (such as an injection at the vets) into a strong positive experience. Building up positive experiences means that if your dog does have a negative experience when it is older, it will be much more resilient. Your dog will also be more confident overall.
Study up on dog body language and really get to know your pup. This way, when your pup is looking even slightly uncomfortable in a situation, you can remove it from the situation ASAP to avoid fear learning, and re-introduce it in a slow, calm and a positive way, before your dog starts to exhibit any signs of fear.
Savvy socialisation can be fun and easy. Just remember, always be your dog’s advocate and set your dog up to succeed!
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