Socialisation
Socialisation is the act of exposing your puppy to as many different sights, sounds, textures, smells, environments, people, animals in the socialisation window, which closes at around 16 weeks of age. In this time it is important for your puppy to have as many positive experiences with their world as possible – to teach them that their environment is a safe place to be. Proper socialisation can prevent a dog from being fearful of children, for example, or of riding in a car. It will help towards them developing into a well-mannered, emotionally sound companion.
To help you out, I’ve composed an extensive checklist for you to go through with your pup, to make sure you’ve not missed anything – it’s in your Socialisation Email. Print it out and start ticking items off today!
Even if your puppy is outside of this window now, it’s still worth reading on. Much of this advice applies to the duration of your dog’s lifetime in relation to dog to dog contact and play.
HOW TO SOCIALISE YOUR PUPPY
Introduce your puppy to new sights, sounds, and smells: To a puppy, the whole world is new, strange, and unusual, so think of everything they encounter as an opportunity to make a new, positive association. Try to come up with as many different types of people, places, noises, and textures as you can and expose your puppy to them. That means - for instance - having them walk on carpet, sand, hardwood, gravel, tile, and vinyl floors, meet young older people, someone using a wheelchair and using a cane, a person with a beard, wearing sunglasses, a hood, and using an umbrella. Think of it as a scavenger hunt. Use your checklist for puppy socialisation to keep on track.
Make it positive: Most importantly, when introducing all of these new experiences to your puppy, make sure they are getting an appropriate amount of treats and praise. As a result, your dog will associate what they are being exposed to with the feeling of seeing something new being a fun experience. Break treats into really small pieces that will be easy for your puppy to digest. Be careful of dogs you do not know – their guardians may say they are friendly, but you are playing Russian roulette if you don’t know for sure, people aren’t always the most truthful judges of their own beloved pets. Be your puppy’s advocate and keep them safe – a negative experience now could knock them back for life and is often why I’m contacted for behavioural consults later on.
Involve the family: By having different people take part in the socialisation process, you will continuously move the puppy just out of their comfort zone. That lets the dog know that they might experience something new, no matter who they are with. Make it a fun game for kids by having them take part in ticking off your socialisation list!
Take baby steps: Try to avoid doing too much, too fast. For instance, if you want your puppy to get accustomed to being handled by multiple people they do not know, start with a few family members and slowly integrate one stranger, then two, and so on. Starting this process by taking your puppy to a huge party or a very busy public place can be overwhelming and result in a fearful response to groups of strangers in the future. Continuously watch your puppy to see how they are coping – even if you think something is easy peasy, your puppy may not feel the same – and that’s what’s important here – how your puppy feels. If they seem scared, or overwhelmed, don’t push it, let them have some space from the New Thing and explore at a pace they’re comfortable with. If you are concerned that they seem overly anxious about their environment, please contact me for advice.
Take it public: Once your puppy is used to a small amount of stimuli, move outside of their comfort zone and expand the amount of new experiences they’ll have. Take them to the pet store (after they have started their vaccination series), over to a friend’s house for a canine playdate, on different streets in the neighbourhood, and so on. At 7 to 10 days after the dog has received their full series of puppy vaccinations, you can safely let their feet touch the ground. Until then you will need to carry your puppy around new places.
Go to puppy classes: Once your puppy has started vaccinations, they can also attend puppy classes. These classes not only help your pet begin to understand basic cues, but they also expose them to other canines, people and objects. Skilled trainers will mediate the meetings so that all dogs and people are safe and happy during the process, it shouldn’t be a free-for-all.
GUIDELINES FOR SOCIALISING PUPPIES
Puppies can socialise with other puppies and safe dogs from just one week after their first vaccination - in your garden, or house - or the other owner’s garden or house.
How to pick a playmate: If you are choosing a puppy to meet with from your class, try to pick a pup which has a similar confidence level and size/type/play style, to your own. I.e. if you have a shy toy breed, don’t pick an exuberant Labrador to meet with! (If you want any tips from me on which pups would be best together, from your course, feel free to send me an email.)
First meetings: Often, when puppies meet, one puppy is more wary or cautious than the other. The cautious puppy may turn away, assume a low posture, have tail down or ears back - or attempt to hide. Whichever puppy is more wary, should be allowed to move away and should not be forced to meet the other puppy. The more confident puppy, should be restrained on leash if necessary.
For owners of shy puppies: Be patient and give it time, chat to each other and try not to put pressure on a timid puppy. They will acclimatise to the situation given time, and soon begin to show signs of curiosity! Don’t drag puppies that are hiding out from under furniture, or keep putting them down right by the more confident pup - let them watch from a distance, if they want to. To create confident puppies, we need timid puppies to learn that they are in control and they can move away if they want to. If you keep plonking next to what they are scared of, they will not feel in control of the situation.
For owners of more confident puppies: Do not let more confident puppies approach and encroach on the space of timid puppies. If you own the more confident puppy in an encounter, watch the other puppy. Are they showing signs of trying to avoid or get away from your puppy? If so, don’t give your puppy more and more lead so they can continue to encroach - hold your puppy back away from the timid puppy and let the timid puppy decide to come to you. How to restrain the more confident pup? A simple way is by putting the more confident pup (only) on lead, leaving the timid pup free to move in and away.
What about noise and barking from shy puppies? Barking when meeting another puppy or dog is very common. The most common cause of it is frustration and the conflict that arises from that. You’ll know if you have this sort of barking, because it will be accompanied by dancing around at a little distance from the other puppy. Sometimes the pup may go forwards to meet the other pup, and then might dash away again.
The barking puppy wants to meet the other puppy, and is curious and wants to get closer - but also is still a little worried and so wants to stay away. This creates ambivalence and conflict - and frustration. The frustration results in barking. It also results in conflicted movements - running in, and then running away again.
This is a phase and, after a few more minutes or so, the barking will stop when the pup stops being afraid and begins to meet and interact with the other pup up close. When the conflict disappears, so will the frustration - and the barking!
During this phase of barking and jumping about at a distance, it’s important not to let the more confident pup approach the conflicted pup - the more confident pup should be on lead. The ‘conflicted' pup is only going to grow in confidence, if she learns she can move away when she wants to. Learning you can escape, means that you feel more confident about exploring the scary other puppy!
Even once the pups meet and interact, the more wary pup may try to break off and run in a loop before returning to engage in play with the other on-lead pup. I call these ‘puppy fly-bys’ - puppies zoom in, make contact and zoom off again, often running in a circle and then back in to engage again. Again, this is a puppy testing out that they can escape and then growing in confidence. The fly-bys will get shorter and shorter…..
When to interrupt play? It is best to be cautious: There’s nothing to be lost by ending play earlier than it needs to be ended. But there can be a lot of harm done, if play isn’t ended when it should be, and goes on too long. So, if in doubt, err on the side of interrupting and/or ending play.
We don’t want puppies to learn to become bullies (gaining pleasure from squishing other puppies) or victims (forced to use aggression to ‘get rid’ of the unwanted other puppy).
If you see play becoming unequal - ever - then immediately interrupt it. Watch the videos above for moments when we need to intervene. Make sure that all parties involved are happy and that play is consensual and not inflicted on each other.
If you see play go ‘up a gear’, interrupt it. This means that the interactions between the dogs suddenly start happening faster and faster. There may be more vocalisation (or there may not). If you have a terrier-breed, you will need to be even more cautious - terriers are quick to tip from normal play into reactivity, that if you see play getting faster or more heated, interrupt it and be very conservative. Give everyone a chance to calm down.
Protect your puppy! If you allow your puppy to meet random strange dogs out on walks, you are playing Russian roulette: Sooner or later, your puppy WILL have a bad experience. Once that has happened, it will frequently make a long-lasting negative impact on a puppy within the socialisation period.
Do not entrust your puppy’s future happiness and sociability to whoever you happen to come across when out and about! Pick your puppy up if you see a strange dog approaching, and walk off in the opposite direction. Better to have one less socialisation experience, than to risk a bad one.
Meanwhile, your puppy does need to meet other dogs - but in a manageable and controlled way whilst still within the socialisation period (up to 14-16 weeks). It is best to be very deliberate and to ‘arrange’ these socialisation encounters with dogs belonging to friends, family - or classmates - that you know are ok with other dogs. And then to both be present to supervise things closely and intervene where necessary.
Allowing your dog to play too rough or for too long, with other dogs in puppyhood and adolescence, isn’t a good idea.
They can learn that this sort of play is The Best Thing Ever and seek it out even if other dogs don’t want to participate (Becoming a bully). They can find you comparatively boring and become bog-off dogs - always seeking out other dogs for play sessions when you are out. This can make training difficult.
So, once your pup is over the age of 16wks, don’t go out of your way to seek out other dogs for playmates if they are well-socialised. Focus on training and bonding with you.