12/01/2023
Let’s go back to a parking lot observation session with puppy Seeya 🥹 to remind you that ….✏️ Puppy socializing isn’t solely about a magical checklist of people to meet and dogs to introduce your puppy to. 📝
Socializing your puppy is about confident, safe exposures to all that life has to offer and helping them tackle it with joy, enthusiasm and confidence.
Socializing your puppy is about helping them see dogs, people etc. and making good choices, remaining neutral and comfortable. Forced interactions and overwhelming a puppy forces them to make poor life choices so they can feel safe.
Socialization looks like helping your puppy confidently navigate different floorings & textures under their feet. Socialization looks like taking your puppy into elevators and through automatic sliding doors. Socialization looks like taking your puppy through a car wash 🧽.
Socialization looks like taking your puppy to safely watch,from a comfortable distance, a construction site 🏗. Socialization looks like walking by or sitting & observing a school during daily pickup and watching children.
Socialization looks like learning how to confidently handle grooming, veterinary care, toenail trims, emergency holds etc.
Socialization looks like exposing your puppy to different sounds, different animals (farms, birds, cows, goats etc), and vehicles etc. It can look like taking your puppy for a ride in a wagon, smashing pop cans, playing in a tub of plastic bottles. Socialization can look like helping your puppy realize the puppy in the mirror is just them.
There is SO much more to socializing your puppy than dog parks, doggie day care, meeting 100 people, meeting 50 dogs and finding a human with an umbrella.
Socialization is about helping your puppy see the world through an appropriate, confidence filled lens. It is about helping your puppy learn that they can remain calm, polite and behave appropriately in a variety of situations. Proper socialization helps teach your puppy that you have their back and will protect and advocate for them.
Proper socialization helps your puppy become a well established adult dog. And after all…. That’s what we all want when we set out to socialize our puppies/young dogs.
Prioritize confidence.
Prioritize observations Vs interactions.
Prioritize experiences.
…and remember raising a puppy is hard work. You’re doing great. We all feel overwhelmed at times. You’re doing great.
