19/02/2022
Puppy socialisation ( choose the right dogs for your puppy )
As a dog behaviouralist I’m seeing this to often ….
Choosing the right dogs for your puppy to play with when you first start to go out is so important.
Choose the dogs and right environment you want to socialise your new puppy with is of utmost importance, if you have a choice of plenty of space and fields and you have your new precious puppy with you , please try to find the right dog that’s not going to upset of distress your new puppies first experience in the big new world out there and even if you don’t have the space and your in a smaller area then with a large dog or a reactive dog coming your way , change direction, cross the rd or say to the other owner your not going to stop , if your new puppy has a few bad experiences to start with this can have a big impact on his / hers confidence and can effectively ruin what could be a happy confident dog into a nervous /aggressive dog when it gets older , remember to be that strong leader that your puppy needs , fight or flight is important and as they are on lead you must make that decision to take flight for your puppy to feel they have confidence in you to take control of situations as they are not able to , it’s really not necessary to meet every dog out there let your dog realise it’s not going to stop at every dog ,this also will become a problem as when your dog is off lead it will run up to every dog out there thinking this is what it should do and not every dog owner wants a puppy charging up to its dog on lead ( remember the dog on lead code 👍)
Example….
A German shepherd was off lead playing ball very happily with his owner in a gated field , there was a choice of many fields to go in but this young lad decided to bring his beautiful new very young puppy and take it off lead into this field with an off lead German shepherd! Is this a good decision? Is this a good choice as a dog owner? for your new precious baby to be up against! Would you pick a fight with Mike Tyson? Would you put your small son in a boxing ring with a professional fighter , stonger more powerful! He didn’t ask is your dog friendly, or wait for the owner to put his shepherd on lead of course it would be the owner of the shepherd that would have to pay the bill if your poor puppy got hurt but think about the lasting effects on your puppy , please think and ask before putting your puppy in that situation. Luckily the happy well trained minding his own business German shepherd didn’t do any physical damage but it probably really scared this small puppy when it went charging 100 miles per hour towards the dog when it spotted it ,luckily the shepherd owner had good control of his dog and was able to put him on lead with good recall but the puppy looked & acted petrified !! this is his owners fault he put him in that situation and that’s not fair on his puppy .
Please think about the appropriate dog for your lovely new puppy as it can have terrible consequences in the long term , I have gone to many jobs now where peoples dogs have had similar experiences and worse and I feel it’s time the dog owners need to take responsibility for what they re doing to there new puppies as not all dogs are good with puppies , not all dogs are calm , not all dogs have had the perfect start in life and are still being trained and can be aggressive even on lead so don’t presume everyone’s dog wants to say hello nicely to your lovely new puppy .
Think…. is this the right dog for my puppy ? Ask the owner first - is your dog friendly from a distance ? Walk away from the bigger stronger dogs or the dogs that don’t look friendly ,size doesn’t always come into it , also dogs on lead (don’t let your puppy run up to them ) while your puppy is young this is so important and not ever should you allow your dog to run up to a dog on lead . Older dogs don’t want a puppy jumping all over them as well .
Please look after your new puppies well being and end the walk on a positive note each time , this way you will have a happy confident dog that will be excited to go on his next walk and not a terrified puppy that’s afraid of the big scary world out there . Be that strong leader your puppy needs you to be 💪🐕🐾
