🐶🐶 What is Socialisation? 🐶🐶
We have all seen socialisation lists. Tick lists of all the things your puppy should have seen before they are 12 weeks old..
Postman
Pushchair
Cow
Man with beard
Baby etc etc
Whilst we want our pups to have plenty of good social experiences, following a list is not enough, and can actually be damaging
Effective socialisation means looking at the puppy as an individual. What do they really need?
Good socialisation is
Making the puppy feel safe and secure
Keeping them relaxed
Making it enjoyable
Keeping it calm
Maintaining their connection with you
FORGET THE WALK!
Your puppy might need to spend several days on your drive before they are ready to venture onto the pavement
Take it very slow
Hold your lead lightly (but keep safe)
Let them stop, sniff and watch
Advocate for your puppy
If they are worried, move away from the scary thing
Remember we are looking for quality over quantity, so one or two calm meetings with quiet
dogs/people are better than 50 excited greetings
Safeguard their optimism
Think what your puppy needs to help them learn to walk calmly on a lead. If you take it slow from day 1, loose lead walking will be SO much easier to achieve!
If you want to be number 1 in your dog’s world, don’t encourage them to say ‘Hi’ to everyone, and every dog, they meet
A HUGE part of what we call socialisation is actually habituation. Getting used to environments. Walking on different surfaces, smelling different smells, seeing new things and hearing new sounds..
Remember also that this process is not finished after the puppy stage. You need to keep it up!
Here is Keeva showing how brave she is at 9 weeks old..
She is now 2 years old and I have noticed she is worried by bridges and large expanses of open flooring. A classic case of not keeping up the habituation process through adolescence! We are taking it slow and revisiting our confidence building again
So the message is WATCH your puppy and ask ‘
🥓🥓 THE BREAKFAST RECALL 🍳🍳
Explanation time…
My new game we played last night was a reminder that with Recall you get what you pay for!
Coming when called can be really difficult for your dog, often the environment is offering a much better reward than we are
Here’s what your dog might be thinking
Biscuit or SQUIRREL? (Hahaha)
Pat on the head (which I don’t like!) or SNIFFS
‘Good Dog’ or CHASE with another pal (nah)
Cheese or COW PAT (hmm tricky one)
There is more to training a good recall than the quality of your ‘rewards’. We teach it through games, patterns and play too, but it is worth the occasional top up with an AMAZING and unexpected delicious PRIZE!!
Last night we did some send aways to food bowls with recalls back to owner. Nothing unusual there, BUT we massively increased the rewards randomly.
So it looked a bit like this:
Kibble Meaty Treat. Biscuit. Fried Egg. Treat..Half a Sausage ..
Don’t get me wrong, sausage, bacon and fried bread are not health foods and they might not suit your dog, but occasionally (maybe a couple of times a week) and weird and wonderful jackpot can make all the difference
Interestingly we did a taste test at the end and Summer the Setter chose fried bread over bacon (much to Folie the Spaniel’s amazement). So experiment away, maybe your dog likes pizza or a boiled egg?
As always, have fun with your dog!
My lovely Maddie
She turned 14 last month!
She is on no medication, she has beautiful white teeth and fresh breath (never been cleaned), she is slim and still well muscled for age
What is her secret?
I would say top of the list is a varied, fresh diet! She is fed mainly on a complete raw diet. I do swap in other premium wet foods like Forthglade trays sometimes, and will occasionally feed some premium dry food (kibble).
She gets either a raw meaty bone or a natural chew everyday. This might be something big like a knucklebone that comes out for an hour and then goes back in the fridge, or a beef rib, raw turkey neck designed to be eaten in one sitting!
If I haven’t got a fresh chew, she might get beef collagen, a moon bone, or even a fish flattie.
I never feed rawhide
I never feed artificial bones eg Nylabone
I also avoid anything with unknown ingredients like vegetable and animal derivatives
She gets plenty of rest and down time to potter in the garden, vary where she sleeps etc
I have noticed as she has got older she enjoys an orthopaedic mattress a lot more - like me she probably feels a bit stiff if she sleeps on the floor too long😂
We don’t walk when it’s hot. Old dogs find it a particular drain on their energy
I also take extra care to dry her if it’s wet and will sometimes pop a fleece on her when we get back from a walk to keep her muscles warm
She loves her walks and still hunts, sniffs and scavenges when she can! She is basically allowed to be a dog!
She gets old dog privileges. She is senior dog now and gets to sleep on the living room sofa with us in the evenings
I do look out for her more now. She wouldn’t enjoy being jumped on by another dog and is probably feeling a bit more vulnerable
She also wasn’t spayed until she was 8 years old - there does seem to be some evidence creeping in that female dogs DO suffer a form of menopause after being spayed. Hormones have a wider role than just controlling ovulation. I realise the
🐾🐾 That freshly-made bed feeling😆
Puppy spam!!
My memory from 7 years ago! My litter of puppies enjoying some enrichment! It’s not a great video, but I hope shows how important it is for your chosen breeder to be giving the babies in their care lots of different experiences. These pups are about 4 weeks old
🐇🐇🐇 RABBIT CHALLENGE 🎄🐇🐇
I am so excited to try out this present on my next Puppy School Course!!
❄️🎄🤶🎅 MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎄🎉🤶🎅🎄
Wishing you all a very happy Christmas from Hillside Puppy School🎁
🎄❄️Marching Goose Parade in Samoens🎄❄️
Turn up the sound for this one!
Not dogs this time, but I thought you all might like this bizarre tradition in this alpine town!
I’m not sure how the geese are trained, but the managed to keep in step regardless of children and dogs and a quick water stop!
🐾🐾 SUNDAY SPECIAL 🐾🐾
Go Round aka Wing Wrap
A simple video which I took yesterday for my Puppy High School class
You need nothing more than a dog, some rewards and a mop bucket/bin/cone
This video shows the first stage of teaching your dog to go round a distant object.
Stand within reaching distance of the object
Treat in hand/toy
Use the arm on the same side of your dog to lure whilst stepping forward with the same leg
Finish by bowling the treat along the floor for your dog to chase and eat (alternatively toss their toy and have a game with it)
Swap sides and repeat
Fade out the lure, using an empty hand to signal and toss treat after the turn
Slowly increase distance from the bin!
Why?
It’s fun
It helps teach directional signals
It teaches Left and Right (if you add a verbal cue)
It is a foundational skill for agility
It’s a cool trick to transfer to the outside environment
It might be dark out there but we can still have fun with our dogs!
🐾🐾 Welcome Home Orla! 🐾🐾🐾
A big shout out to Springwell Vets for looking after my precious girl so well!
Orla has just had a laparoscopic spay op this morning and we have literally just got home. For those considering getting their girls spayed there is a massive difference between the traditional spay and the laparoscopic version. Having witnessed the after effects of the former I certainly know which I would choose!
