21/09/2021
This is a great post and well worth a read 🐶
Don’t Over Socialise Your Dog…
We often have this perception of Socialising as letting our dog, play with as many dogs as possible at a young age so it’s friendly.
This is actually probably the biggest (unspoken) mistake we make as pet owners.
Play is just a very small part and probably the least important part of socialising.
First we must teach dogs to ignore dogs, using leads, rewarding them for breaks in focus from other dogs, teaching them, YOU are way more fun then other dogs.
Creating breed fulfilment is a great relationship builder and great to use whilst dogs are in the background.
For example: fetch with a retriever, scent games with a spaniel, tug of war with a terrier or flirt pole etc… you be the one who starts and stops it.
Next part of socialising with dogs is to teach them to be calm and well mannered. Find a club, pack walk or a friend and go for a walk, make sure these are on lead and calm.
If the dogs are compatible let them meet for a brief second, face to ass, not face to face and keep it to a 3 second rule.
Remember Quality is far more important then quantity when it comes to socialising with dogs.
Remember dogs need to first be exposed to well mannered and calm dogs, this is often why (unless run properly) we don’t advise puppy classes.
Remember if your dog is knocked over, jumped on, bullied at a young age, because you think they just need to learn and get on with it or you can’t read play, this will leave a very negative, long lasting imprint on them and usually around the 6-12month mark, reactivity is born and/or extreme fear as a result.
As a rule I never let my dogs play with strange dogs, especially if they come running across the feild as the owner screams “it’s ok he is friendly” this means they have no control, they haven’t taught a basic recall, don’t understand that not all dogs are compatible and therefore you can bet your bottom dollar, they won’t be able to read body language or stop a dog fight if it happens, so why would I ever expose my dog to that, it’s asking for trouble.
Let your dogs play with dogs you know are trained, responsive and compatible with your dogs.
Don’t forget, socialising with dogs is only part of socialising, humans next then we will tackle environmental socialising, stay tuned…
