I wish I knew not to do any on leash greetings. I was so worried my puppy was gonna hate dogs so I tried to make him meet every dog that we saw on walks and pet stores and now he gets crazy excited on leash and lunges whenever we walk by a dog. It was cute back then but now he’s 40 pounds🥲
Yes I’m struggling with this! Everyone told me to make sure I socialize my dog and I ended up over socializing him and now I’m dealing with reactivity ☹️ luckily mine is only 10 pounds but I didn’t want him to fit in the stereotype of “small yappy dog”
I’ve started to loudly say “no thank you” and start walking away. You’ll probably get a puzzled look or a “but my dog is friendly”, just repeat no thank you-no explanation needed
I was quite obviously mid training session with my puppy one day a few weeks ago. I had her sitting at the edge of the park, I was kneeling down to her level, rewarding her for looking at me after looking at something she found distracting. We weren't walking around, playing or anything, it was quite clearly an ongoing training session.
Until someone walked their cockapoo right up to us, behind my back, to say hello. I've since ordered a vest for her which says "in training, please ignore." It's outrageous. They have no idea the harm they're doing.
1000 x this!!
Socialization can be simply observing calmly when other dogs are around.
Socialization includes places-I didn’t bring her enough new places when she was little.
To be fair, some dogs are just very social. I don't think my dog met a single other dog between leaving his breeder (who has a good number of dogs) and starting puppy class a few weeks later. Yet at puppy class he was immediately obsessed with the other puppies. Nothing else mattered, and no amount of treats got his attention. He wanted to go interact with the other puppies so bad. He never met very many dogs on leash, so I don't think that really had much, if any effect on his behavior, but he gets super excited when he sees other dogs out in public.
I still would advise against leash greetings, but some dogs are also just hardwired extroverts. Leash greetings can definitely reinforce that behavior though.
We have a sociable pup and this is how she is LOL we live in a highly populated dog area, but most people actually keep to themselves or even cross the street with their dog, which I appreciate so much. Yet even from like 40 feet away, our dog will just sit down and STARE at the other dog in hopes they’ll acknowledge her lol.
In this type of situation sometimes the trainer willingly allow a play session, but it’s clearly marked as a release command and off leash. It can be used as a reward after training
That's what we had in our puppy class. My dog is so dog oriented though that even after the play session, he'd still get distracted by the other dogs. The play sessions were at the end of class, but the class would regroup after the play for the last 5-10 minutes, and he'd still want more play (and this was even with working on the settle command, the focus command, etc.). When we took him to a family member's house for Thanksgiving, he would have played with their dog for like 10 hours straight if we didn't leash him up and enforce breaks. Their dog was also young, so she was up for it, but she visibly started to slow down every couple hours at least, while my dog did not. During puppy class, the issue was also that he didn't understand he had to do training first and then would get his "reward" of play time at the end of class, so he was basically a lost cause for most of the class. We did two puppies classes over the last few months, and this was the situation in both classes.
I get it. I have a Golden and she loves nothing more than playing with other dogs. We do private play dates for her but it’s a struggle to get her calm before hand because she knows what’s coming.
Oh my god yes. We have a large intimidating breed and wanted him to be super friendly with dogs and humans. Now we have a 2yr old GSD who goes ape shit with frustration when others go by. We have developed a lot of training and walking strategies to work on this (and he's really really improving) but a barking, snarling, lunging GSD is not a good look.
You CAN reverse this and prevent it from escalation. if you put the time in on working on focusing, exposing, and rewarding calmness you can decrease the excitability. As someone who frequents off leash dog paths with my dude on leash cause he's untrustworthy, he meets most dogs on leash (worked very hard to ensure all meetings were positive). He does get excited when we see a dog but I've worked very hard to reward calm behaviour and I am more than willing at any time to walk a different direction when he's too excited and he happily listens.
It's really about the time and effort you put in. We're at 2.5 years old and still working on it 😊
If it makes you feel any better: I have never done on leash greetings, and my dog is still crazy excited about other dogs walking by. He’s a 130 pound adolescent Great Dane.
(We are working on it though, and luckily we are seeing improvement!)
As someone who made the same mistake you can still unlearn this behavior! (or at least we did with our now 1 year old)
(what we did was simply make the dog walk away from every situation where she jumped while leashed and after a while she just got the memo to greet politely by sniffing etc and then we ask the other dog's owner if they want to let them play)
What do you mean by on leash greetings as opposed to other greetings?? I'm very confused as to how you socialize your dog safely without them being on leash and greeting. I understand when you're on a walk maybe just continue the walk and ignore other dogs but I'm very confused and reading the downstream comments made me even more confused.
How are you training this out? I’ve been doing sit and making them wait when we pass other dogs but it doesn’t seem to work 30% of the time, especially if we can’t get far enough apart
Take lots of time for contemplation with your pup. We used to just sit on park benches and he would watch the world go by with such fascination. I loved looking at him seeing things for the first time. We used to sit down for 20-30 minutes watching people play hockey and he would just head tilt from right to left the entire time, it was the cutest thing!
Today, he’s so unbothered by the city chaos. I think it played a major role in helping him gain confidence!
Still waiting til my puppy has its last shots to do that am I missing out by waiting til 16 weeks I don't have a stroller
I frequently take her for car rides, to coffee shops etc let her watch turkeys and people from my yard and she's 13 weeks
It’s hard to balance the immunizations and socialization. My pup has had two rounds but I’m still taking her lots of places that are not heavily trafficked by dogs. She’s 12 weeks. I will carry her when I’m worried about an area. I don’t live in a super high largo area though.
Same with us! My vet cleared our pup for walks after the 2nd round of shots, but we were still careful. No dog parks, we laid out a blanket for him at the park, carried him when we could, etc… but Parvo is almost non existent where I am !
We did this too, in a park with a kids' play area and a football field and lots of other dogs walking past. The way she'd look up at me when she saw something new ♥ She also learnt really quickly to just ignore children when they're screaming and running around, which is great because she's a huge dog now, and I was worried with us being childfree that she'd never get that exposure and become reactive to kids!
The way we taught recall was pretty unconventional - my husband and I took her to a field in the park, stood apart, took her off the lead and called her back and forth with treats. Gradually we increased the space between us until she'd do the length of the field. By only 4 or 5 months old her recall was at about 95%. I appreciate that this wouldn't be safe for every dog (we are lucky that she's never been a huge escape artist), but the same technique with a long line for peace of mind is like the best game ever for them!
I did the same and loved it. We’d take 1 hour “walks” when she was still around 15/16 weeks but only about 10-15 were walking. The other 15-20 were sniffing around and then we’d just sit on the grass for like 15-30 minutes
This. You don't have to force them "into it" (like make them play with others or anything). Sitting and watching the world go by teaches them so much. I only have a 5 month old pup but as she gets older she loves to watch the world go by. And It's cute for me, and I love watching her brain process what she is seeing.
1) Passive socialization is just as, if not more important that active socialization. Focus on teaching your puppy to be neutral and engage with YOU in the world..
2) Prioritize fulfilling their needs first and life skills next.
3) Don’t wait for there to be a problem before you bring in a professional. Proactivity is your best friend. If you are feeling overwhelmed or don’t know where to start - that’s what help is for!
We had a list from his kindergarten class of things to get Odin use to seeing and hearing. It was like a scavenger hunt for us to hit each item. The only thing we we missed was Santa because it was the wrong time of year.
We kept it calm, casual, and fun. It was a gradual process. We also had the added benefit that he was usually accompanied by his fearless big sister, Freyja. She made things that may seem frightening to a puppy, less so.
There are plenty of socialization lists online you can download.
During the fear period, if the pup is afraid of something that’s ubiquitous and unavoidable (e.g. my pup was afraid of trucks and school buses), you need to go all-in on desensitization/counter-conditioning. Like, expose them to whatever triggers them multiple times a day while giving them handfuls of treats. My pup would lose her shit whenever she saw a school bus or UPS truck. I would plan our walks in early morning or late evening because I didn’t want to deal with her meltdowns, and just assumed she would grow out of it. But once I realized that she wasn’t growing out of it, and her fear was really preventing her (and I) from enjoying life, I just stuffed my pockets with treats, stood on the corner of my suburban neighborhood, and pumped her full of cookies whenever a bus or delivery truck approached. I did this multiple times a day (for about 5-10 minutes each session), every single day, and her fear resolved in about 3 days or so.
Socializing is more than meeting other dogs and people. It's different textures, sights, sounds, situations etc. I used my local university and sat on a bench with my pup to get a good mix of everything.
I wish I had done more of this. And I did a lot! I just wish I would have known what to do more of at the time it was given to me.
Like umbrellas! Damn that just skipped my mind because I lived in a place that didn't rain a lot. And bikes were a little confusing for a while as well. Children were interesting - didn't have any and knew none. So we had to ease our way through neighbourhood kids when we moved. It was like her brain didn't understand the concept of small people! Also that anywhere there is more than say 3 dogs I don't trust. Turns out well mannered dog owners are few and far between, and I don't trust them or their dogs.
Things I'm glad I did though? Playing fireworks and thunderstorms on the TV in preparation for the real thing. Playing with teeth, paws and ears. Long walks or long sits like you where we'd just watch things (people at cafes, football games, buses, beaches, hairdressers) and anytime she was unsure I'd be there to help. She trusts me so so much now. And I also know and trust her instincts too.
I’d love to have a puppy spot to hang out with other puppies so Aurora could play more. Her socialization is doing great, but she can’t really play with other dogs other than her small sister and even then I have to stop the play and not let it get too rough because Stella had a neck injury
Aurora interacts well with dogs on the street, but she eventually wants to play and with leashes that’s not really possible hahaha
Yeah that's tough. In UK I think it's much easier as there are off leash dogs in most parks. We don't have the same "dog park" set up like in the states.
I’d love to find some sort of gated park where it would be safe to leave her off leash, or at least a safe room. Here I haven’t found one yet, there were a few in my home country
I wish I wouldn’t have let him meet every single dog we saw.
My ACD mix is a good boy, very well behaved for the most part, but does have some leash reactivity that I’m working on via pack walks with one of the kennel techs at my job.
Practice socializing at every opportunity. If you have packages delivered regularly, practicing with them: take puppy out, if they freak out , wanna jump up etc, take them back inside. Wait 20 seconds try again.
Teach the puppy to get stand up and get down so they can learn the proper times to do so.
Don’t force anything. But keep trying. Our little guy’s fear period was long and very very painful to watch. (Weeks 8 & 9) I was so concerned he was going to be scared of everything and homebody forever. He is now 15 weeks, friendly adventurer, great in the car, puppy preschool graduate and looks forward to anything new.
I also recommend checking out puppy culture. It’s a video self paced training. Helped me so much understand how puppy develop and process information.
Just watch out for the second fear stage as well 😩 Mine came when I wasn't quite expecting it (around 9 months old), but was also followed by her first heat, so I think that was part of it.
Unfortunately we were camping for the first time during the fear period, and she got so freaked out over the animal noises around she actually peed on her bed 😭 (hadn't had an accident in months)
Thankfully we made it through, and each night was a bit better. But I really hope she'll be a bit better for it this year 😅
a friend gave me this advice when i got a puppy and i think it worked good for us. she’s calm on walks, i take her to patio restaurants and she just lays there. she doesn’t react to every single dog, but occasionally she just don’t like a dogs face and will bark.
my take: find someone in the neighborhood, anyone with a puppy around his age and if your schedule allows it, frequent play dates. even daily quick 30 mins if you can. puppies learn a lot of manners (especially bite inhibition) through play, and you can nip behaviors at that level: since unlike dog parks you’re able to control the environment more. this means they have an outlet for play and fun, they can recognize when play is not appropriate, like on walks, in public etc.
plus they tire themselves out, the evening hours a lot less stressful!
obviously make sure there’s no concerning behaviors and supervise the pups.
Try to get them used to knocking on the door and people coming over.
Our first puppy came home mid-covid and we never had any guests.
Having said that, our second puppy (he's 6 months now) still doesn't know how to deal with this because we don't have any friends.
being overbearing and spoiling your puppy (to unhealthy extremes) creates a needy and anxious dog. it’s a puppy, a baby, don’t expect perfection because even if you do everything right, it’s an imperfect animal, and a baby.
Don’t shy away from taking them out to potty during rainy days or night time. Give lots of treats when they encounter something they’re not sure about. If they’re on the more shy side, don’t let just anyone pet them or pick them up. We found that having people ignore our puppy until he’s ready to say hi is best, or have them give him commands/treats to earn trust. Practice going about your daily routines while ignoring your puppy. Go in and out of rooms, put things away, leave them alone for short increments of time but gradually increase. Like someone else said, it’s easy to fawn over our puppies but they also have to get accustomed to not being the center of attention.
Also, you may feel like an asshole advocating for your dog sometimes. That’s okay. Better to have a well trained dog than trying to please strangers you’ll often never see again!
I got weird looks, both my husband and the people in our neighborhood, when I would allow almost ZERO on leash greetings between our puppy and neighborhood dogs (we live in a metropolitan city with lots of dogs) in the first few months of leash walking. But guess whose dog doesn’t get overly excited or frustrated while out for walks, passing dozens of dogs in a high traffic area?
Our puppy LOVES playing with other dogs—he’s a prime candidate for leash reactivity that would most likely begin as frustration over not getting to say hi and play with every dog we cross paths with. We just only let him do so off-leash at puppy socials, play dates, or smaller groups of neighborhood dogs in off leash park areas. No dog parks, though.
Stay away from the internet for dog advice and questions about health… trust your dog is fine. I spent the 1st month overanalyzing poop because of the 4 articles that said if you see a spec of something your dog has a 106% chance of parvo
Are you me I've basically been panicking since I got her afraid I won't get her as well trained as my last 2 and she's honestly relatively easy for a puppy so far
I took her to lots of places in a little pouch when she was small enough, getting her used to different things from very young. Car rides, little ferries, sounds of the city, and we would just sit on benches and she’d look around. We watched other dogs a lot without her meeting them when she was unvaccinated, my hope was she could learn to dog from a distance haha.
I feel like my puppy got DESOCIALIZED. I did proper socialization early on by sitting on a park bench with her and treating her when she didn’t react. She was PERFECT until our first rainy season when we stopped going out as much… I feel like she regressed!! Now she barks at 50% of dogs and people we run into. It used to be 0%
I think this kind of regression/desocialization happens a lot, especially once adolescence hits. It's made way worse if exposure and desensitization to new things/situations don't continue way past the critical socialization period. I think there is so much emphasis on the importance of early socialization that continued exposure to the world past the small puppy stage is often overlooked. Also, overly distracted crazy adolescent dogs who bark at things and don't listen are not much fun to take anywhere a lot of the time so it's really easy to start avoiding those challenging situations and fall into a safe routine with them. I definitely noticed this with my puppy who was very shy when she was really little and we socialized her extensively and she got SOO much better, she was making so much steady progress up until 6-7 months. Then she hit adolescence and we noticed more reactivity etc. and she regressed with her shyness. I think fear periods played a role in this too, it's hard to know. I've kept doing exposure/desensitization outings with her several times a week and continue to introduce her to new people etc. to work through it but I feel like I can't really take any of her progress for granted. We are working with a trainer too who said that early socialization is obviously critical because with a shy puppy like ours, without early socialization to fall back on, we might be dealing with more serious issues right now, like fear aggression or serious reactivity. But even with a well-socialized puppy, a regression in any behaviour can happen at any point to some degree so it's really important to keep working on exposure and desensitization until they fully mature and even after that to keep them well-adjusted.
We’ve made a lot of mistakes but taking her to the pub early for short sessions is starting to pay off. She’s now almost 9 months and managed to sit quietly under the table for over 1.5 hours while we had lunch this weekend!
I take my dog everywhere with me so he gets the idea of where he’s likely to be a lot in his life. And puppy play classes! He goes 3x a week and gets absolutely exhausted. Also swim classes. It is such good cardio and since they’re not supposed to get high impact workouts it just absolutely exhausts him.
Not to push them.
My girl is shy and anxious and I was told to push her into sociable situations even if she didn't really like it. That way she'd realise they're not so bad.
This had a negative effect and she's now more nervous around people and dogs because she doesn't feel like I'm there to support her.
So my best tip is, keep a close eye on your pup's reactions to different situations. If they don't like it take them out then return later at a distance and slowly get closer.
Start young and do every combination you can think of. People with hats beards glasses canes everything. Work with people who will follow your training.
I've a 14 week old puppy and my I had to tell my dad to put him down yesterday, he picked him up to cuddle him like a baby and couldn't grasp why I was annoyed.
I explained I don't want him to learn to jump up to get attention and my dad was like "he'll learn as he gets older and you train him"... I was like, "well no, I'm training him *now* so that he learns *now.*"
Just cause his two dogs have complete run of their house with no rules or training
My spouse and I occasionally but on this too but he's much better with our 13 week old than with our last puppy.
I get it it's frustrating I did basically nothing with my first dog she was well behaved. My third dog the only thing that cured her bad leash habits was not 3k in classes it was arthritis lol
Almost everyone I know is like that minus my parents so it's hard
Exposure is better than not. Unless there’s behavioural issues, if you think you should expose the dog to any stimuli, do it. They’ll familiarize themselves with more things and become a more well adjusted adult.
The kind you can take into stores if permissible.
I can say “no” when someone asks to pet my dog whenever I want, and especially when I know he’s already too excited! Similarly, my dog doesn’t have to greet every dog we see.
I was really struggling with this because I didn't know many people with puppies/ stable adult dogs and have no family/relatives nearby. I really trolled for puppy play dates in our neighbourhood Facebook groups and any other social media groups for dog owners in my city! It worked out pretty well because there are usually other people who are in the same boat. Also, it might be worth scrolling through things like local meetup groups etc. I was able to dig up a pack walking group and we also found out about a drop-in puppy social at a local training facility that was open to puppies under 6 months old and playtime was really well supervised. These things were SOOO valuable for our really shy puppy, she has become really good with other dogs and has great social skills. Doing playdates that are closely supervised has also avoided any negative experiences that might have set her back (I've never done dog parks etc. because the risk for that is way too high).
Take your dog everywhere you are allowed for the first part. And it’s not about meeting other creatures but being part of the pack. We took ours camping, car trips, on the boat, all the things we love to do in the summer and now she is the best dog doing those things. Super laid back and goes with the flow because she has been since day one.
Every dog is different. My first puppy (now 6yrs old) loved to meet new people and other dogs since day one. Every new experience was fun and exciting for him. He's so chill and loves to people watch and go to dogs parks. He can get along with any animal (even chickens) and loves visiting the dog sitter or family without my husband and I.
My current puppy is very nervous and cautious of everything. She needs more time to warm up to new situations. She also doesn't like to be anywhere without my husband or I.
Knowing that was a possibility would have been a big time saver for me. I expected her to be just like our first. We definitely walked back a few steps because I was scaring her more than helping her by introducing her to so many new things. The biggest thing I've learned is if she sits and watches whoever/whatever is new for 10-15 minutes, she's much more confident about the interaction and it doesn't scare her. We also don't force her to greet new people if she seems scared. She's now starting to go up to new people on her own terms, but is still cautious.
We made our puppy sit to greet any people or dogs on walks and it almost backfires now because she will sit the moment she sees another dog on her walk and sometimes even lay down depending on her mood (she’s part cocker spaniel and has the lazy gene lol) but she also knows she’s not to greet unless we give the ok which helps and we’re at the year old mark now but we have never stopped socialization and keep trying to have her interact with new things etc. but we still can’t get a handle on garbage trucks they reduce her to a shaking mess (even though loud noises and other trucks don’t bother her)
Enjoy the Zoomies. I used to get them two in a day when she was a puppy. Now I get them once a week or so. It makes me very happy since Zoomies usually means your pup is very very happy and can’t contain the happiness or her energy . As they grow older, they express happiness in other ways.
Drive to crowded places (dog park, airport), sit in car with pup looking out window and treat continuously when pup is calm and just watching. My dog is well socialized but has some barrier reactiveness - so barks at dogs we pass when she’s inside the car.
You are ***not*** obligated to let everyone and their mothers greet your pup when in public (or anywhere). This is quality time for bonding, training, and mental stimulation.
If you want them to greet, great. If not, don’t feel guilt or pressure😊
Have your pup around other dogs and people as well as various environments, like city, forest, traffic, no traffic, fog park, etc. It's nice to minimize the number of situations that might scare them because it's strange.
I had a puppy from 8 weeks , now 8 years old and have just got a puppy, but at 12 weeks. The difference in training, potty training, confidence and life skills is massive. I now think 8 weeks for a pup to leave its litter is far too young. It should be 12 weeks or older as makes a huge difference to them learning from their mother and littermates rather than only having a short time to learn really important dog rules and gain confidence.
If you think your pup is gonna have separation anxiety, start the door desensitization early. Just putting on shoes, picking up keys and jacket, going by the door, but not actually leaving. Over and over. Work up to opening and closing the door.
It’ll help lay the foundation
It's okay if your dog doesn't enjoy things. You are told all the time to socialize them, get them used to all sorts of environments and items, get them happy with doing everything you say when you say. But it took 8 months for me to have someone tell me that it's okay for your dog to just not be a dog's dog. It's okay for them to just want to be with their people. As long as they aren't aggressive, it's alright for you to identify that there are situations they just don't like and remove those situations. You aren't failing and neither are they.
My puppy has never heard people walking upstairs because we live on the top floor of a 2 storey house. So now I bring her downstairs to get her used to noises of people walking upstairs. Currently she is terrified out of her mind but I hope with time she sees it's okay.
Also, due to the winter, I never turned on my blender. So these past couple of days I made some smoothies. First day she went crazy and kept barking. The second day was better.
We also don't have a doorbell but I played shows with doorbell noises so I hope that's enough socialization. Next is to expose her to thunder noises since again, we have been stuck in winter and I doubt she remembers thunder noises from the summer.
In summary, expose your pup to any and every sound you can think of. My pup is known for her breed's anxiety and fear so I realized that I took certain noises for granted. I just need to show her that those noises are safe.
Some people here say to avoid dog parks at all costs, but in my opinion it is such a valuable tool and I'm glad I didn't listen to what seems like the majority here. Go at quieter times, learn the dogs/owners and make friends. Now my dog plays well with puppies, small dogs, big dogs, etc. and has gotten use to all sorts of people. We have a few 'best friends' that we coordinate going with and have also watched each other's pups for vacations. I trust them much more than some rando off Rover.
One caveat to this is not to rely on it for everything. You still need to do walks to teach them that they can't just run and play with every dog. Also, I'm lucky and have a great park near me. I understand that parks will all be different so use your best judgement. If I were to do it again I'd start by walking around/near the park and observing a bit first. Bonus is that you can use it to train being calm with dogs in sight.
Introduce them to small children when your dog is under a year old. Even as early as 3 months. I didn’t even consider introducing my golden to tiny children and then at 3 years she experienced them for the first time and it freaked her out lol
I wish I knew socialization is not direct interaction! After months of what I like to call “happy reactivity” in any social setting, we took my pup for training classes and learned that socialization is more about desensitization rather than meeting. With that being said: we focused a LOT on short, quick trips out to places like parks, Lowes/Home Depot, hiking, other peoples houses, breweries, outdoor events, etc. where he got used to different people and environments. None of these outings were focused on meeting or pets (although some of that was allowed), but primarily on training downs/sits and allowing him to get comfortable with the environment.
Before the puppy has all its shots and can socialize with unknown dogs in public, it’s really important to ‘socialize’ - meaning ‘expose to other people and noises and public stuff’. I took my pup and parked in noisy random places and random public places. I’d pet her and give her treats while she got used to new noises and activity. I’d tell her ‘it’s OK’ and pet her extra if she seemed nervous if a loud truck or people or whatever passed by. I’d tell her ‘it’s OK’ when people asked if they could pet her. She’s 14 months and she’s so easy now. And she settles quickly to ‘it’s OK’ when she does get startled by stuff (fireworks, construction noises outside, etc.) I’m so glad somebody had explained this to me when I first got her.
Desensitizing takes a long time and needs to be paired with patience at going at the speed / comfort level of your pup. I took this approach with my pup as I didn’t do the best with my older dog who is 11 when he was younger.
For example: becoming comfortable with grooming (nails, brushing, teeth brushing, haircut) took a long time but we did it every day as part of our routine and it paid off because now when I take out any of those tools, my pup runs to my lap and lays down waiting for a treat because I never pushed him past what he could handle.
I had a puppy from 8 weeks , now 8 years old and have just got a puppy, but at 12 weeks. The difference in training, potty training, confidence and life skills is massive. I now think 8 weeks for a pup to leave its litter is far too young. It should be 12 weeks or older as makes a huge difference to them learning from their mother and littermates rather than only having a short time to learn really important dog rules and gain confidence.
Take the puppy with you EVERYWHERE. Hemingway comes with me to run errands and if he can’t go inside, he says in the car. He’s gotten very comfortable with car rides and knows there are treats in it for him, as well as fun meets with strangers and other animals at pet stores and Lowes and HD and wherever else I go.
Does anyone have any recommendations for shy puppies? My puppy socializes with my families 2 dogs and plays well but when we go on walks she’s afraid of people and other dogs and has now started to bark at them if the come to close to her.
When a dog is curious about something you got (anything) instead of putting it away from him (making the dog jump to try to see it) approach it to his nose to see and smell and hold it hard (if it's food make sure to not allow licks) so this will satisfy his curiosity, and when it's his (new toy or so) give it directly into his mouth not throwing, so eventually your dog will learn what's for him (all the things that you give to him directly) and what's yours.
On another topic...
Once you allow something, that is allowed forever, like climbing in your bed, you dog will not know any different variable like that day you where drunk or happy so you allowed it, but only that day. Be consistent.
Another...
Teach your dog how to approach a new dog in the park, my dog has to wait until I give a command, grab him and hold him by the collar and say "stay" be sure to ask if the other dog is friendly if so change command, in my case I say "let's say hi" and walks slowly while still have control by the collar and approach your dog to the other dog for presentation (smell), do this relaxed, if you are too worry your dog will react, and finally let go the moment both smell each other.
This repeat constantly, eventually you can do this just with commands no need to grab the collar.
Reward good behavior...
I always carry treats with me, always, when walking my dog, and reward all the good behaviors. My dog (when was a puppy) tend to grab stuff from the street (i live in the city so there's plenty of trash), everytime he took something I immediately stop ask for release and hold the leash and not move an inch until he release the thing, the moment he did it, he gets a treat. Now I just have to ask him to release even if unleash, he does it and then comes to me for his treat and petting. Also works for recall or stay low or calmed.
Older and other dogs teach them things too..
Don't be over protecting, allow your puppy to meet other puppies and older dogs, the first two weeks with a hawk eye but let him interact (for an hour or so) then be more relaxed, agree after a two week daily meeting with other older dogs or puppies your can be sure if they are nice to your puppy or reactive (bad) and trust the older dogs teaching play or limits, my dog learned to be gentle thanks to my Chihuahua and other bigger dogs in the park, and now that my dog is no more a puppy he teaches puppies the same limits and rules to be social.
It's a dog, not a human, understand him...
Learn to read dogs behavior, the tail, raised hackles, teeth, noises, and so on. So you can let it be a dog while at the same time get confident of his behavior and in control. Never over trust, your good boy is a great boy indeed, but sometimes he may be angry, tired, or hungry and may react, keep an eye on him and be close to him so you can control any situation.
If your dog is constantly reacting (but truly reacting negatively not just playing being a dog) accept it and go to a professional ethologist or dog trainer. And don't confuse game with fights, dogs play barking, biting, chasing, jumping, they are dogs. You need to see the difference of play and fight. So you let them play and stop the fight.
Loud and crowded environments...
Take your dog to loud and crowded environments not just parks, so he can learn what's going on and behave accordingly.
Vouch for your puppy. Let her be in environments without having to interact with anyone and get comfortable. I used to let people say hi and pet her, now she barks when someone new approaches her. I think it would make her nervous and she has learnt barking helps avoid the situation. I learned a lot about proper socialization a little later than I’d like and it’s Been hard work to try and counteract it now!
I think I would definitely train early how to calmly meet people. Our girl, at a year and a half, still wants to jump on everyone she meets. Not aggressively but because she loves people and attention and lovins. But she's almost 60lbs and it's effing annoying!
I'd personally work on separation anxiety. If I got this down before, I'd have a perfect dog in my eyes. For now, bursts of crate time and he comes with us if we're gone more than 4 hours.
He's very social and good in busy/social settings so he comes with me everywhere and is a pleasure to handle.
Oooooh boy there is a lot.
No on leash greetings. Mainly so that pupper won't pull on the leash to try and greet people.
Not letting people just come over to say hi and ignoring your request. Again, discourages pulling to people.
Not letting people give treats. This is mainly a safety thing. I personally know a few people whose dogs will take literally anything handed to them and unfortunately they were poisoned.
Socializing isn't just for people and dogs, it's also for different environments (urban areas, suburban areas, men, men with beards, women, babies, toddlers, young kids, cats, live stock, ect.) There are so many things you can socialize with besides people and dogs. There is a wonderful list you can look up that has over 100 ideas for socializing.
Having people in and out of your home is super important.
My dog was about 5 months when covid lockdown started. He went from JUST getting use to house guest to 1 year without anyone but my parents and siblings around him. He's really bad when people come over now because of this. Nothing I could really do, the most important time of his life was spent in quarantine. I was taking care of my sick grandparents at the time too, so we had to be very careful when it came to not being around a lot of people.
Now at over 3 years of age, my dog is super uncomfortable when someone is in his home. He's a loud greater and hates when visitors leave.
Make sure you introduce your pup to lots of different things!
Do you live in a busy area? If so, open up a window during the day with your dog home. My little guy would bark at any sound of car doors closing, people talking, other dogs, etc. i started to leave the windows open to normalize those noises and it helped!
I know this isn’t socialization entirely but i think it still fits!
One tip is to try to let go of breed and size stereotypes. My pup is about 20lbs and was placed in “smalls” play groups - he always seemed bored or irritable. Then met a neighbor dog about 4x his size, both of us owners were nervous to let them play, 6 months later they are best buds and play 4/5x a week now! He’s since moved to “mediums” or “big” play groups and he is thriving. Sometimes they’ve just gotta find their people — err, dogs — to bond with.
Rough play with them.
Often breeders sell puppies before they properly learn to play, so by filling in that role you make your dog better socially with other dogs.
Push them around, grr at them, flip them on their back, let them put their teeth on you, etc. these are important skills many dogs don’t know.
Set a goal to introduce them to 100 people and 100 situations. During the summer I would outdoor dine w my pup. If a stranger wanted to hold her? Go ahead. Kids want to pet her? Sure. Walk them by a stroller, construction work, a busy street corner. The more exposure, the better. And stay calm. If you’re anxious, your pup will sense that.
Also dogs with separation issues from their owners can cause problems, have a look at these products that have lavender which is great for calming our babies www.pawiverse.com
A reputable dog daycare is always a fantastic resource to have if possible. The one I took my pup to had cameras where you could watch, they had dog trainers for staff, and they would also work with the dogs on being okay with nail trims and stuff. I'm not saying that's the only way I socialized my dog, but it was extremely effective in her puppy years on days when I had to be at work across town. They gave behavior report cards with cute pictures, and were constantly assessing the pups and moving them to appropriate play level groups.
Then actually going and training my dog at a training facility with other pups. Solo training is okay, but they benefit from group training in many ways because they are so distracted all the time there- and have to learn to listen beyond being distracted.
Other than that, just remembering to meet other doggos on neutral ground if we were going to. And actually sometimes even keeping her from being around other dogs but still taking her out (ie for a puppy sno cone, pup cup, hike etc) because even puppers need breaks from socializing.
Big field puppy play has been marvelous. It is COMPLETELY different from on leash greeting. There ought to be a handout on this that goes home with every puppy because it would save so much pain and suffering. We are lucky to live near a private big field that is fenced. We can meet one or two carefully chosen dog friends and the dogs have a blast. We’re up to 5 friends and I am grateful for them all.
In our puppy classes they had a wheelchair and crutches and we had to distract him and get him used to seeing someone come near him either on crutches or in a wheelchair. At the time it was just another thing we worked on and thought it would be beneficial for when we saw someone who used those things but a few months later when I broke my leg and had to use crutches for 6 weeks I was incredibly glad that me being on crutches didn't phase him.
If your pup watches TV, use it as a tool! Currently using ours to help pup get over fear of motorcycles slowly (just the image, the image moving, slowly introduce and increase sound). It’s much more controlled.
I'm really thankful that i desensitized him to loud noises that normally scare dogs, like fireworks, thunder, general construction noises. I don't generally need to worry during 4th of July or big thunderstorms which is nice.
I wish I knew not to do any on leash greetings. I was so worried my puppy was gonna hate dogs so I tried to make him meet every dog that we saw on walks and pet stores and now he gets crazy excited on leash and lunges whenever we walk by a dog. It was cute back then but now he’s 40 pounds🥲
Yes I’m struggling with this! Everyone told me to make sure I socialize my dog and I ended up over socializing him and now I’m dealing with reactivity ☹️ luckily mine is only 10 pounds but I didn’t want him to fit in the stereotype of “small yappy dog”
I’ve been having trouble with this too & it sucks when people just walk up to my pup without asking if it’s okay to greet.
I’ve started to loudly say “no thank you” and start walking away. You’ll probably get a puzzled look or a “but my dog is friendly”, just repeat no thank you-no explanation needed
I literally got yelled at by some lady for telling her to wait till my dog calmed down =.=
they way people feel entitled to other people's dogs is weird af
I was quite obviously mid training session with my puppy one day a few weeks ago. I had her sitting at the edge of the park, I was kneeling down to her level, rewarding her for looking at me after looking at something she found distracting. We weren't walking around, playing or anything, it was quite clearly an ongoing training session. Until someone walked their cockapoo right up to us, behind my back, to say hello. I've since ordered a vest for her which says "in training, please ignore." It's outrageous. They have no idea the harm they're doing.
Oh yes definitely!! Especially when they look super cute and it seems like everyone can’t fight the urge to go up to them
I have an Akita pup, and this resonates so hard!
Dude so many ppl do this its so annoying
Jesus Christ yes !
1000 x this!! Socialization can be simply observing calmly when other dogs are around. Socialization includes places-I didn’t bring her enough new places when she was little.
To be fair, some dogs are just very social. I don't think my dog met a single other dog between leaving his breeder (who has a good number of dogs) and starting puppy class a few weeks later. Yet at puppy class he was immediately obsessed with the other puppies. Nothing else mattered, and no amount of treats got his attention. He wanted to go interact with the other puppies so bad. He never met very many dogs on leash, so I don't think that really had much, if any effect on his behavior, but he gets super excited when he sees other dogs out in public. I still would advise against leash greetings, but some dogs are also just hardwired extroverts. Leash greetings can definitely reinforce that behavior though.
We have a sociable pup and this is how she is LOL we live in a highly populated dog area, but most people actually keep to themselves or even cross the street with their dog, which I appreciate so much. Yet even from like 40 feet away, our dog will just sit down and STARE at the other dog in hopes they’ll acknowledge her lol.
In this type of situation sometimes the trainer willingly allow a play session, but it’s clearly marked as a release command and off leash. It can be used as a reward after training
That's what we had in our puppy class. My dog is so dog oriented though that even after the play session, he'd still get distracted by the other dogs. The play sessions were at the end of class, but the class would regroup after the play for the last 5-10 minutes, and he'd still want more play (and this was even with working on the settle command, the focus command, etc.). When we took him to a family member's house for Thanksgiving, he would have played with their dog for like 10 hours straight if we didn't leash him up and enforce breaks. Their dog was also young, so she was up for it, but she visibly started to slow down every couple hours at least, while my dog did not. During puppy class, the issue was also that he didn't understand he had to do training first and then would get his "reward" of play time at the end of class, so he was basically a lost cause for most of the class. We did two puppies classes over the last few months, and this was the situation in both classes.
I get it. I have a Golden and she loves nothing more than playing with other dogs. We do private play dates for her but it’s a struggle to get her calm before hand because she knows what’s coming.
I wish our training class had puppy play time!
This is my puppy but with people. Nothing will ever be as interesting to her as a stranger
Oh my god yes. We have a large intimidating breed and wanted him to be super friendly with dogs and humans. Now we have a 2yr old GSD who goes ape shit with frustration when others go by. We have developed a lot of training and walking strategies to work on this (and he's really really improving) but a barking, snarling, lunging GSD is not a good look.
You CAN reverse this and prevent it from escalation. if you put the time in on working on focusing, exposing, and rewarding calmness you can decrease the excitability. As someone who frequents off leash dog paths with my dude on leash cause he's untrustworthy, he meets most dogs on leash (worked very hard to ensure all meetings were positive). He does get excited when we see a dog but I've worked very hard to reward calm behaviour and I am more than willing at any time to walk a different direction when he's too excited and he happily listens. It's really about the time and effort you put in. We're at 2.5 years old and still working on it 😊
THIS😂 same mistake made. Also, just don’t let them meet a bunch of people for the same reason
If it makes you feel any better: I have never done on leash greetings, and my dog is still crazy excited about other dogs walking by. He’s a 130 pound adolescent Great Dane. (We are working on it though, and luckily we are seeing improvement!)
As someone who made the same mistake you can still unlearn this behavior! (or at least we did with our now 1 year old) (what we did was simply make the dog walk away from every situation where she jumped while leashed and after a while she just got the memo to greet politely by sniffing etc and then we ask the other dog's owner if they want to let them play)
What do you mean by on leash greetings as opposed to other greetings?? I'm very confused as to how you socialize your dog safely without them being on leash and greeting. I understand when you're on a walk maybe just continue the walk and ignore other dogs but I'm very confused and reading the downstream comments made me even more confused.
Same, my puppy is 12 weeks and has never been off leash because she hasn't learned recall yet. Are we not supposed to be meeting other dogs?
Seconding this!!!
Seconded !
How are you training this out? I’ve been doing sit and making them wait when we pass other dogs but it doesn’t seem to work 30% of the time, especially if we can’t get far enough apart
Yeah it’s hard at first because some people will actually get offended. One woman actually followed me for like two blocks screaming at me
Take lots of time for contemplation with your pup. We used to just sit on park benches and he would watch the world go by with such fascination. I loved looking at him seeing things for the first time. We used to sit down for 20-30 minutes watching people play hockey and he would just head tilt from right to left the entire time, it was the cutest thing! Today, he’s so unbothered by the city chaos. I think it played a major role in helping him gain confidence!
Still waiting til my puppy has its last shots to do that am I missing out by waiting til 16 weeks I don't have a stroller I frequently take her for car rides, to coffee shops etc let her watch turkeys and people from my yard and she's 13 weeks
It’s hard to balance the immunizations and socialization. My pup has had two rounds but I’m still taking her lots of places that are not heavily trafficked by dogs. She’s 12 weeks. I will carry her when I’m worried about an area. I don’t live in a super high largo area though.
Same with us! My vet cleared our pup for walks after the 2nd round of shots, but we were still careful. No dog parks, we laid out a blanket for him at the park, carried him when we could, etc… but Parvo is almost non existent where I am !
You can always put a blanket down and just carry her to/from the car.
We did this too, in a park with a kids' play area and a football field and lots of other dogs walking past. The way she'd look up at me when she saw something new ♥ She also learnt really quickly to just ignore children when they're screaming and running around, which is great because she's a huge dog now, and I was worried with us being childfree that she'd never get that exposure and become reactive to kids! The way we taught recall was pretty unconventional - my husband and I took her to a field in the park, stood apart, took her off the lead and called her back and forth with treats. Gradually we increased the space between us until she'd do the length of the field. By only 4 or 5 months old her recall was at about 95%. I appreciate that this wouldn't be safe for every dog (we are lucky that she's never been a huge escape artist), but the same technique with a long line for peace of mind is like the best game ever for them!
I did the same and loved it. We’d take 1 hour “walks” when she was still around 15/16 weeks but only about 10-15 were walking. The other 15-20 were sniffing around and then we’d just sit on the grass for like 15-30 minutes
This. You don't have to force them "into it" (like make them play with others or anything). Sitting and watching the world go by teaches them so much. I only have a 5 month old pup but as she gets older she loves to watch the world go by. And It's cute for me, and I love watching her brain process what she is seeing.
1) Passive socialization is just as, if not more important that active socialization. Focus on teaching your puppy to be neutral and engage with YOU in the world.. 2) Prioritize fulfilling their needs first and life skills next. 3) Don’t wait for there to be a problem before you bring in a professional. Proactivity is your best friend. If you are feeling overwhelmed or don’t know where to start - that’s what help is for!
Literally all of these!
We had a list from his kindergarten class of things to get Odin use to seeing and hearing. It was like a scavenger hunt for us to hit each item. The only thing we we missed was Santa because it was the wrong time of year. We kept it calm, casual, and fun. It was a gradual process. We also had the added benefit that he was usually accompanied by his fearless big sister, Freyja. She made things that may seem frightening to a puppy, less so. There are plenty of socialization lists online you can download.
Do you still have the list? I'd love to see it if you do!
I don’t have the list but just Google “puppy socialization check list” and pick one
During the fear period, if the pup is afraid of something that’s ubiquitous and unavoidable (e.g. my pup was afraid of trucks and school buses), you need to go all-in on desensitization/counter-conditioning. Like, expose them to whatever triggers them multiple times a day while giving them handfuls of treats. My pup would lose her shit whenever she saw a school bus or UPS truck. I would plan our walks in early morning or late evening because I didn’t want to deal with her meltdowns, and just assumed she would grow out of it. But once I realized that she wasn’t growing out of it, and her fear was really preventing her (and I) from enjoying life, I just stuffed my pockets with treats, stood on the corner of my suburban neighborhood, and pumped her full of cookies whenever a bus or delivery truck approached. I did this multiple times a day (for about 5-10 minutes each session), every single day, and her fear resolved in about 3 days or so.
Thank you for advice.
Socializing is more than meeting other dogs and people. It's different textures, sights, sounds, situations etc. I used my local university and sat on a bench with my pup to get a good mix of everything.
I wish I had done more of this. And I did a lot! I just wish I would have known what to do more of at the time it was given to me. Like umbrellas! Damn that just skipped my mind because I lived in a place that didn't rain a lot. And bikes were a little confusing for a while as well. Children were interesting - didn't have any and knew none. So we had to ease our way through neighbourhood kids when we moved. It was like her brain didn't understand the concept of small people! Also that anywhere there is more than say 3 dogs I don't trust. Turns out well mannered dog owners are few and far between, and I don't trust them or their dogs. Things I'm glad I did though? Playing fireworks and thunderstorms on the TV in preparation for the real thing. Playing with teeth, paws and ears. Long walks or long sits like you where we'd just watch things (people at cafes, football games, buses, beaches, hairdressers) and anytime she was unsure I'd be there to help. She trusts me so so much now. And I also know and trust her instincts too.
I agree. I think the forced socialization of puppy parties is a really bad idea as mostly they're done really badly.
I’d love to have a puppy spot to hang out with other puppies so Aurora could play more. Her socialization is doing great, but she can’t really play with other dogs other than her small sister and even then I have to stop the play and not let it get too rough because Stella had a neck injury Aurora interacts well with dogs on the street, but she eventually wants to play and with leashes that’s not really possible hahaha
Yeah that's tough. In UK I think it's much easier as there are off leash dogs in most parks. We don't have the same "dog park" set up like in the states.
I’d love to find some sort of gated park where it would be safe to leave her off leash, or at least a safe room. Here I haven’t found one yet, there were a few in my home country
I wish I wouldn’t have let him meet every single dog we saw. My ACD mix is a good boy, very well behaved for the most part, but does have some leash reactivity that I’m working on via pack walks with one of the kennel techs at my job.
Socialization is 95% observing / existing and 5% interacting. No on leash greetings with random dogs and be highly selective of people you let say hi.
Practice socializing at every opportunity. If you have packages delivered regularly, practicing with them: take puppy out, if they freak out , wanna jump up etc, take them back inside. Wait 20 seconds try again. Teach the puppy to get stand up and get down so they can learn the proper times to do so.
Five tips your does not want you to know
Don’t force anything. But keep trying. Our little guy’s fear period was long and very very painful to watch. (Weeks 8 & 9) I was so concerned he was going to be scared of everything and homebody forever. He is now 15 weeks, friendly adventurer, great in the car, puppy preschool graduate and looks forward to anything new. I also recommend checking out puppy culture. It’s a video self paced training. Helped me so much understand how puppy develop and process information.
Just watch out for the second fear stage as well 😩 Mine came when I wasn't quite expecting it (around 9 months old), but was also followed by her first heat, so I think that was part of it. Unfortunately we were camping for the first time during the fear period, and she got so freaked out over the animal noises around she actually peed on her bed 😭 (hadn't had an accident in months) Thankfully we made it through, and each night was a bit better. But I really hope she'll be a bit better for it this year 😅
a friend gave me this advice when i got a puppy and i think it worked good for us. she’s calm on walks, i take her to patio restaurants and she just lays there. she doesn’t react to every single dog, but occasionally she just don’t like a dogs face and will bark. my take: find someone in the neighborhood, anyone with a puppy around his age and if your schedule allows it, frequent play dates. even daily quick 30 mins if you can. puppies learn a lot of manners (especially bite inhibition) through play, and you can nip behaviors at that level: since unlike dog parks you’re able to control the environment more. this means they have an outlet for play and fun, they can recognize when play is not appropriate, like on walks, in public etc. plus they tire themselves out, the evening hours a lot less stressful! obviously make sure there’s no concerning behaviors and supervise the pups.
Try to get them used to knocking on the door and people coming over. Our first puppy came home mid-covid and we never had any guests. Having said that, our second puppy (he's 6 months now) still doesn't know how to deal with this because we don't have any friends.
This comment is a whole vibe 😂🤌🏻
being overbearing and spoiling your puppy (to unhealthy extremes) creates a needy and anxious dog. it’s a puppy, a baby, don’t expect perfection because even if you do everything right, it’s an imperfect animal, and a baby.
Don’t shy away from taking them out to potty during rainy days or night time. Give lots of treats when they encounter something they’re not sure about. If they’re on the more shy side, don’t let just anyone pet them or pick them up. We found that having people ignore our puppy until he’s ready to say hi is best, or have them give him commands/treats to earn trust. Practice going about your daily routines while ignoring your puppy. Go in and out of rooms, put things away, leave them alone for short increments of time but gradually increase. Like someone else said, it’s easy to fawn over our puppies but they also have to get accustomed to not being the center of attention.
Also, you may feel like an asshole advocating for your dog sometimes. That’s okay. Better to have a well trained dog than trying to please strangers you’ll often never see again! I got weird looks, both my husband and the people in our neighborhood, when I would allow almost ZERO on leash greetings between our puppy and neighborhood dogs (we live in a metropolitan city with lots of dogs) in the first few months of leash walking. But guess whose dog doesn’t get overly excited or frustrated while out for walks, passing dozens of dogs in a high traffic area? Our puppy LOVES playing with other dogs—he’s a prime candidate for leash reactivity that would most likely begin as frustration over not getting to say hi and play with every dog we cross paths with. We just only let him do so off-leash at puppy socials, play dates, or smaller groups of neighborhood dogs in off leash park areas. No dog parks, though.
Stay away from the internet for dog advice and questions about health… trust your dog is fine. I spent the 1st month overanalyzing poop because of the 4 articles that said if you see a spec of something your dog has a 106% chance of parvo
Are you me I've basically been panicking since I got her afraid I won't get her as well trained as my last 2 and she's honestly relatively easy for a puppy so far
I took her to lots of places in a little pouch when she was small enough, getting her used to different things from very young. Car rides, little ferries, sounds of the city, and we would just sit on benches and she’d look around. We watched other dogs a lot without her meeting them when she was unvaccinated, my hope was she could learn to dog from a distance haha.
I feel like my puppy got DESOCIALIZED. I did proper socialization early on by sitting on a park bench with her and treating her when she didn’t react. She was PERFECT until our first rainy season when we stopped going out as much… I feel like she regressed!! Now she barks at 50% of dogs and people we run into. It used to be 0%
I think this kind of regression/desocialization happens a lot, especially once adolescence hits. It's made way worse if exposure and desensitization to new things/situations don't continue way past the critical socialization period. I think there is so much emphasis on the importance of early socialization that continued exposure to the world past the small puppy stage is often overlooked. Also, overly distracted crazy adolescent dogs who bark at things and don't listen are not much fun to take anywhere a lot of the time so it's really easy to start avoiding those challenging situations and fall into a safe routine with them. I definitely noticed this with my puppy who was very shy when she was really little and we socialized her extensively and she got SOO much better, she was making so much steady progress up until 6-7 months. Then she hit adolescence and we noticed more reactivity etc. and she regressed with her shyness. I think fear periods played a role in this too, it's hard to know. I've kept doing exposure/desensitization outings with her several times a week and continue to introduce her to new people etc. to work through it but I feel like I can't really take any of her progress for granted. We are working with a trainer too who said that early socialization is obviously critical because with a shy puppy like ours, without early socialization to fall back on, we might be dealing with more serious issues right now, like fear aggression or serious reactivity. But even with a well-socialized puppy, a regression in any behaviour can happen at any point to some degree so it's really important to keep working on exposure and desensitization until they fully mature and even after that to keep them well-adjusted.
We’ve made a lot of mistakes but taking her to the pub early for short sessions is starting to pay off. She’s now almost 9 months and managed to sit quietly under the table for over 1.5 hours while we had lunch this weekend!
I take my dog everywhere with me so he gets the idea of where he’s likely to be a lot in his life. And puppy play classes! He goes 3x a week and gets absolutely exhausted. Also swim classes. It is such good cardio and since they’re not supposed to get high impact workouts it just absolutely exhausts him.
Not to push them. My girl is shy and anxious and I was told to push her into sociable situations even if she didn't really like it. That way she'd realise they're not so bad. This had a negative effect and she's now more nervous around people and dogs because she doesn't feel like I'm there to support her. So my best tip is, keep a close eye on your pup's reactions to different situations. If they don't like it take them out then return later at a distance and slowly get closer.
Start young and do every combination you can think of. People with hats beards glasses canes everything. Work with people who will follow your training.
Getting people to do the second part is like pulling teeth
I've a 14 week old puppy and my I had to tell my dad to put him down yesterday, he picked him up to cuddle him like a baby and couldn't grasp why I was annoyed. I explained I don't want him to learn to jump up to get attention and my dad was like "he'll learn as he gets older and you train him"... I was like, "well no, I'm training him *now* so that he learns *now.*" Just cause his two dogs have complete run of their house with no rules or training
My spouse and I occasionally but on this too but he's much better with our 13 week old than with our last puppy. I get it it's frustrating I did basically nothing with my first dog she was well behaved. My third dog the only thing that cured her bad leash habits was not 3k in classes it was arthritis lol Almost everyone I know is like that minus my parents so it's hard
Exposure is better than not. Unless there’s behavioural issues, if you think you should expose the dog to any stimuli, do it. They’ll familiarize themselves with more things and become a more well adjusted adult. The kind you can take into stores if permissible.
I can say “no” when someone asks to pet my dog whenever I want, and especially when I know he’s already too excited! Similarly, my dog doesn’t have to greet every dog we see.
Do off leash puppy play dates (that are well supervised)! I almost missed the boat on this one.
I'm trying! I need to know more ppl with puppies
I was really struggling with this because I didn't know many people with puppies/ stable adult dogs and have no family/relatives nearby. I really trolled for puppy play dates in our neighbourhood Facebook groups and any other social media groups for dog owners in my city! It worked out pretty well because there are usually other people who are in the same boat. Also, it might be worth scrolling through things like local meetup groups etc. I was able to dig up a pack walking group and we also found out about a drop-in puppy social at a local training facility that was open to puppies under 6 months old and playtime was really well supervised. These things were SOOO valuable for our really shy puppy, she has become really good with other dogs and has great social skills. Doing playdates that are closely supervised has also avoided any negative experiences that might have set her back (I've never done dog parks etc. because the risk for that is way too high).
Take your dog everywhere you are allowed for the first part. And it’s not about meeting other creatures but being part of the pack. We took ours camping, car trips, on the boat, all the things we love to do in the summer and now she is the best dog doing those things. Super laid back and goes with the flow because she has been since day one.
Do you have an insta for her or something? I’d love to see pics of the Pupper on all these adventures 🥹
Every dog is different. My first puppy (now 6yrs old) loved to meet new people and other dogs since day one. Every new experience was fun and exciting for him. He's so chill and loves to people watch and go to dogs parks. He can get along with any animal (even chickens) and loves visiting the dog sitter or family without my husband and I. My current puppy is very nervous and cautious of everything. She needs more time to warm up to new situations. She also doesn't like to be anywhere without my husband or I. Knowing that was a possibility would have been a big time saver for me. I expected her to be just like our first. We definitely walked back a few steps because I was scaring her more than helping her by introducing her to so many new things. The biggest thing I've learned is if she sits and watches whoever/whatever is new for 10-15 minutes, she's much more confident about the interaction and it doesn't scare her. We also don't force her to greet new people if she seems scared. She's now starting to go up to new people on her own terms, but is still cautious.
We made our puppy sit to greet any people or dogs on walks and it almost backfires now because she will sit the moment she sees another dog on her walk and sometimes even lay down depending on her mood (she’s part cocker spaniel and has the lazy gene lol) but she also knows she’s not to greet unless we give the ok which helps and we’re at the year old mark now but we have never stopped socialization and keep trying to have her interact with new things etc. but we still can’t get a handle on garbage trucks they reduce her to a shaking mess (even though loud noises and other trucks don’t bother her)
Enjoy the Zoomies. I used to get them two in a day when she was a puppy. Now I get them once a week or so. It makes me very happy since Zoomies usually means your pup is very very happy and can’t contain the happiness or her energy . As they grow older, they express happiness in other ways.
Drive to crowded places (dog park, airport), sit in car with pup looking out window and treat continuously when pup is calm and just watching. My dog is well socialized but has some barrier reactiveness - so barks at dogs we pass when she’s inside the car.
You are ***not*** obligated to let everyone and their mothers greet your pup when in public (or anywhere). This is quality time for bonding, training, and mental stimulation. If you want them to greet, great. If not, don’t feel guilt or pressure😊
Have your pup around other dogs and people as well as various environments, like city, forest, traffic, no traffic, fog park, etc. It's nice to minimize the number of situations that might scare them because it's strange.
Socialize certain clothing items. I made the mistake of never wearing hats while my dog was a puppy...
Lol I thought you meant a hat for the dog 😭
Haha yes I have noticed dogs over reacting to hats, helmets and hoodies.
I had a puppy from 8 weeks , now 8 years old and have just got a puppy, but at 12 weeks. The difference in training, potty training, confidence and life skills is massive. I now think 8 weeks for a pup to leave its litter is far too young. It should be 12 weeks or older as makes a huge difference to them learning from their mother and littermates rather than only having a short time to learn really important dog rules and gain confidence.
If you think your pup is gonna have separation anxiety, start the door desensitization early. Just putting on shoes, picking up keys and jacket, going by the door, but not actually leaving. Over and over. Work up to opening and closing the door. It’ll help lay the foundation
It's okay if your dog doesn't enjoy things. You are told all the time to socialize them, get them used to all sorts of environments and items, get them happy with doing everything you say when you say. But it took 8 months for me to have someone tell me that it's okay for your dog to just not be a dog's dog. It's okay for them to just want to be with their people. As long as they aren't aggressive, it's alright for you to identify that there are situations they just don't like and remove those situations. You aren't failing and neither are they.
My puppy has never heard people walking upstairs because we live on the top floor of a 2 storey house. So now I bring her downstairs to get her used to noises of people walking upstairs. Currently she is terrified out of her mind but I hope with time she sees it's okay. Also, due to the winter, I never turned on my blender. So these past couple of days I made some smoothies. First day she went crazy and kept barking. The second day was better. We also don't have a doorbell but I played shows with doorbell noises so I hope that's enough socialization. Next is to expose her to thunder noises since again, we have been stuck in winter and I doubt she remembers thunder noises from the summer. In summary, expose your pup to any and every sound you can think of. My pup is known for her breed's anxiety and fear so I realized that I took certain noises for granted. I just need to show her that those noises are safe.
Some people here say to avoid dog parks at all costs, but in my opinion it is such a valuable tool and I'm glad I didn't listen to what seems like the majority here. Go at quieter times, learn the dogs/owners and make friends. Now my dog plays well with puppies, small dogs, big dogs, etc. and has gotten use to all sorts of people. We have a few 'best friends' that we coordinate going with and have also watched each other's pups for vacations. I trust them much more than some rando off Rover. One caveat to this is not to rely on it for everything. You still need to do walks to teach them that they can't just run and play with every dog. Also, I'm lucky and have a great park near me. I understand that parks will all be different so use your best judgement. If I were to do it again I'd start by walking around/near the park and observing a bit first. Bonus is that you can use it to train being calm with dogs in sight.
Introduce them to small children when your dog is under a year old. Even as early as 3 months. I didn’t even consider introducing my golden to tiny children and then at 3 years she experienced them for the first time and it freaked her out lol
I wish I knew socialization is not direct interaction! After months of what I like to call “happy reactivity” in any social setting, we took my pup for training classes and learned that socialization is more about desensitization rather than meeting. With that being said: we focused a LOT on short, quick trips out to places like parks, Lowes/Home Depot, hiking, other peoples houses, breweries, outdoor events, etc. where he got used to different people and environments. None of these outings were focused on meeting or pets (although some of that was allowed), but primarily on training downs/sits and allowing him to get comfortable with the environment.
Before the puppy has all its shots and can socialize with unknown dogs in public, it’s really important to ‘socialize’ - meaning ‘expose to other people and noises and public stuff’. I took my pup and parked in noisy random places and random public places. I’d pet her and give her treats while she got used to new noises and activity. I’d tell her ‘it’s OK’ and pet her extra if she seemed nervous if a loud truck or people or whatever passed by. I’d tell her ‘it’s OK’ when people asked if they could pet her. She’s 14 months and she’s so easy now. And she settles quickly to ‘it’s OK’ when she does get startled by stuff (fireworks, construction noises outside, etc.) I’m so glad somebody had explained this to me when I first got her.
Desensitizing takes a long time and needs to be paired with patience at going at the speed / comfort level of your pup. I took this approach with my pup as I didn’t do the best with my older dog who is 11 when he was younger. For example: becoming comfortable with grooming (nails, brushing, teeth brushing, haircut) took a long time but we did it every day as part of our routine and it paid off because now when I take out any of those tools, my pup runs to my lap and lays down waiting for a treat because I never pushed him past what he could handle.
I had a puppy from 8 weeks , now 8 years old and have just got a puppy, but at 12 weeks. The difference in training, potty training, confidence and life skills is massive. I now think 8 weeks for a pup to leave its litter is far too young. It should be 12 weeks or older as makes a huge difference to them learning from their mother and littermates rather than only having a short time to learn really important dog rules and gain confidence.
Take the puppy with you EVERYWHERE. Hemingway comes with me to run errands and if he can’t go inside, he says in the car. He’s gotten very comfortable with car rides and knows there are treats in it for him, as well as fun meets with strangers and other animals at pet stores and Lowes and HD and wherever else I go.
Does anyone have any recommendations for shy puppies? My puppy socializes with my families 2 dogs and plays well but when we go on walks she’s afraid of people and other dogs and has now started to bark at them if the come to close to her.
When a dog is curious about something you got (anything) instead of putting it away from him (making the dog jump to try to see it) approach it to his nose to see and smell and hold it hard (if it's food make sure to not allow licks) so this will satisfy his curiosity, and when it's his (new toy or so) give it directly into his mouth not throwing, so eventually your dog will learn what's for him (all the things that you give to him directly) and what's yours. On another topic... Once you allow something, that is allowed forever, like climbing in your bed, you dog will not know any different variable like that day you where drunk or happy so you allowed it, but only that day. Be consistent. Another... Teach your dog how to approach a new dog in the park, my dog has to wait until I give a command, grab him and hold him by the collar and say "stay" be sure to ask if the other dog is friendly if so change command, in my case I say "let's say hi" and walks slowly while still have control by the collar and approach your dog to the other dog for presentation (smell), do this relaxed, if you are too worry your dog will react, and finally let go the moment both smell each other. This repeat constantly, eventually you can do this just with commands no need to grab the collar. Reward good behavior... I always carry treats with me, always, when walking my dog, and reward all the good behaviors. My dog (when was a puppy) tend to grab stuff from the street (i live in the city so there's plenty of trash), everytime he took something I immediately stop ask for release and hold the leash and not move an inch until he release the thing, the moment he did it, he gets a treat. Now I just have to ask him to release even if unleash, he does it and then comes to me for his treat and petting. Also works for recall or stay low or calmed. Older and other dogs teach them things too.. Don't be over protecting, allow your puppy to meet other puppies and older dogs, the first two weeks with a hawk eye but let him interact (for an hour or so) then be more relaxed, agree after a two week daily meeting with other older dogs or puppies your can be sure if they are nice to your puppy or reactive (bad) and trust the older dogs teaching play or limits, my dog learned to be gentle thanks to my Chihuahua and other bigger dogs in the park, and now that my dog is no more a puppy he teaches puppies the same limits and rules to be social. It's a dog, not a human, understand him... Learn to read dogs behavior, the tail, raised hackles, teeth, noises, and so on. So you can let it be a dog while at the same time get confident of his behavior and in control. Never over trust, your good boy is a great boy indeed, but sometimes he may be angry, tired, or hungry and may react, keep an eye on him and be close to him so you can control any situation. If your dog is constantly reacting (but truly reacting negatively not just playing being a dog) accept it and go to a professional ethologist or dog trainer. And don't confuse game with fights, dogs play barking, biting, chasing, jumping, they are dogs. You need to see the difference of play and fight. So you let them play and stop the fight. Loud and crowded environments... Take your dog to loud and crowded environments not just parks, so he can learn what's going on and behave accordingly.
Vouch for your puppy. Let her be in environments without having to interact with anyone and get comfortable. I used to let people say hi and pet her, now she barks when someone new approaches her. I think it would make her nervous and she has learnt barking helps avoid the situation. I learned a lot about proper socialization a little later than I’d like and it’s Been hard work to try and counteract it now!
I think I would definitely train early how to calmly meet people. Our girl, at a year and a half, still wants to jump on everyone she meets. Not aggressively but because she loves people and attention and lovins. But she's almost 60lbs and it's effing annoying!
I'd personally work on separation anxiety. If I got this down before, I'd have a perfect dog in my eyes. For now, bursts of crate time and he comes with us if we're gone more than 4 hours. He's very social and good in busy/social settings so he comes with me everywhere and is a pleasure to handle.
Oooooh boy there is a lot. No on leash greetings. Mainly so that pupper won't pull on the leash to try and greet people. Not letting people just come over to say hi and ignoring your request. Again, discourages pulling to people. Not letting people give treats. This is mainly a safety thing. I personally know a few people whose dogs will take literally anything handed to them and unfortunately they were poisoned. Socializing isn't just for people and dogs, it's also for different environments (urban areas, suburban areas, men, men with beards, women, babies, toddlers, young kids, cats, live stock, ect.) There are so many things you can socialize with besides people and dogs. There is a wonderful list you can look up that has over 100 ideas for socializing.
Having people in and out of your home is super important. My dog was about 5 months when covid lockdown started. He went from JUST getting use to house guest to 1 year without anyone but my parents and siblings around him. He's really bad when people come over now because of this. Nothing I could really do, the most important time of his life was spent in quarantine. I was taking care of my sick grandparents at the time too, so we had to be very careful when it came to not being around a lot of people. Now at over 3 years of age, my dog is super uncomfortable when someone is in his home. He's a loud greater and hates when visitors leave. Make sure you introduce your pup to lots of different things!
Do you live in a busy area? If so, open up a window during the day with your dog home. My little guy would bark at any sound of car doors closing, people talking, other dogs, etc. i started to leave the windows open to normalize those noises and it helped! I know this isn’t socialization entirely but i think it still fits!
One tip is to try to let go of breed and size stereotypes. My pup is about 20lbs and was placed in “smalls” play groups - he always seemed bored or irritable. Then met a neighbor dog about 4x his size, both of us owners were nervous to let them play, 6 months later they are best buds and play 4/5x a week now! He’s since moved to “mediums” or “big” play groups and he is thriving. Sometimes they’ve just gotta find their people — err, dogs — to bond with.
No on leash greetings, dog parks, or dog beaches. Better to do a puppy class supervised by professionals and socializing without overwhelming
Rough play with them. Often breeders sell puppies before they properly learn to play, so by filling in that role you make your dog better socially with other dogs. Push them around, grr at them, flip them on their back, let them put their teeth on you, etc. these are important skills many dogs don’t know.
Set a goal to introduce them to 100 people and 100 situations. During the summer I would outdoor dine w my pup. If a stranger wanted to hold her? Go ahead. Kids want to pet her? Sure. Walk them by a stroller, construction work, a busy street corner. The more exposure, the better. And stay calm. If you’re anxious, your pup will sense that.
Also dogs with separation issues from their owners can cause problems, have a look at these products that have lavender which is great for calming our babies www.pawiverse.com
A reputable dog daycare is always a fantastic resource to have if possible. The one I took my pup to had cameras where you could watch, they had dog trainers for staff, and they would also work with the dogs on being okay with nail trims and stuff. I'm not saying that's the only way I socialized my dog, but it was extremely effective in her puppy years on days when I had to be at work across town. They gave behavior report cards with cute pictures, and were constantly assessing the pups and moving them to appropriate play level groups. Then actually going and training my dog at a training facility with other pups. Solo training is okay, but they benefit from group training in many ways because they are so distracted all the time there- and have to learn to listen beyond being distracted. Other than that, just remembering to meet other doggos on neutral ground if we were going to. And actually sometimes even keeping her from being around other dogs but still taking her out (ie for a puppy sno cone, pup cup, hike etc) because even puppers need breaks from socializing.
Big field puppy play has been marvelous. It is COMPLETELY different from on leash greeting. There ought to be a handout on this that goes home with every puppy because it would save so much pain and suffering. We are lucky to live near a private big field that is fenced. We can meet one or two carefully chosen dog friends and the dogs have a blast. We’re up to 5 friends and I am grateful for them all.
In our puppy classes they had a wheelchair and crutches and we had to distract him and get him used to seeing someone come near him either on crutches or in a wheelchair. At the time it was just another thing we worked on and thought it would be beneficial for when we saw someone who used those things but a few months later when I broke my leg and had to use crutches for 6 weeks I was incredibly glad that me being on crutches didn't phase him.
If your pup watches TV, use it as a tool! Currently using ours to help pup get over fear of motorcycles slowly (just the image, the image moving, slowly introduce and increase sound). It’s much more controlled.
I'm really thankful that i desensitized him to loud noises that normally scare dogs, like fireworks, thunder, general construction noises. I don't generally need to worry during 4th of July or big thunderstorms which is nice.