Puppy Training / Exposure

What modern society thinks of when they discuss "socialization" for their dog or puppy typically does not lead to a well behaved dog. We see many mistakes occur when well meaning owners attempt to socialize their dogs in reference to the modern day idea of "socializing.” Sometimes a dog will become too pushy and over zealous. Other times a dog may go in the complete opposite direction and become fearful. Social interactions are extremely important for the well being of a dog but you have to take great care to make sure it is done the right way. A dog owner needs to know how to balance out exposure and social interactions.There is a big difference between exposure and social interactions. Exposure is the idea of being in a setting and enduring the environment around you. There are a number of things that your dog needs to be exposed to, like loud trucks, bicycles, skateboards, bridges, the general public, new surfaces and other dogs to name a few. Social interaction is where you are engaging with those around you. When used to describe dog training, we usually think of a dog meeting people or other dogs. Typically when first training with a dog it is important to work on getting the dog exposed to various stimulants and reinforcing neutral existence versus interaction. This does not imply that social interactions are any less important however. In fact they are absolutely crucial to a dog’s mental well being and development in most family households. We need to make sure that our dog does not approach social interactions with too much intensity or show intense fear in situations they will encounter during everyday life. If we see a dog who struggles with existence and exposure, they generally are not ready for or do not need direct interaction and should just be exposed to the situation from a safe and comfortable distance. Social interactions should be more about quality than quantity and be done in a safe and structured manner to promote positive experiences and proper etiquette between dogs interacting with one another or new people. This means carefully selecting the right dogs and people for your dog or puppy to interact with and not overdoing it when it comes to social interactions. You don't want your dog to get overwhelmed with too much pressure from people or other dogs constantly. This will lead to them toward becoming afraid and insecure, or over excited and out of control with too much excitement. Social interactions should be about learning, and developing good communication, mutual existence or play between dogs and/or people. We see more harm than good come from attempts at over socializing dogs with activities like dog parks, daycare and frequent meet and greets with little or no structure while out in public.It is often a good idea to begin working on structured introductions with your puppy with carefully selected dogs and people in an area with low levels of distraction. Introducing a new dog or person for direct interactions can start in places such as in your home, a friend’s house, or even in select public locations.Just because you do not allow your puppy to meet tons of people and dogs at a young age, does not mean they will be anti-social. Controlling social interactions allows for a greater opportunity to promote success and appropriate behaviors with your dog around new people and other dogs. The more successes at a young age, the better your dog’s chances are at developing into a happy and stable dog for years to come because they will feel safer knowing that you have everything under control. In our experience, the dogs who are the best behaved, have not had tons of social interactions as puppies. The interactions they have experienced were powerful, positive incluences that helped them become calm and appropriate dogs. Most dogs we see who practice open and unruly "social" interactions develop one of two extremes in personality and behavior. Neither of which fits under the definition of social and typically are not what owners are looking for with their family companion. The happy go lucky dogs become obnoxious and overly friendly. They can not control themselves around new people, other dogs or when out in public.
The fearful and unsure dogs often become defensive and/or reactive to people and other dogs. They learn to be mistrusting and act out more often as they experience a lack of respect for their personal space over and over again. It is much better to set up scenario's with a lot of control to help make it a positive and easy experience for them to be around other people and dogs. Eventually, without as much pressure focused on direct interactions, they will learn to be more confident, calm and neutral in all situations, environments and scenarios.