Raising A Friendly Dog: Puppy Socialization

Raising a friendly dog starts from when your dog is a puppy. It doesn’t matter what breed your dog is. You are responsible for socializing in the right way.

This way, you can ensure your dog will have mostly positive encounters with other dogs and humans, and your dog will remain confident and relaxed. Here’s your guide to proper puppy socialization:

The Dangers Of Not Socializing Your Puppy

If you don’t socialize your puppy properly, you run the risk of having a dog that is fearful for others. This can cause your puppy to display aggressive tendencies since he/she will constantly feel threatened.

Dogs are ideally socialized during their pupping stages, however, they can lose that if they become isolated as they approach adulthood. This helps to develop your dog’s personality as well.

How To Socialize Your Puppy

Socialization begins the moment you bring your puppy home from the shelter or rescue. You may ask for advice from the staff on how to improve your dog’s social skills. In the meantime, here are some of the most effective methods of socialization for puppies:

Don’t Adopt Too Early

Adoption can interrupt the learning that occurs with your puppy’s littermates. During this time, your puppy learns how to get along with multiple dogs at once. Interrupting this process can cause permanent damage to a dog’s social skills.

Introducing Your Dog To New Dogs

Where possible, allow your dog to interact with a lot of new dogs. This can happen during obedience class or trips to dog parks. You can also arrange playdates between your dog and your friends’ or neighbors’ dogs. This will teach them to get along with others, and more importantly, not to bite humans.

Introduce Your Dog To All Types Of People

Expose your dogs to all types of humans such as younger and older children, men, women, and everything in between. This helps to make your dog less fearful which can also curb aggression.

Make Your Family Your Dog’s Pack

Ideally, your dog should live inside. This helps to make your dog feel more like family or part of your pack. This creates stronger bonds and will ensure your puppy has a more comfortable life.

Bring Your Puppy In Different Surroundings

Allow your puppy to experience different surroundings with new sounds and smells. This ensures they won’t get nervous in the future and teaches acceptable behaviors.