Socialising post lockdown Puppies

Missing out on early socialisation

During the early months of their lives, typically 8-12 weeks, providing plenty of opportunities for socialisation and exposure to different environments, can help to ensure your puppy grows into a well-adjusted adult dog that copes in a calm relaxed manner, especially around other dogs and people. Lockdown however has meant many young dogs have missed out on this critical period, often resulting in them become a little wary when confronted with new situations. This ‘fear’ can manifest itself in many ways from being ultra-nervous to exhibiting signs of aggression.

Later Socialisation the importance of patience.

Generally, a dog’s and indeed most living creatures, natural reaction to something it is unsure about, is to be wary of it. If confronted with the object in question, be it a child, another dog, the hoover or the dreaded hose, it is likely that an unsocialised dog will be fearful, which as we suggested early can manifest in a number of ways. The key to helping your dog overcome these minor stresses is to work slowly, patiently and assist them in overcoming their anxieties by keeping these ‘new’ experiences positive.

The presence of children can be especially terrifying for unsocialised dogs. High pitched excitable voices and erratic movements can be very daunting for some dogs. So rather than expose the dog to a group of excitable children, who will no doubt want to smother the dog, it is best to take the slowly, patiently, and positive association approach. Endeavour to control the situation. Try to learn through looking at your dog’s body language, a distance where your dog seems un-phased by the presence of children and try to set it up so that the children in question (you may wish to start with just one child) are remaining calm. When your dog catches sight of the children or child, offer up a high value reward to the dog, this may be its favourite toy or a tasty treat. If the reward is refused, it is likely that your dog has gone over the stress threshold, so start again another day but this time increase the distance between the child and the dog.

Over time, you can gradually reduce the distance between your dog and the child and begin to make it a little more challenging by perhaps adding more children into the mix or getting the children to make some small movements. In essence progress is governed by the dog, watch for signs of anxiety (avoid rewarding the dog when they are showing these signs), take it slowly and keep up with providing positive associations.

Transfer the same concept to sounds that may be frightening, like the sound of fireworks, thunder or even everyday cars. There are many recordings available, adjust the volume control to low and ensure your dog is at a distance away from where the sound will be emitted. Once again, progress slowly, decreasing the distance and increasing the volume whilst creating a positive association through a high value reward.

Adopting this approach in everything you do with your unsocialised dog will help them adapt in overcoming minor stresses. Just because it’s something that appears harmless try not to assume your dog sees it in that way. Well adjusted, socialised dogs, tend to be able to deal with minor stresses relatively easily, unsocialised dogs may find the whole world threatening, especially if it moves, like people, dogs, hoovers, brooms etc. Flooding them with whatever is scaring them can result in the dog taking flight or being aggressive towards the object in question.

For those dogs who missed out on socialisation due to lockdown, learning to accept new things and be comfortable with them, is going to take a joint effort between you and your dog. Some dogs will adjust quickly, others may take a little more time, you have to be the judge of that. Try not to assume that because you don’t find something scary, your dog wont, all new experiences can be difficult for the unsocialised dog.

If you are in any way unsure of what or how to achieve this, seek the advice from a professional, who can guide you in the principles of keeping experiences positive and demonstrating how your dog can learn to accept or become less fearful of novel situations or experiences.

Roy Young BCCSDip.AdvCanBhv