Dog socialisation Victoria
Dog Socialization: How to Socialize Your Puppy
With nothing but time, patience, and a little knowledge on your part, any dog, young or old, pure-bred or mutt, can be a happy and well-adjusted member of your family. You can reduce the risk of a dog bite, ensure your dog's safety and happiness (as well as that of your family, friends, neighbors, and anyone else your dog may meet) just by spending time with your dog is various situations - in other words, socializing him. As with most things in life, the earlier you start and the more you practice, the easier and faster the learning process goes. Starting the socialization process with a puppy is really just a continuation of a process that started for him at birth.
Think of socialization as a language: those who learn a language but don't continue to use it will forget it. Even those who learn a language as a child can lose the ability to speak or write it fluently if they don't continue to practice it. Socialization works the same way for dogs. Dogs are typically born as just one pup in a litter of many (the number of pups in a litter varies depending upon the size of the breed but the average is between six and ten puppies in a litter). Dogs are born into a social group and learn about status, communication, calming signals, and bite inhibition from birth until they leave their mom, usually around eight weeks of age. Granted, everything they have learned can still be improved upon and expanded, but by the time you bring any responsibly cared-for puppy home, they have learned the basics of Dog socialisation Victoria. Once you bring a puppy home, ensuring that he remains well-socialized is up to you.
Dogs, like children, have a critical learning period. Once past this age, socializing a dog can be much more difficult, so starting young is essential. The socialization period for a puppy ends at around 12 weeks of age. This doesn't mean that your job is done when they hit 12 weeks, but that the four weeks between bringing home your puppy and the end of their socialization period is the most critical time for them to be exposed to new things, noises, situations, and people. Before reading any further, keep in mind that your puppy should be properly supervised by an adult family member that they are familiar and comfortable with during all Puppy socialisation Victoria and training.
Every experience your puppy has during their socialization period will affect how he copes with future experiences - whether they are similar or different to what he has previously experienced. The more new experiences he has during this time, the less he will be traumatized by new and different experiences when he is older. Take your puppy as many different places as you can, get them familiar with riding in the car to places other than the vet, and introduce them to as many different people as possible (people wearing hats, glasses, coats; people of different races; children of all ages; children in strollers; people in wheelchairs; people with disabilities; riding bikes; etc.). When it comes to experiences, don't limit yourself and your pup to places and people - be creative! You never know what situations he will be expected to cope with throughout his life. Show him balloons, flowers (non-toxic, please), the vacuum, hair dryer, stairs, elevators, cats, doorbells and other potentially startling noises, and anything else you can think of.
While introducing all of these new experiences, you can begin reinforcing your pup for appropriate responses using praise and small treats as a reward for positive behavior. Take care not to coddle him if he is afraid, rather encourage curiosity. If you immediately rescue him when he is feeling a little timid, you are showing him that he is right to be afraid and you are reinforcing that fear. It is far better to ignore the fear and encourage your pup to explore what he is afraid of (using treats can help!) or you may end up with an adult dog who is afraid of everyday situations - a dog that is scared is a dog that may defend itself and that is not what any of us want from a family pet.
Once your pup is 12 weeks old and has had his next round of booster shots on the way to becoming fully vaccinated, enroll him in a puppy class. This will start him off on the right foot as far as becoming an obedient dog, and will also give him even more new events, people, and dogs to add to his list of positive experiences - especially if you've done your homework and have found a training class that uses positive reinforcement and allows the enrolled pups to play together for a few minutes each session.
Negative experiences during this critical learning phase can impact your dog for the rest of his life so take the time to research training classes, veterinarians, puppy play times, and other potential experiences you plan to share with your pup before he is introduced to the new situation. Ask friends and neighbors for their help before expecting them to behave the way you want around your new dog - remember that not everyone is a dog person and not everyone will have the same ideas as you about what is or isn't appropriate for your pup. Should problems arise or negative experiences occur it's not the end of the world; most fears can be overcome while your pup is still young. Once he is six to eight months old, however, fears can become ingrained. Look for information on dealing with these lasting fears and the socialization process for older dogs in our next article, "Socializing the older dog".
With nothing but time, patience, and a little knowledge on your part, any dog, young or old, pure-bred or mutt, can be a happy and well-adjusted member of your family. You can reduce the risk of a dog bite, ensure your dog's safety and happiness (as well as that of your family, friends, neighbors, and anyone else your dog may meet) just by spending time with your dog is various situations - in other words, socializing him. As with most things in life, the earlier you start and the more you practice, the easier and faster the learning process goes. Starting the socialization process with a puppy is really just a continuation of a process that started for him at birth.
Think of socialization as a language: those who learn a language but don't continue to use it will forget it. Even those who learn a language as a child can lose the ability to speak or write it fluently if they don't continue to practice it. Socialization works the same way for dogs. Dogs are typically born as just one pup in a litter of many (the number of pups in a litter varies depending upon the size of the breed but the average is between six and ten puppies in a litter). Dogs are born into a social group and learn about status, communication, calming signals, and bite inhibition from birth until they leave their mom, usually around eight weeks of age. Granted, everything they have learned can still be improved upon and expanded, but by the time you bring any responsibly cared-for puppy home, they have learned the basics of Dog socialisation Victoria. Once you bring a puppy home, ensuring that he remains well-socialized is up to you.
Dogs, like children, have a critical learning period. Once past this age, socializing a dog can be much more difficult, so starting young is essential. The socialization period for a puppy ends at around 12 weeks of age. This doesn't mean that your job is done when they hit 12 weeks, but that the four weeks between bringing home your puppy and the end of their socialization period is the most critical time for them to be exposed to new things, noises, situations, and people. Before reading any further, keep in mind that your puppy should be properly supervised by an adult family member that they are familiar and comfortable with during all Puppy socialisation Victoria and training.
Every experience your puppy has during their socialization period will affect how he copes with future experiences - whether they are similar or different to what he has previously experienced. The more new experiences he has during this time, the less he will be traumatized by new and different experiences when he is older. Take your puppy as many different places as you can, get them familiar with riding in the car to places other than the vet, and introduce them to as many different people as possible (people wearing hats, glasses, coats; people of different races; children of all ages; children in strollers; people in wheelchairs; people with disabilities; riding bikes; etc.). When it comes to experiences, don't limit yourself and your pup to places and people - be creative! You never know what situations he will be expected to cope with throughout his life. Show him balloons, flowers (non-toxic, please), the vacuum, hair dryer, stairs, elevators, cats, doorbells and other potentially startling noises, and anything else you can think of.
While introducing all of these new experiences, you can begin reinforcing your pup for appropriate responses using praise and small treats as a reward for positive behavior. Take care not to coddle him if he is afraid, rather encourage curiosity. If you immediately rescue him when he is feeling a little timid, you are showing him that he is right to be afraid and you are reinforcing that fear. It is far better to ignore the fear and encourage your pup to explore what he is afraid of (using treats can help!) or you may end up with an adult dog who is afraid of everyday situations - a dog that is scared is a dog that may defend itself and that is not what any of us want from a family pet.
Once your pup is 12 weeks old and has had his next round of booster shots on the way to becoming fully vaccinated, enroll him in a puppy class. This will start him off on the right foot as far as becoming an obedient dog, and will also give him even more new events, people, and dogs to add to his list of positive experiences - especially if you've done your homework and have found a training class that uses positive reinforcement and allows the enrolled pups to play together for a few minutes each session.
Negative experiences during this critical learning phase can impact your dog for the rest of his life so take the time to research training classes, veterinarians, puppy play times, and other potential experiences you plan to share with your pup before he is introduced to the new situation. Ask friends and neighbors for their help before expecting them to behave the way you want around your new dog - remember that not everyone is a dog person and not everyone will have the same ideas as you about what is or isn't appropriate for your pup. Should problems arise or negative experiences occur it's not the end of the world; most fears can be overcome while your pup is still young. Once he is six to eight months old, however, fears can become ingrained. Look for information on dealing with these lasting fears and the socialization process for older dogs in our next article, "Socializing the older dog".
Dog socialisation Victoria
lazyyy....:)
IMG_7146.jpg
My Pup :-)
Ki仔仔
B.O.T.Y TAIWAN TAIPE...
New Guestbook
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
by Dog_socialisation_Victoria
The sooner you potty train your puppy the better. You want to establish good habits from the start. And, a dog who has never gone potty in the house w... (more)
