Puppy Socialization

As a professional dog trainer, I often hear clients say that they actively “socialized” their puppy, and yet the pup is still highly reactive to a variety of stimuli in the environment.  When I inquire about the “socialization” process these folks employed, the problem becomes very obvious.  People don’t understand the term social, so they fail at attempting to socialize their dog. 

The most common definition I encounter for the process of “socialization” involves numerous trips away from home with the intention of exposing the pup to a variety of situations to which the owner hopes the pup will become acclimated. I interpret that as the owner’s attempt to help the pup get used to some contrived list of experiences that may not be what will ever trigger the pup to act out. If you haven’t mastered the art of properly communicating to a pup about expectations for her behavior at home, then you aren’t going to be successful shutting down her unacceptable behavior towards something more random and unplanned like the shadow and sound of a flag rippling in the wind, or the sound of a semi-truck’s air brakes.

Unfortunately, these public outings focused on “socialization” often happen very early and weeks earlier than the puppy has reached the age when wild wolves allow their pups to follow along on hunts.  Wolves successfully socialize their pups at home so that when they permit them to follow a hunting party, the pups have trust, respect and belief in the leadership of their elders.  As a sub-species of the Gray wolf, we can successfully emulate the way in which wolves socialize their puppies.

True early socialization leads to self-control which aides in self-confidence.  It can, and I strongly believe it should happen at home before a pup is taken into the world full of new and potentially scary things.  Puppies must be given the opportunity to learn that they can rely upon the elders to make important decisions about their safety.   A pup’s owner needs to clearly and effectively teach her puppy to respect and honor expectations set by the higher ranking ones.   Specifically, when an owner sets a boundary, the pup should change its behavior to observe and abide by that boundary.   Those lessons are the responsibility of the dog’s owner.

Full disclosure:  as a dog trainer of over 35 years, I rarely encounter people who are successful at the very basic and critical communication of proper socialization with their dog.  Most people are unable to teach their dog to sit with a highly reliable stay (as in stay even in the presence of distractions) let alone accomplish the often less obvious requirements of socially acceptable behavior. For that reason, I strongly recommend seeking professional assistance if you are struggling with the most basic elements of socialization.

Just like wolf pups experience, on their first “hunting trip” to town, domestic dog pups will likely encounter a variety of stimuli that could result in surprise, worry, fear, a need to retreat, a need to engage, the urge to become excessively exuberant or any other reaction that a unique individual animal could present.  Because wolves (and its sub-species domestic dog) are social, a startled pup can look upwards in the pack for guidance on how to respond when it encounters something new and exciting or frightening.   If the pup was never properly and thoroughly socialized in the home environment, that critical moment cannot happen.  A pup that has not learned to trust, respect and believe in the owner’s leadership is left with no other option but to respond in an anti-social manner of fight, flight or excessive exuberance and the owner has no plan or experience on how to address the wayard behavior.

When a dog presents a fight, flight or excessive exuberance response, I refer to it as an anti-social act.  That dog is not looking to the human in its life for feedback about how it should behave when it is surprised, worried, frightened or driven to engage.  Quite often that is because the human isn’t upholding previously accomplished lessons about boundaries for behavior or even more often because those lessons (aka socialization) never happened at home, where learning is easier and can be more controlled.

Nothing good can come from the situation where an uneducated dog travels in public places with an owner who has not established herself as a trustworthy, reliable, predictable and benevolent leader.  In fact, a lot of bad learning can transpire which will make future outings even more exacerbating.  Trying to ‘phone in’ your leadership responsibilities is wholly unfair to the dog and leads to increasing frustration on the part of the owner whose bad energy magnifies her incompetence at benevolent leadership.

A competent leader continually evaluates the dog’s reaction to the world.  She provides a warning if she believes that the dog is about to go awry.  She offers that feedback calmly, quietly and most importantly proactively.   If the dog doesn’t heed her warning, she delivers the appropriate correction for the offense.   All of that education and practice should take place at home before subjecting a young pup to a world full of new experiences, some of which are difficult to evaluate. 

To be absolutely fair to your dog, it’s only reasonable to teach her your expectations for successful membership in your home until you feel confident that your puppy trust you, respects you and believes in your leadership so that she feels confident following you through whatever life presents.   When you’ve accomplished that, you don’t need to go into town to “acclimate” your pup to some infinite list of possible triggers.  Rather, you can take your pup anywhere and know that your puppy wholly trusts you, respects you,  knows your expectations for behavior and understands the method in which you will communicate a warning when you detect she may be pressing against an established standard.  You will be able to remain relaxed in the knowledge that your dog respects your warnings and trust you will also keep her safe in a world full of potentially scary things.  

Effectively socializing her will make your partnership with your dog absolutely amazing and enjoyable experience.