IMPORTANCE OF SOCIALIZING YOUR PUPPY EARLY
When dogs grow up, they decide what to trust and what they don’t. The instinct to trust is based on the time they have spent as wolves in the wild. As pack animals that were often forced to defend themselves in the wild, they used this trust to decide when to be friendly, and when to show aggression., This distinction helped them survive for centuries, until they were eventually domesticated into friendly dogs.
Even though they are household animals, that instinctual trust still remains. As dogs get older, they figure out who/what they are supposed to trust and what is foreign or strange to them, requiring either aggression (growling, attacking) or fear (running away or avoiding). For dogs, they generally figure out what should and should not be trusted as puppies, and once they are larger, they have those opinions set in their mind.
Though there are many things in this world to be fearful of for a stray dog or a dog in the wild, a pet that is in your home has little to worry about. You want to make sure that you teach your dog to get used to and trust in other people and animals early, before it has “established” what it trusts in the world.
Common things to socialize your dog with
When you are ready to socialize, you should try to get your puppy used to anything that you expect it to encounter in life:
People (including friends, family, children and strangers).
Animals (other dogs, cats, and any other animals in your home or outdoors).
Things (Motorcycles, bikes, skateboards and anything that moves)
Anything that your dog may come across that moves quickly and unpredictably is a good object to socialize them with when they are a young puppy.
How to socialize your dog with these things
Socializing is both fun and easy, but does require a great deal of time and the careful observation of your puppy to avoid any bad behaviors.
People - To socialize your puppy with people, you simply need to have people of all shapes, sizes - even genders, ages and races - come in contact with your dog and show friendliness and affection in both public and private settings. That means that you should have guests coming into your house, take your puppy out of the home and let as many strangers (including children) be friendly with your dog.
Animals - Dogs can be a little trickier, but are still performed in the same fashion. If your dog is not fully vaccinated you need to only expose them to dogs that you know are fully vaccinated and healthy. If your puppy is fully vaccinated take them to dog parks and popular dog locations to let them sniff around and interact with other dogs. Be cautious because you do not want your puppy to have a bad interaction with a dog. Just make sure you ask the other owner if it’s okay for your dogs to meet before having them interact. The wider range of breeds, sizes and ages of dogs your puppy interacts with the better.
Things - Perhaps the most difficult aspect to socialize is the way your puppy feels towards objects. Your puppy will come in contact with all sorts of random objects that may frighten them. Herding breeds can be especially prone to disliking motorcycles and skateboards, and since it is dangerous (and difficult) to have your dog interact with a moving motorcycle, it may be hard for you to properly socialize your pet. Puppies are new to the world and will experience many different objects that we come in contact with on a daily basis and don’t think twice about but may startle them. Objects like vacuums, brooms, fire hydrants etc. If your puppy gets startled by an object then slowly introduce the object to your puppy and give them positive reinforcement along with a treat.
Socializing your puppy is very important. The earlier your dog learns to trust these people, animals and objects, the better their behavior will be towards them in the future. As often as you can, you should take your puppy out to populated areas in order to give your dog the socialization it needs. A general rule of thumb is that in the first 90 days of owning your dog they should come in contact with 100 people and 100 dogs to be well socialized. Luckily, you can also enjoy all of the personal affection that is provided by those that appreciate how cute and friendly your puppy is.