A well-mannered dog is a joy to everyone. Every fur baby needs to have proper manners not only for other people’s safety, but also for the dog’s benefit. Besides, when you socialize your puppy, everyone will love him more.
If you want to make your pet an upstanding doggy citizen, proper socialization training will do wonders. One way to do this is by hiring a professional to do positive reinforcement training. As well, you too can also implement positive experiences for your dog.
In this article, we’ll discuss some tips to help your dog achieve his best behavior.
Let Your Take A Walk With You
One of the simplest things you can do if you want to socialize your puppy is to get him to take a walk. (Of course, consult your veterinarian about vaccinations before exposing your pup.) Walking with your puppy every day will help fill his mind with positive experiences which will make him more comfortable. The world is an entire oyster to answer his curiosity. Be there to guide him through it.
Take your dog for walks to a public place with a variety of people. Let him smell the entire world around him. Remember that public places are a smorgasbord of smells that help him get familiar with everything. Your backyard, the park, your local delivery guys are all fair game to him. The world becomes much less scary if he sees more of it. Of course, you will watch to make sure that he is enjoying these encounters and not becoming overwhelmed.
Keep your fur baby on a short leash. Exercise with him and run around. Let him be around other dogs and humans too.
As much as possible, don’t take the same route for your walk every day. He will learn more and become less bored by altering your path. Give your little buddy a chance to make new friends when appropriate and see different sights and sounds.
Give Your Fur Baby Different Experiences
The next thing you want when you socialize your puppy is to expose him to a variety of positive situations. Introduce your puppy to people from different walks of life. Let him adapt to people, children and animals in your area in a safe manner.
Proper socialization is important to prevent a dog from developing anxiety or negative behavior due to lack of positive encounters with people, dogs and environments. If a dog is isolated, he may perceive other people or dogs as a threat. Therefore, It is best to give your dog more time for meetups with family and friends.
How do you properly introduce your dog?
When your dog is scared, stay calm without making the situation bigger. You want to remain confident. Don’t push your dog away when he is scared. Also, it is best not to create big reactions either that validates his fears.
Help your dog with training. Help him dog gain confidence with the basics by incorporating training. Your dog should enjoy his commands that you practice in his daily routine. You will see his confidence grow as he becomes more competent with his training.
If treat motivated, you can give your dog treats to help reinforce positive associations as he meets new people. Soon, your dog will want to meet more friends.
When you want to socialize your puppy, let people touch him as long as your pup is comfortable. You can help by instructing people where your puppy likes to be touched. Many pups like their belly or chin rubbed! You can always get dog walkers, pet sitters, or certified dog trainers to help with proper interactions.
Teach Them While They Are Young
The adage of “teaching an old dog new tricks” is there for a reason. If you want to socialize your puppy, it is best to train them at an early age. The ideal socialization age for puppies is between 3 to 12 weeks.
What do you teach your dog?
Positive reinforcement is essential for setting your dog up for success. You can use it to help your dog respond appropriately and comfortably with real-life situations. It is beneficial to introduce your dog to all potential sights and sounds that he will experience in your area.
If you live in the city, let him socialize not only with people and visitors, but the cityscape, too. Let him see the bustle in the streets, loud cars, bikers, and everything as long as he is comfortable and not over stimulated. You can allow these experiences in stages to help prevent any over stimulation. If you like traveling, lead him to bodies of water, car rides and even escalators.
For those who live somewhere quieter, introduce your dog to other appropriate pets, farm animals and machinery. Introduce him to different children, disabled people and their mobility assistants and everything else.
Beyond the first eighteen weeks, it can be a bit more challenging to socialize your puppy, However, it can and should still happen! Like with anything, the key to “teaching old dogs some new tricks” is patience and understanding.
A little boot camp can be a benefit too. Bring your dog in a puppy kindergarten or let a local expert work with you and your puppy. Dog socialization is one of the specialties of many dog trainers especially with helping them interact successfully with other dogs.
Socialize your Puppy with a Certified Trainer
Socialize your puppy as early as you can. Pups need you to introduce the world to them and reinforce that it’s a beautiful place. With your love and patience, we’re sure that your fur baby will learn to be a good boy or girl in no time.
If you’re not sure how to do properly socialized, it’s best to get help from a professional dog trainer.
Positive Paws Pet Training provides positive reinforcement training to your dogs. Whatever their age, we can give them the best practice to help lead them down the right path.
Consult with Positive Paws Pet Training and see how we can help socialize your puppy.
