Some people don’t realize just how critical socialization is until the dog is older and fearful of the world.  It’s more than just playing with your neighbor’s dog and meeting your grandkids.  Way more.  And FYI, it’s way more than just people and dogs.  This big bright wonderful world is full of all sorts of things that are not people and dogs.  There are other animals, sights, sounds, movement, and then how do you interact with various things in various environments?  Socialization is getting used to new experiences.  Proper socialization is reinforcing a puppy for interacting with a huge variety of new things, in new situations, in new environments, to create “new things are not bad things.”

You see, dogs (just like most animals) have an innate cautious response to “the unknown” probably as a survival instinct.  Basically, if you don’t know what it is, you’re naturally cautious, because you’re not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing.  And if you don’t know if “the unknown” is friend or foe, you’d better go slow with any introduction.  This is where you’d see a puppy creep up and sneak sniff something or someone, in hopes that somehow he remains invisible to the sniffee.

However, what do we humans do?  We lean over the puppy, look directly at him, talk directly to him, reach directly for him… (you can see where this is going).  Or if it’s an inanimate object like some strange yard decoration, I’ve seen well intentioned owners dragging their puppy over to it all the while spouting “Oh, it’s OK! See?” as if the puppy would suddenly under English, or feel better with our blabbing while getting up close and personal to the creepy rainbowed colored snail reading a newspaper on a mushroom.  Why not let the puppy look at it from across the yard, and reward him walking up to it all on his own?

Not only is exposure to new things (with a positive outcome) important, interacting with the real world is just as important.  Does the puppy know how to go over, under, through, between, around, or into something?  Have you ever seen a puppy when you’re first crate training?  Or asking him to get into your car?  Or unwrapping the leash around a tree?  Talk about clueless!  However, we just assume it’s no big deal.  Probably because it’s been so long since we were babies and had to figure things out ourselves.

Sounds are another thing that the real world can dish out.  If a puppy is home all day with nothing but classical music on, something like a smoke detector can seriously startle him.  Professionals know that whenever an animal is intensely startled, there is a greater chance for future fear responses to the same trigger.  So conditioning early that strange sounds can be rewarding can prevent a noise sensitive dog later in life.

Lastly there is handling.  Not all socialization is the puppy interacting with the world.  Sometimes it’s the world interacting with the puppy.  So things like “Gotch” (a collar grab), picking up each paw, or gentle restraint is important to practice.  Usually these things are seldom used if at all, but when they are done to the dog, it’s normally an emergency situation or medical care.  Me personally, I’d much rather have a dog who’s practiced being handled and is stress free (or at least less stressed) during a veterinary exam.  Or if heaven forbid he’s ever lost, a friendly stranger could grab his collar, and it’s no big deal.

So remember, it’s more than just, “but he plays with my neighbor’s dog.”  Go to a puppy class!

Canine Life and Social Skills is starting to take off.  It’s a new three part program from the APDT, which far exceeds most I’ve ever seen.  It has obedience, manners, and real life training such as waiting to get out of your car.  The objectives are to promote positive training methodology, strengthen the dog & owner relationship, encourage ongoing training, value real life skills, educate about dog behavior, and to promote the value of dog trainers & dog training.

C.L.A.S.S., through its evaluation, curriculum, and training resources, advocates the use of reward-based training. Positive, reward-based training minimizes the use of punishment and is fun for you and your dog! C.L.A.S.S. promotes relationship-based training, training in which the communication is two-way and the mutual trust is strong. It is training that is instructive, telling the dog, without anger or force, what we would like the dog to do.

There is also a shelter program that hopes to increase adoptions and decrease owner surrenders through this training program.

One of the goals of the C.L.A.S.S. program was to develop an assessment that is particularly beneficial to the needs of shelter dogs. To this end, any municipal shelter or registered 501(c)(3) shelter or rescue group may register their shelter for free and all dogs in your care may be tested in the program with fees waived. If you have a staff person who will be doing C.L.A.S.S. evaluations only on shelter dogs up for adoption, their evaluator registration fee is reduced from $40 to $25.

Once a dog has passed the initial B.A. level of the C.L.A.S.S. program, they may be listed on the C.L.A.S.S. web site in our “C.L.A.S.S. Dogs for Adoption” section.

I suppose what I’m most excited about is this isn’t just another obedience class.  Far too often I hear “my dog needs obedience training” when the client really needs a manners or reactivity  issue solved.  And quite honestly I’ve *never* seen a dog lose his home because, “well… Fido just wouldn’t heel straight” or “Sparky didn’t have a fast down” or even “Fluffy only preformed ‘sit’ when I held a treat.”  The main reason dogs under three years old are euthanized is because of behavior problems. And these “behavior problems” do not mean he wasn’t the rock star at obedience tasks. These behavior problems are usually no manners, anxiety, fear, or aggression.  (Miller DM, Stats SR, Partlo BS, et al. Factors associated with the decision to surrender a pet to an animal shelter. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1996;209:738- 742)  I’ve seen a lot of anxiety & reactivity cases where earlier training might have completely prevented it.  It’s a shame really, people don’t seem to realize the value and importance of good behavior training until there is a serious problem.  Which brings me back to the C.L.A.S.S. program.  Take a look at the three progressive levels.

The BA level:

• Wait at the door
• Come & getting leashed up
• Loose leash walking and attention
• Meet & greet
• Leave it
• Wait for food bowl
• Stay
• Settle
• Give & take
• Bonus, trick (roll over, spin, fetch, speak, or paw)

The MA level:

• Wait in the car
• Pass by other dogs
• Wait at the door
• Come & leashing up
• Sit, Down, & Stand
• Handling
• Loose leash walking & leave it
• Stay
• Bonus, targeting
• Bonus, trick

The PhD level:

• Loose leash walking
• Back up
• Stay
• Come & leashing up
• Meet & greet
• Attention
• Table manners
• Do you really know sit?
• Bonus, extra “Do you really know sit?”
• Bonus, targeting unfamiliar person

I personally like the “do you really know sit?” part because it promotes generalization of behaviors.  All too often we only practice training with our dogs in front of us in the kitchen holding a treat.  Then we go on vacation, visit a friend, or take a trip to the vet and the dog has no clue what sit means in those different situations and environments.  An over simplification of generalization is, it’s training for real life in various places.  Here are the possible variations to choose from:  1. Student sitting on hands in a chair 2. Student with back to the dog 3. Student with hands on head 4. Student walking around 5. Student standing 10 feet away 6. Student clapping hands 7. Student shaking hands with another person 8. Student with hand in front of their mouth 9. Student sitting on ground 10. Student bending at waist toward toes 11. Sit on recall (student has dog wait while student walks 35 feet away; student calls dog to come and when dog is halfway to student, student cues sit) 12. Student standing on a chair 13. Student holding one knee to chest 14. Student hopping on one foot 15. Student swinging arms 16. Student lying on the ground 17. Student jogging in place 18. Student doing jumping jacks 19. Student doing squats 20. Student doing leg lunges 21. Student doing push ups 22. Student doing sit ups 23. Student standing on hands 24. Student doing calf raises 25. Student doing a back bend

If you’d like more information you can download their student handbook HERE.

Here is a list of things to socialize your puppy around.  Remember, socialization is expo­sure with pleas­ant con­se­quences to teach accep­tance of new experiences. Common sense goes a long way when socializing a puppy.  If your puppy seems hesitant, go slower, let the puppy approach the person (not vice-versa), use rewards like food, praise and petting when the puppy does investigate something he was unsure of, and never force a puppy (this only creates fear issues later).

• Ten different healthy, happy small dogs
• Ten different healthy, happy big dogs
• Ten different calm, well behaved, gentle children
• Ten different calm, well behaved, gentle teenagers
• Thirty different calm, well behaved, gentle adults
• Ten tall people
• Ten average height people
• Ten short people
• Ten people wearing glasses
• Ten people wearing hats or hoods
• Fifty different sounds
• Five things red
• Five things blue
• Five things orange
• Five things green
• Five things purple
• Five things yellow
• One body of water, river, stream, or pool
• Ten different vehicles
• Ten things that are not in your house
• Fifteen things you can only find outside
• Twenty different ring tones
• Five different surfaces (sand, grass, concrete, etc)
• Five shiny things
• Twenty different dog toys
• One fence
• Five street signs
• One crate or dog bed
• Touch each paw twice a day for one week
• Twenty other people to touch or pet the puppy
• Twenty other people to give the puppy a treat
• See, be near, or interact with supervision, three other animals (cat, horse, etc)
• Sniff on a walk at least five times, for at least ten walks
• Respond to at least one easy cue (sit, target, paw, etc) in ten different situations (you’re sitting, standing, laying in bed, mowing the grass, carrying in the groceries, etc), in at least three different environments (outside, at your friend’s house, etc)
• Eat a treat in twenty different environments (your house, outside, the vet’s, a friend’s house, on a walk, in the car, etc)

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Related Posts:

http://sitstayandplay.com/dogblog/socialization-skills

http://www.petexpertise.com/puppy-socialization-by-jules-nye.html?utm_source=streamsend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=6704741&utm_campaign=Stop%20Door%20Barking%2C%20Help%20a%20Dog%20Recover%2C%20Contest%20%26%20More%20-%20Pet%20Expertise%20October%20Article%20Newsletter

Socialization is the act of exposing your puppy to new, pleasant experiences – with the goal to create a confident dog.  That’s right, I said confident.  The polar opposite of confident in the dog world is anxious.  And not socializing a puppy will create a dog who is fearful, hesitant, nervous, anxious, or aggressive when introduced to a new environment or stimulus.  You know, those dogs who are scared to live in their own skin.

Also notice socialization isn’t just exposure.  It’s exposure with pleasant consequences. Just taking your puppy around new people, places, animals, and things DOES NOT socialize.  It’s the interaction with those things. Keep in mind that a negative experience can come from uncertainty (fear of the unknown), or a bad experience,  and it can come from you or the environment.  I had a wonderful Sheltie breeder in Ohio call me about a puppy she placed in my area.  This puppy left her just like every other puppy with no problems.  Within two months he was so fearful of people he wouldn’t even let the owner touch him.  After speaking with her and getting some back ground information it was obvious the problem was due to improper socializing.  You see, this Sheltie puppy was placed with a trainer’s assistant who had all the best intentions.  She wanted to socialize her new puppy and had access to hundreds of people and dogs.  Sadly, she didn’t realize passing her puppy from person to person with a goal of “the puppy must be handled by 100 strangers” back fired.  Let’s pretend you’re the puppy, and I’m your owner.  Now let’s pretend you’re not sure what to make of strangers, a little uncomfortable, but nothing serious.  Now let’s pretend I force 100 random strangers to hug you.  So that’s one hundred times something you are uneasy about comes into your space and just starts touching you (petting). Which actually had the side effect of “touch is bad.”

Socialization is teaching a puppy about the world around him.  It’s teaching the acceptance of new places, things, sounds, etc.  A much better plan would have been to do something that made the Sheltie puppy want to approach strangers.  Maybe letting the dog come to them and getting a good sniff.  Or how about giving the dog a small tasty treat (we call that “strangers have the best candy” in the training world.)  If you try and force “close” all they want to do is get farther away.  If you give them plenty of space to get close at their own pace, then they want to explore the option of being close.  Why?  Because it’s non-threatening.

So if you or someone you know is socializing a puppy, tell them to use motivation.  Tell them: Socialization is exposure with pleasant consequences to teach acceptance of new experiences.