Socialization 1

Introduction to Socialization

My puppy Kiddo with her siblings. They are all Japanese Akitainu puppies.

My first big project for Heart and Spark Dog Training is going to be to write this series of blog posts about socialization. I feel like there can always be more quality information about socialization available to pet owners. This first blog post is going to focus on the overall approach. Subsequent ones will be more specific.

Socialization is the secret to bringing out the best potential in your dog. A well socialized dog accepts novelty (new things) readily, is stable and confident in a variety of environments, and can adapt their energy and emotions appropriately to the situation. So this means that a well-socialized dog finds it easier to listen to cues, recover from stress, relax, play, and interact with others while making good choices.

Most resources about socialization makes it feel like it’s easy to mess up your dog because many pet owners find themselves overwhelmed. This is because, for most pet owners, their primary method of socializing their dogs relies on complete strangers (dogs and people) behaving properly around their dog. There is also a lot of inconsistent or unhelpful information being shared along with good information and it’s hard for pet owners to figure out what applies to their dogs and what doesn’t.

Most people are taught to approach socialization in an exposure-focused perspective (my dog has met ___ and it was a positive/neutral/negative experience for him). I recommend taking a different approach that focuses on the dog’s perspective as much as possible: Pay attention to how the dog feels and what the dog does based on those feelings. Is what the dog doing appropriate? Is it helping the dog in this situation? Is it not helping the dog? Are there better things the dog can do that are more functional and helpful? Is there a reason why the dog is not choosing the more functional and healthy behaviors? Does the dog need support? What kind of support?

This might seem like a lot, but as you work through the blog posts, you’ll see that it really comes down to just one thing: Paying attention to what the dog is learning right now. Everything is a learning experience but even when things do not go perfectly, the dog can still learn something constructive as long as we pay attention to what the dog is learning at the moment.