Socialization and Your Newly Adopted Dog

If you’ve got a dog, you’ve probably heard that socializing is essential to shaping your pooch into a great pet. And it’s the truth.

Socializing your dog ultimately hinges on exposing your dog to a range of experiences in a controlled manner, allowing him to feel safe and build confidence. Ultimately, a well-socialized puppy or adult dog will be better equipped to handle various people, places and things. Done wisely, socialization helps your pooch be more friendly and safe, builds his confidence in you, and reduces the potential for aggression; done improperly, you can increase the risk of undesirable behaviors. 

Strategic Socialization
Socialization means positive exposure to new situations, not forced interactions.  Remember, your dog takes in information about his surroundings with all of his senses, especially sight, smell and hearing. Allowing your dog to observe, sniff and listen at a non-threatening distance is a first step in the socialization process. You have a responsibility to your dog to make this as stress-free and successful as possible.   

Meeting people of all ages, shapes, and sizes is also central to socialization.  However, while friends and family members may be eager to meet your new dog, this can be overwhelming or overstimulating to a new dog, of any age. Rather than allowing excited visitors or strangers to shower your dog with excited attention, ask them to help you during visits by not touching and talking to your dog. Once your dog is eager to interact, coach others to keep those meetings calm and low key. This may seem counterintuitive, but it is less stressful for your dog. On the opposite side of the spectrum, visitors or strangers who are not excited about puppies or simply know how to properly react will no longer feel rude for not fawning over your dog if you ask them to keep a distance/keep calm.  

Similarly, dog to dog socialization doesn’t have to mean a full-contact play session. Never underestimate the power of a simple parallel leash walk. While the constraints of on-leash meetings can be frustrating, frightening or stressful to a dog, a simple stroll alongside a canine friend without the direct dog to dog interaction can be a lovely experience.  When your dog is prepared to greet another dog, make certain that you’ve set a date with a dog you know to be friendly, calm and well-mannered. Allow new dogs to meet with the leashes held loosely or dragging for easy retrieval, keep that meeting brief, then call your dog away.

Know Thy Dog
It’s important to consider your dog’s age, personality and background when strategizing socialization. For example, puppies have a critical period of socialization ending at approximately 12-14 weeks of age, during which experience helps to shape temperament. During this developmental window, extensive and thoughtful introductions to the wide world helps influence a puppy’s emerging personality. An adult dog is also a dynamic creature capable of growth and change, but one with a history that informs his current outlook on life. For any dog, particularly newly adopted adult dogs, the quality of socialization overshadows quantity.

At any age, socialization needs to proceed at a pace that matches an individual dog’s needs. A confident puppy or dog may approach new scenarios without a care in the world, while a more shy youngster or easily stressed adult will need a slow and steady pace. If your new puppy tends to hide between your shoes, or your newly adoptee just arrived from a crowded shelter, then take your time with introductions.  Misguided owners that have a “sink or swim” attitude can quickly upend the resilience of any dog, from canine wallflowers to doggie socialites, turning a shy dog into a fearful anxious dog or possibly fearfully aggressive. 

Perception & Confidence
Imagine that you are scared of jumping off a diving board. Would you rather overcome that anxiety via good leadership and guidance, or would you prefer to be dangled over the edge by your toes?  [Hint: option #1 is more likely to build your confidence in approaching new challenges.]

One of the mistakes owners make is to push their dogs into the middle of a situation, without making it obvious to the dog that he has an “out”. It is vital for both your dog’s confidence, as well as his trust in you, that you help him to approach something new, overwhelming, or uncertain in a way that feels controlled and safe to your dog. Picture this: a new dog owner notices that his dog is a bit skittish around kids, so that owner decides he’s going to help “socialize” Fido by walking him to a busy playground. Fido is quickly surrounded by a mob of excited youngsters, while he squirms helplessly at the end of his leash. Fido is powerless to remove himself from this “scary” situation and his owner fails to bail him out. For many dogs, this scenario does little to enhance Fido’s relationship with his owner or to improve his nervousness about small people.

Another common example of well-meaning owners throwing their dog’s into the proverbial deep end is often on view at dog parks. While a safely enclosed area with lots of romping dogs may seem like the height of convenience and canine fun (to humans), sadly, it is not always so pleasant for our pet dogs. Just like people, dogs do not necessarily love every new dog that they meet. Each dog at the park may not be equally friendly, and each owner varies greatly in skill level when it comes to understanding, managing and supervising their own dog. So, if your goal is an amiable, social dog, why leave socialization up to a group of unknown dogs and people?  

You are your dog’s greatest advocate, and you need to decide upon and create the types of social interactions that you want him to have, rather than leaving things to chance. So, tread lightly, observe carefully and proceed gently for canine socialization that is happy and healthy.