Proper Socialization - What Is It? (Part One) by Pamela Dennison
As printed in the Blairstown Press, © 2000. May not be reprinted without written approval.

Everyone — breeders, veterinarians, trainers and friends all say that you should “properly socialize” your new pup, but no one tells you how to go about it.

Because socialization in a young pup is so vitally important to your dog’s future mental and emotional well being and outlook on life, I will be addressing this topic in a series of articles.

Socialization is not about indiscriminately dragging your dog around to new locations or having strangers walk up and invasively pet your dog. Then thinking, after a few weeks, that your dog will be well adjusted and able to cope in every new situation for the rest of his/her life.

Socialization is about exposing your puppy gradually and systematically to different types of people, places, things, surfaces, noises, touch (from you and strangers), other dogs and other species of animals. Socialization is all about setting the dog up for success – introducing them to each new situation in such a manner that they will not be afraid. Our goal is to build confidence and trust.

The most important aspect of training and extremely significant in the process of socialization, is the detection of signs of stress and fear in your puppy. If you do not recognize these signs, then you may be pressing the dog into a situation that he cannot deal with and may be creating more fear, aggression or anxiety about a specific place/person/species. Dogs are a visual species. Although they may vocalize (some dogs more than others!) they do not have a spoken language per se. While it is true that dogs can learn to associate the meaning of many words, their body is their first means of articulation. When you have a species such as canis familiaris that relies heavily on their visual capacity, all body movements are vital in communication.

Some of the signs of stress that are readily visible to humans are yawning, panting, drooling, lip licking, head turning (away from you or another object), raising a paw (as if to “shake”), whining, barking, howling, growling or spinning. In addition, if the dog is stopped or frozen in an awkward position, backs up, starts sniffing, has a short attention span – goes from one thing to another very rapidly, bites the leash, eats feces or grass, drinks water, excessively marks, poops, shows aggression, avoidance, slow, reluctant or hyper behaviors or complete body turns away from you, these are all predictions that your dog may be feeling tension. These signs are also indicators that you may have pushed your socialization session too fast or for too long a time period.

To decide whether or not the dog is stressed, we must consider the dog and the context. For instance, if your dog goes to drink water every time you ask him to lie down, his drinking would be a sign of stress. If however, he has just finished playing, drinking would be normal. When you call your dog to come in a loud and demanding voice and he comes in with head down, moving very slowly, you may be stressing your dog.

So where do we start? Think about where and what your dog will have to feel comfortable with during his lifetime. You will have to take your dog to the veterinarian and groomer, where the puppy will have to be handled by strangers in sometimes very uncomfortable ways! You will want to take your dog to the park, new and different places, in and out of strange doorways and he may have to spend some time away from home in a kennel. The dog will need to feel comfortable walking on different types of surfaces such as concrete, gravel, linoleum, carpet, wood or tile floors, grass, snow, puddles, mud and ice. We need to build their confidence in going up and down all different types of stairs, jumping into the car on their own, riding in the car and walking along a busy street. Seeing or hearing (but staying calm about and not reacting to) men in hats or with beards, people in wheelchairs, kids on skateboards, babies crying, kids playing, bicycles, lou d music and other sounds, cars driving by, other dogs - the list is endless!

In the next article, we will continue to discuss in great detail “how to build a confident dog,” using positive reinforcement techniques to address each socialization element individually.