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

Petting and handling.

Last month we began to talk about the beginning strategies for properly socializing your puppy. To reiterate, the first step was to identify calming signals the dog may exhibit and secondly, the issues that need to be addressed (handling and petting by strangers, loud noises, being calm in new situations, etc.).

Calming signals can also be called stress signals. Sometimes they are used by the dog to indicate and calm their own stress, conflict and uncertainty. Sometimes they are used to calm someone else’s (dog or a person) stressed, dominant or threatening behavior. Every dog is different, but no matter what the breed, these signals are always the same. All dogs are born with the ability to communicate using these signals. If we continually ignore them, don’t understand them, or don't respond appropriately to them, the dog can lose his ability to "speak."

A sense of security through repetition of calming behaviors is one of the building blocks to a healthy and happy relationship with your pet. It is a dangerous world out there and it is important to recognize that uninvited hands or faces reaching down towards a dog's head are seen, from the dog's perspective, as being aggressive. The head, neck and shoulder areas of a dog's body are the normal regions of canine dominance disputes. As a consequence, a large percentage of dog bites occur with children because they do not know this and in their enthusiasm, they push themselves abruptly into a dog’s face. In this regard we have all experienced children and adults coming up to our dogs and wanting to pet them. It's important for us to get in touch with our pet's state of mind when we expose them to others and it is important to teach strangers the correct way to approach our dogs.

We will begin with your pet, (more on the strangers later). The first step to teaching your dog how to handle unwanted attention with a minimum of stress is to begin the process of desensitization. The following is a detailed description of what to do. Once again, repetition and calmness are the keys to success here. An additional side benefit is that as we "work" with our dogs in this way we build a level of trust and establish a kind of communication that makes our work with them easier as we move into more advanced training.

Start your session by giving your dog a few yummy treats to get their attention focused on you. I prefer soft people food cut up into the size of a pea– soft because you won’t have to wait forever for the dog to finish chewing and people food, because it tastes better and has less chemicals than dog food. Small pieces are best so your dog won’t satiate too fast and won’t get fat.

Break the following down into 2 or 3 sessions of approximately 5 minutes each. Position your body so that you are facing in the same direction as your dog and try not to lean over the dog. Facing in the same direction is usually seen as non-threatening and may actually be calming to your dog. Some dogs may experience leaning over as dominant, intimidating, aggressive, scary and certain dogs may not care at all. Possible reactions to this are backing away, jumping up to your face, lowering of their head in submission or even in extreme cases, biting.

• Have a treat in one hand and hold it out about 1 to 2 feet from your dog’s face. Place your other hand along the dog’s neck – not petting, just a soft touch.
• If the dog doesn’t move, give him a treat and at the same time, remove your other hand from his neck.
• Repeat about 10 times or until the dog is feeling comfortable and is consistently not moving. If your dog moves at all, just withhold the treat by hiding the treat from the dog, wait for calm focus with no movement, and then reinforce with the treat. Watch for the signs of stress – these may include lip licking, yawning, head turning away from you or head turning towards your hand as if to bite it. If you see any of these signals, back off for a few seconds and then try again. You can even "answer" these signals by licking your own lips or yawning. This may help your dog relax.
• Now place your left hand gently along the side of the dog’s face.
• If the dog doesn’t move, feed him a treat and take your hand away.
• Repeat about 10 times. Again, if your dog moves, wait for calm focus and then reinforce with a treat.
• Next, place your hand gently on your dog’s head.
• Reinforce him with a cookie for calm focus with no movement.
• Repeat about 10 times. The next step in the desensitization process is to lean over the dog while touching. Follow all of the above steps with this new context. Do not be discouraged if the dog walks away from you. Look at what he is telling you – is he turning his head away from you, licking his lips, yawning or jumping up to your face (jumping up and licking a face is a submissive behavior meant to appease a superior.) If he does any of these calming signals, or any of the other signals mentioned in my last column, try leaning over him first without touching. Then feed him for calmness with no movement, and at that point back away from him. Repeat until he is actively approaching you while you lean over him. Once he is relaxed with this, you may add gentle stroking, continuing to reinforce calmness and no movement with a treat. Keep your sessions short and successful – just a few minutes at a time, as many times per day that you can fit it in.

Repeat these exercises a few times per day for a few weeks, touching all body parts gently, taking care to work with the dog’s legs and paws (front and back) as well as their hind end, tail and ears. To desensitize your pet to clipping toe nails or wiping his muddy paws, start with running your hand down each leg. Once the dog is comfortable with this, lift each paw for a second or two to start, continuing to reinforce "no body movement" with a treat. Be careful that you don't let go if the dog struggles - otherwise the dog learns that struggling causes you to release them. You don't have to latch on with a death grip, just gently but firmly hold on until the dog stops shifting. The key here is to slowly build up to paw lifting so that the dog wouldn't even think about moving.

Your next step will be to have other family members handle the dog in the same manner. You can feed the dog for not moving while they gently touch or stroke the dog. Keep the sessions short, just a few minutes at a time and be sure to only add one person at a time. Carefully watch your dog at all times for signs of stress and be sure to end the session at the first indication that the dog is getting overwhelmed. Don’t add strangers yet to the equation – we will address introducing your dog to strangers in a future column.

Properly desensitizing your puppy to all sorts of handling takes a little effort in the beginning, but it will have a long-term payoff and you will have a dog that doesn’t need to be sedated for toenail clipping or any other types of handling. Please do not scrimp or try to rush ahead with this exercise and your patience will be rewarded.