{"id":3702,"date":"2023-01-06T13:03:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T13:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.co.uk\/?p=3702"},"modified":"2023-10-23T20:08:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T20:08:09","slug":"puppy-socialisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/puppy-socialisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Puppy Socialisation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Puppy socialisation is extremely important, because<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> what your puppy learns in the first few months of their life will shape their behaviour and ability to deal with new situations in later life. A puppy that has been raised in a quiet rural area with little exposure to traffic or crowds may panic and be unable to cope if they are suddenly taken into a town or an event such as a fair or show. Similarly, a puppy that is raised in an adult only environment may become fearful or even aggressive if he suddenly has to deal with children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many behavioural problems in older dogs can be prevented with correct <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">puppy socialisation<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, these include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/dog-attacks-on-the-rise-2\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aggression towards other dogs<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aggression towards people<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Separation anxiety<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Noise phobias<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chasing livestock<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Destructive behaviour<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/why-does-my-dog-bark\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Excessive barking<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important therefore that you think about all the situations that you are likely to take your puppy into throughout their life and expose them to these whilst they are still young so that they learn these scenarios are normal and not something to become worried about. Your puppy also needs to learn how to behave in these situations and what is and what isn\u2019t acceptable behaviour, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this is exactly what puppy socialisation aims to achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What does puppy socialisation really mean?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Puppy socialisation means your puppy needs to learn appropriate social skills to interact with different individuals and certain scenarios. You should include the following in your puppy\u2019s socialisation:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interaction with other puppies &#8211; <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Attending puppy socialisation classes is great for this.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interaction with older dogs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interaction with all types of people including men, women, children, older people, people wearing unusual clothes such as hats, glasses, carrying umbrellas or wearing uniforms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interaction with other pets e.g. cats or rabbits if appropriate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Socialisation also includes habituation which involves exposing your puppy to new situations that they are likely to need to deal with in later life and learn that all these situations are normal. These should include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traffic<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Livestock<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People behaving unusually i.e. joggers, cyclists, people at work<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crowds<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Car travel<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Household objects such as vacuum cleaner, T.V. washing machine etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unusual objects like wheelie bins, traffic cones, basically <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anything<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that you may come into contact <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> when you are out on a walk.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loud noises<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Children playing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being left home alone<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whilst neither of these lists are exclusive, it\u2019s a great start to having a well socialised <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dog<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Obviously when you start to work through each interaction, you\u2019ll need to keep a close eye.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What is your puppy learning?<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is just as easy for a puppy to learn to be a bully or a victim as it is to learn good social skills. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is really important to remember this when puppy training as it can make all the difference between having an aggressive reactive dog and a placid non-reactive dog. You can find out more about what behaviours to look out for at puppy socialisation classes.<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Is your puppy having a good time?<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all puppies enjoy rough play. Small or shy puppies may find off lead meetings too scary and learn to behave defensively. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will then extend into later life and may result in a reactive dog.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Is your puppy having too much of a good time?<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some puppies enjoy free play so much they will want to indulge in this behaviour at every opportunity. This may make recalling them in the future an impossibility <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which can then become very frustrating for you and other dog owners when walking off lead.<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Is your puppy learning to behave in a way that other dogs and their owners really appreciate? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Constant play fighting may be acceptable with known dogs or other puppies but what happens when they try the same behaviour with a strange adult or elderly dog he meets on a walk? This can lead to a more serious situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Puppy socialisation is so important and as a responsible dog owner you should aim to start it with your pup as soon as possible. The more situations they can be exposed to young, the less likely they will develop fear and bad habits later on.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Puppy socialisation is extremely important, because what your puppy learns in the first few months of their life will shape their behaviour and ability to deal with new situations in later life. A puppy that has been raised in a quiet rural area with little exposure to traffic or crowds may panic and be unable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6051,"featured_media":3705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","family-puppy","content-puppy-training","behaviour-socialising","behaviour-noise-phobia","behaviour-separation-anxiety","content-entity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3702"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19806,"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions\/19806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/companyofanimals.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}