Socialisation Is A Dirty Word!

This word is DIRTIER than the word punishment… and that’s saying something.

The most asked question in Dog Training is “How do I socialise my dog?” I’m forever seeing posts on Facebooks asking “How do I socialise my dog?” or “Can people come help me socialise my puppy?”

What if I told you this is one of the worst thing you can do to your dog, and it can cause you a world of pain later on! I smell Reactivity

There are 2 types of socialisation! DIRECT & INDIRECT

What are they? -

DIRECT - Sounds pretty simple this is your dog/ puppy directly interacting with other dogs, this has many pros but also equally if not more cons, we want a dog who is happy to interact. however, we also want a dog who listens, too much interactions with other dogs can lead to over-socialisation and is one of the biggest causes to Dog Reactivity - I typically try and keep this to dogs I know like family and friends… strange dogs are risky as we don’t know their temperaments and it can end badly.

INDIRECT - This is the most important one! your dog being around dogs but interacting with you, this is how we get a dog who is neutral and unbothered by other dogs, and is the way I tell everyone to socialise their dog, engagement games, playing with toys or just sitting and watching the world go by! this is how you make a dog which is well socialised!

In reality the goal is to have a dog who is able to focus on you no matter the distraction, but also one who is social and not rude when interacting with other dogs!

The TRUE aim is EXPOSURE

Exposing our dogs to others and showing them what to do in certain situations is what makes a well balanced dog.

Truthfully you can get away with not doing any Direct Socialisation and your dog will be just fine, however avoiding Indirect is where you’ll have issues!

The ideal split is 15/85 split but don’t stress!

Now don’t get me started on how much your dogs Genetics play a factor… well save that for another time!