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(Friend of Breckland Dog Training Sophie Mills (MBIPDT PMIACP), Is a Member of the British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers with an Advanced Certificate in Techniques of Instructing, Administration and Organisation. Also Professional Member of the International Association of Canine Professionals.)
When people get puppies, the watchword tends to be ‘socialisation’ and they are encouraged to socialise their puppy as much as possible. But what does this actually mean? To many, it means let the puppy leap around at the end of the lead and say ‘hello’ to anyone and anything it wants to………….and here lies the source of the problems I get asked to help people with, normally once the puppy has become a teenager.
Yes, we need to prepare our puppies for everyday life and as many different situations as possible but this has to be done carefully, under our control, by our rules to ensure that every socialisation experience is a positive one.
I see lots of people who let their puppies lunge forwards on the lead to say ‘hello’ to people and dogs because they want to ‘socialise’ their dogs. What they don’t realise, is that while letting their dogs do this, they are setting the dog up in an established habit that will cause them problems – now and later.
If the dog is allowed to make the choice to say ‘hello’ then the handler may not prevent the puppy having a negative experience. After all, not all dogs are friendly, so the dog that lunges out to say ‘hello’ to such a dog, worst case scenario, gets attacked. So then we end up with a dog who now quite possibly doesn’t like meeting dogs while it’s on the lead and may get nervous/fearful while on the lead and this can lead to aggression. Being on the lead is meant to be its ‘safe’ place to be and for this poor dog, it’s no longer the case. The dog loses confidence in the handler as in the dog’s eyes, their handler is incapable of being the leader and taking control, which then puts the responsibility on the dog’s shoulders to do so next time. Quite possibly, the next time this dog meets another while being on the lead, it will be tense, anticipating confrontation and possibly ready to ‘say it’s piece’ before the other dog gets the chance.
Ok, so say the dog hasn’t had a negative experience while being on the lead. What happens when this dog is off lead on a walk? Nine times out of ten, this is the dog you see belting over to people and dogs, to say ‘hello’ ……….with the owner trying to call it back, to stop it jumping up at the woman in white jeans; at the small child; at the person walking with a stick; at the dog on the lead who is aggressive/injured and quite often, when the handler fails to recall the dog, the shouts go from calling the dog’s name to “He’s very friendly. He just wants to say ‘hello’ and play.” If I had a pound for every time someone called me with this problem……………… Needless to say, the ‘recall’ also plays a part with this situation. If you can’t guarantee you can recall your dog with a 100% success rate round the house, then what hope have you got out on a walk with not only all the distractions but also the choices your dog has been so far, allowed to make?
So, what can we do to prevent this? In my puppy classes, I like to do an exercise that I call ‘Meet In The Street’ (or speed dating – depending on the class!!!!), which helps the handlers take control of these situations. The handlers hold the lead with both hands behind their back, with the dog behind them also. They then walk forward to meet someone who is doing the same. They must keep their dog behind them and not let them lunge out at the person/dog and not let them eyeball either. The handler blocks the dog with their body. It’s important that no treats are given and nothing is said to the dog – we want it to stay behind the handler not only out of deference but also so that the dog learns that by the handler being in front of it, the handler is saying “It’s ok, I’ll handle this. I’m in control.” We don’t want it to be a ‘trick’ or worse, ask the dog to something that it could ignore. Quite often, after a short space of time, the dog has a sigh, relaxes and tends to sit/lay behind the handler. Once the dogs have adopted this position, I don’t let the dogs ‘chat’ the first time they do this exercise. Once I am confident that all involved have understood the exercise, then the dogs are allowed to ‘chat’ but only on the handler’s say so and still after a period of being behind the handler.
I like this exercise as not only does it help dogs to have positive socialisation experiences, confident that the handler will check out that the dog/person is friendly before it’s allowed to say ‘hello’ but it also means that the handlers can chat to other people without bothering what the dog is doing. They can have a ‘proper’ conversation without interrupting it with “Sit Fido. Wait Fido. What are you doing Fido?” By not using treats, not only does it mean that this exercise is not a ‘trick’ but also stops attention seeking behaviour for the treats.
I also think it’s important that not only do we try and prepare puppies for everyday life and any situations that may arise but we continue to do so throughout the dog’s life. You may think it’s not worth getting your dog used to going on public transport, as you have a car……..but who knows what’s around the corner? There may be a time when you have to use it. You may not need to walk your dogs through town as a rule, but what about if one day you do have to?
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