Should You Socialize That Puppy?

We believe strongly in positive associations when it comes to socialization. It’s a very important part of early development with a puppy. Once the breeder waves goodbye to a pup and you start your travels home, it’s up to you to be creative and find as many positive and novel situations as possible to expose your pup to.

There are a lot of ideas floating around lately about not socializing young dogs. It seems to revert to the idea of hiding them away until they’ve received all of their vaccinations. While this may be a good tactic for the occasional dog, for the average pup, socialization is very important for their future. As many opportunities as you have to acclimatize them to different stimuli including people, dogs, vets, groomers, car rides, etc. is usually of benefit. There are some downfalls to socialization, however. Here are a couple of things you’ll want to consider.

Fear

This can come, seemingly out of nowhere. There may be something new and different, like a really tall man in a hat or a woman with a billowing dress. Your pup may become unsure about the situation. There are two ways you can proceed:

1 — Try to make the dog comfortable by using as many positive associations as possible. This is best with dogs who already have good associations with most people. If you are working with a pup who…