Socializing Puppies During Isolation

Right, so you brought home your gorgeous new pup, ready with your plan to train and socialize…. and then, the sh!t hit the fan!

First, some commiseration. This can’t feel good for those of you with young pups right now, but I’d like to reassure you that it’s really not a horrible thing. Socialization has become a really confused point in the dog world. Over-socialization often leads to over-stimulated dogs who lose their minds and are hard to control when they see other people and dogs. This will help a lot of dogs have better social skills through calculated exposure rather than interaction.

Now remember that we’re humans — and we are VERY adaptable! Training is still available through online means and most of us have more time than usual. As for socialization, well — we can get through that too! This will be okay.

More good news — dogs are also adaptable. If you’ve ever had a dog before, you know that at some point, they’ve experienced a novel stimulus outside of puppyhood. You may remember your 7 year old golden seeing that big man in the hat and being concerned, or reacting to the new potted plant you brought home…. low body, light ‘chuffing’, stretching in to sniff, but ready to bolt away at a moment’s notice. Life continued as it will when your now young dog sees novel stimulus as an adult. You don’t need them to see…