Truths and Myths
What it IS: EXPOSURE TO NEW, POSITIVE STIMULI
What is NOT: taking your dog to the dog park to make new doggie friends
We believe the whole word is very misunderstood, but a lot of words in the dog training world are. Maybe a more adequate one could be exposure. When socialization is talked about in the dog training world, we do not mean your dog has to go to the dog park and meet all the dogs in there. We mean your dog needs to be exposed to different things in the world, yes dog and people are some of these things which they should be exposed to, but not only that and going to a dog park is one of the worst ways to do it since a lot of dogs there are usually very rude and everything is just chaotic.
Meeting new people, being exposed to different sounds they may encounter later in their life, other animals, new things, new environments. The most important thing is that they have a positive association with all of this things, so dont be afraid to throw in some treats and play around this new scenarios. We highly recommend doing the game of 7’s where you try to present your dog in 7 different things of different categories. Like flooring, types of people (race, gender, height, weight), accessories depending on where you live like umbrellas, bomber jackets, big hats, sunglasses, whatever you can think of.
Exposing your animals to different stimuli is an important part of socialization and can nicely be paired with feeding. We like to use these walks with puppies, working them up playfully to be around under all sorts of distractions, noises and objects.