Early Socialization

1429 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by mary2e, Mar 22, 2020

PeggyTheParti

Discussion Starter · Mar 18, 2020

Early socialization can be a lot of work. You've got your checklist, your puppy classes. You need to put in the time for a wide variety of experiences (and the effort to keep those experiences POSITIVE).

Sometimes it feels like a whole lot of work for nothing.

But, as you can see from these photos, it's so worth it:

Peggy hanging out with the roaring vacuum.

Peggy offering the roaring vacuum her favourite pink pig.

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cowpony

· #2 · Mar 19, 2020

Aww, sweet.
Socialization is yet another thing this coronavirus situation has me bummed about. I'd lined up all sorts of visits and experiences for Galen. Play dates with toddlers and little kids. Puppy kindergarten. The whole works. Now...getting hissed at by the cat is his big adventure.

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PeggyTheParti

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 19, 2020

Darn. Yeah, that's super tricky. But at least you can focus on the other 8 trillion things on the list. We actually printed one out and physically checked off each item as we worked through it.

And, depending on whether or not Galen actually pays attention to the TV, you can play videos of children playing at the park, etc. while you feed him treats or play a fun game. At the very least it'll get him accustomed to all their noises.

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Dogs4Life

· #4 · Mar 19, 2020 (Edited)

Good girl, Peggy.

My first dog thought the vacuum was a toy, and used to chase it when I vacuumed lol.

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PeggyTheParti

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 19, 2020

Ha! My last girl was horrified by the vacuum. She'd do everything she could to stay far, far away.

And then one day, finally, well into her senior years, I accidentally thumped her rather hard with it.

The look in her eyes was like, "I KNEW IT."

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Vee

· #6 · Mar 19, 2020

Peggy is so cute sharing her pig! ?

I have a puppy at the moment (a terrier) sadly important socialisation around other people and dogs is being seriously affected by isolation and social distancing. She’s only 14 weeks old she’s had a few experiences involving other dogs but no where near enough! I planned on going a few markets and puppy classes but everything is called off! We are also self isolating for another 12days so have got to stay away from people. We are basically going on secluded walks. ☹

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lily cd re

· #7 · Mar 19, 2020

Oh my yes, socialization would be super challenging these days. As much as I nearly always have some level of puppy fever this discussion just threw a bucket of cold water on those thoughts. I suppose since food stores and pharmacies are open that if you are in a position to just be practicing social distancing you could go to parking lots and just keep your distance. Works for keeping the pup below thresholds that could undo the benefits.

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mary2e

· #8 · Mar 22, 2020

My little guy has always chased and tried to bite the vacuum. We actually have to take him out of the room because we're afraid he's going to hurt himself biting at it. Occassionally we use a cleaning service - THAT vacuum doesn't bother him. It's just ours, which is a Dyson.

Re: socialization - we tried... we really tried. We brought him to puppy play time and enrolled him in group training classes, and several different times. Puppy training time didn't work because every time we went every puppy there was at least 3x his size (5lbs) if not more. Ditto with the group training classes. We finally had to switch to private because we were wasting money. My husband even got into the pen with him and the other dogs/puppies to try to see if it would encourage him to go play. Nothing worked. One of the issues is that we got him mid-Feb and there were only so many places we could take him, except our neighbors and he's OK with them.

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