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  1. #11
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    I posted that article on no socialization a while back, and Sue beat me to reposting the link. :-) Thank you Sue

    I have no idea the needs of a Welshie, your breeder would be a really good resource for that.

    For ME and my Labs, I don't force my puppies and young dogs to be around dogs I don't know, because a bad experience during a fear period can have life long effects.

    I DO however, take them everywhere, car rides, and we just sit on the back bumper of my van and watch the world go by, backfiring cars, motorcycles, screaming children, all from the comfort of their crate. In the basket of Home Depot, (on one of my towels), at coffee houses we sit out side (puppy on my lap) and again, watch the world go by. Once they have had a few vaccinations, we sit in front of stores that have automatic doors, and watch them open and shut until it's no longer a big deal, we do stairs, both indoors and out, open and closed. With lots of reward and praise.

    I do a lot with my dogs, and have high expectations for them to be solid in a lot of different environments (shows and field events, restaurants, hotels, the car etc... etc...), and that 8 week to 12 week period of crucial. I make sure they have been to a handling class, out on the boat to swim, in the car a lot (like 3-5 times a week), stairs, etc.. by the time they are 12 weeks old. This is their lifestyle, to go places with me, and trust that I won't put them in a situation they can't handle. My puppies are engaging, happy and fun to be around, and very confident.
    I even take my litters for car rides and sit and listen to the world go by at least 4 or 5 times before they go home, (one for the ACVO eye exams, and another for the vet well puppy exams), and the others are just for fun.

    So back to that article, she doesn't socialize in the traditional sense, but she takes her dogs a lot of places to build her bond with them. She doesn't mean to stay home and not go anywhere until the puppy is mature, it's being smart, and letting the puppy figure a lot out on their own. Such as when a puppy is scared of something, just act like it's no big deal, and revisit it again, with no coddling, but gentle encouragement, and praise when they are exposed to something they are not sure about, but overcome it.
    Last edited by Shelley; 04-19-2017 at 12:05 PM.

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  3. #12
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    I couldn't remember who originally posted it, I had bookmarked it for future reference!

  4. #13
    House Broken TT120's Avatar
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    Milo went to doggy daycare a couple times a week for the first couple months and that helped tremendously. I also take him to a dogpark near my house where he has made several friends and we all go there every day. He is quite well socialized now and I can take him anywhere. We just did our second SPCA "Doggy Dash" where there were about 4000 people and dogs and it was basically sensory overload all day long. Milo never flinched once. He's turned out to be a wonderful dog.

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  6. #14
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartrock View Post
    I couldn't remember who originally posted it, I had bookmarked it for future reference!
    It's an interesting technique for sure, but makes a lot of sense.

  7. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shelley View Post
    It's an interesting technique for sure, but makes a lot of sense.
    It’s pretty much what I’ve done with my past few dogs - not on purpose at first but I liked the results. I don’t want my dogs thinking they have to engage socially with every dog they meet - I want new dogs and people to be distractions to be ignored, unless told otherwise (as in “ok, go say hi”). After all, we don’t go up to every random stranger we meet, introduce ourselves and start wrestling - that would be weird!

    Of course, I have competition dogs so my requirements may be different than the average pet dog. Plus, I always have multiple dogs so they have each other to play with.
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  9. #16
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    I will let you know what i did.

    We took gigi to puppy social.Once a week 30 minutes which is supervised by a trainer. Once a week for 30 minutes. once she got to 4 months she went to day care , dog parks in campgrounds we were camping at during our travel where she met other dogs.This winter i saw alot of puppies at the dog park we go to this year. Not sure if its normal.
    Puppy social is very valuable as they are little puppies . As we did it locally, it is awesome to run into her puppy social friends at the dog park once in a while. i always take pics of how much they all have grown.


    having had a non socialized pure breed pup before i can tell in my own experience it helps alot.Given a choice think the socialization helped in my experience. I took gigi to bass pro shop a few weeks ago, a crowded mall with alot of people , elevator and things. she was awesome except gave a warning bark when some one bent behind me. She is a great watch dog.

    As she is 1 i am taking her off leash in the trails and again have no worry about other dogs and people.

    From week 8 on wards gigi went camping on the beech , slept outside in a tent , swam in lakes and road tripped with us for over 3k miles by 16 weeks. we exposed to everything that will be her normal.
    she is going to our campsite and she loves to camp as all dogs do i guess.

  10. #17
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    I just wanted to add, I have never seen a dog park I didn't hate, and for puppies especially they are awful, it leaves the puppy to fend for themselves, good or bad. And by the time the bad has happened, you cannot take it back, the damage is done, and you do not get a do over.
    Dog parks are free for alls, with owners who are either really good and observant, or horrid and everything in between.

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  12. #18
    Best Friend Retriever LucyTudeOn4Feet's Avatar
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    Here's the original thread that barry581 referenced.
    Blog post about how to social your puppy.

  13. #19
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JenC View Post
    Not all dog parks are created equal. You may need to do a visit without a dog to make a decision. We have a few here I would NEVER go to and a few I love going to. And of course only after they are of age. How far were you from your breeder? Maybe a trip back to visit?
    Regardless of how nice the dogs are at the dog parks, there is always a huge risk of parasites, esp giardia and coccidia, until the puppy's immune system is stronger.

    I probably focus more on the human/noise etc socialization with mine, and think it's helped alot w/ obedience etc. I had to run into Home Depot this morning, and had Pip w/ me, and she of course just thought that was the greatest. No fear whatsoever of loud booms of lumber, forklifts, carts, etc.. Forgot to mention that I also take my young pups (~6- 7 wks) to the gun club down the road on Sunday am. Again, it's more about people and noise desensitization. Like Annette, et al, I'd rather mine not learn to play w/ every strange dog since we compete w/ some not so nice ones sometimes. A Cairn Terrier broke her long down next to Ruby on Saturday, and Ruby didn't even look at her. Another Schnauzer had to be excused from the ring for starting a scrap w/ the next dog over. I just hate for mine to even acknowledge dogs like that.
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  15. #20
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    From another angle, all our dogs have been older, 6+ years. They joined us with very good manners and fairly good in public. Even so, I took them everywhere I could think that welcomed dogs, pet stores, Bass Pro, feed store, etc. In they could not go inside, we because an outside "greeter". Like others have said, exposure to all sorts of noises, smells, people, situations, with tons of praise really broadened their confidence level. Archie had never really gotten out of the breeder's kennel situation and while socialized with other GSDs, that was about it. Luckily we've got two towns, kinda small, which are close and walking, looking into store windows, meeting other people and their dogs doing the same thing has been a great help. We're also close to a marina with floating docks, movement under foot. I even took him out front when our road was being ground down and repaved.

    He had me so proud yesterday. He was never socialized around children and had to closely monitor him with the grands. The 3 year old next door had only one idea about Archie. Their little mop dog was a fence charger, barking, snarling; Archie would charge the fence too although I could get him to back off with a recall. Yesterday, the little fellow was out walking with his Dad and DH was walking Archie. Archie greeted with tail wags to the point of wiggles, licks and was rewarded with tons of pets. Little guys response was, "Archie is so nice and so much bigger than our dog". He won the little guy over.

    He had been shy around new people but now seeks them out for pets and I attribute that to getting him out and about.
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