The first thing to realise is that socialisation is much more than physical contact. For a dog to socialise with another dog effectively they don’t need to have an up close and personal interaction or a rough and tumble play session. The dog simply needs the opportunity to have a positive emotional experience when the other dog is visible.
You can achieve the above by heading to a quiet location where other dogs are present but at a slight distance, taking some treats your puppy enjoys, and feeding them as they are watching the other dogs. Additionally, if you see a dog on your walks, praise puppy and pop a piece of food into their mouth.
Encourage puppy to do lots of sniffing on their walks. Scenting helps puppy to self-calm on a walk and to take in the environment around them. These scent breaks are so important for your puppy, with each smell containing vast information about their neighbourhood including which dogs were there earlier, any people that have walked past, any other animals in the area and so on.
You can also start teaching puppy that adults/children are great and not scary! People can interact with your puppy at a distance, and you can praise/feed your puppy for calm interactions around the person.
Whilst you may understandably think it is beneficial for puppy to approach strangers for a fuss and interactions, this could result in issues in adulthood when your overenthusiastic larger dog pulls you to say hello to everyone they see! Puppy learning that people are fun but that being calm around them pays off is a powerful life lesson.
You can gently expose puppy to new environments despite the current restrictions. A short trip in the car to the local supermarket at a quiet time is great for this! One caregiver can entertain puppy with a sniff around safe areas of the car park (away from busy traffic!) and the other can stock up on the weekly shop.
Your puppy in this little trip will have had time in the car, and been exposed to new sights, smells and textures. Ensure you have plenty of tasty treats with you to help puppy cope with any sudden changes in the environment.
Confidence
Every puppy guardian would love an adult dog who is confident in their environment. Having confidence means that your puppy is less likely to develop fear related issues, and more likely to be able to bounce back from any stressful life experience that occur.
Setting your puppy up with a little obstacle course consisting of safe items to climb over, crawl under, weave around and explore is a great way to improve a puppy’s confidence. The important thing is that nothing spooks puppy which is why you will need to guide them around the course and be there to gently support them. Puppy will learn how to move their body to navigate the obstacles and gain confidence in doing so. It is important to make sure the course is easy for puppy to start with to avoid them feeling frustrated!
Puppy can have little snuffle mats, Lick-E-Mats and enrichment items to enjoy throughout the course, to encourage them to scent and problem solve. You can also do these enrichment sessions at any time to help form those important learning pathways in your little one’s brain.
Independence
Confidence leads to easier independence and this will be beneficial when you want to acclimatise puppy to short periods alone. No matter how much we love being around our puppy, we sometimes do have to head out and do ‘human’ things, and it is our job to teach puppy to not find this departure stressful.
For tips on helping your puppy cope home alone please see our article on Separation Anxiety. If you would like further support or are concerned your puppy is developing a separation related issue, please contact the shelter for support.
A little exercise you can do to help increase puppy’s independence is to set up a couple of enrichment items in a room your puppy is relaxed in. Whilst puppy is settled enjoying their enrichment, intermittently walk around the room, head briefly out the room and back in again or simply sit and read a book reassuring puppy if he comes over but not engaging for prolonged periods.
The above exercise teaches puppy gently that you do always come back to them but may be preoccupied from time to time. The enrichment items are an important part of the training session as they give puppy something positive to focus on which can make them less stressed with your movements.
Training
Dogs are always learning, and puppies are no different, every experience your puppy has will teach them something positive or something negative. By carrying out little training sessions with puppy throughout the day we can instil all sorts of skills into their young minds and teach them good habits.
Remember to set up training sessions with your puppy’s success in mind, small achievable activities that are only built upon when puppy is confident to do so. For example, if teaching puppy a sit, the aim is for the sit to happen 5/5 times over several sessions in a variety of environments before slowly increasing the duration puppy sits for.
For a great book on puppy training and care invest in Steve Mann’s ‘Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy’, pop the kettle on and enjoy some down time reading all about how to make your puppy settled and happy.
Advice
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