How to socialize your new puppy

The last post was about WHEN to start socializing your puppy and now we will cover HOW. Both of these are equally important. This process will help your puppy grow up to be a balanced dog who doesn’t shy away from new things. Try to stick to this guide as much as you can.

Socialization isn’t about puppy meeting people and other pets, it’s about exposing them to those things. Letting them see and watch from a distance that they are comfortable at. You should mostly focus on puppy paying attention to you instead of them trying to go see other people. You want them to look to you for attention, not every stranger or dog that comes within eye sight. When appropriate you can allow puppy to interact with people. Allowing puppy to interact with dogs that you don’t know can be VERY risky. You don’t know how that dog acts and even a 1 second long bad interaction between them can ruin how puppy reacts to dogs in the future.

Bring some treats or their favorite toy. Give treats or play when they are paying attention to you. Try to make this as fun as you can for them. Keep it light and make sure to pay attention to your surroundings so puppy doesn’t get surprised by something scary. If they are scared of something DO NOT force them to go to it. If they want to check it out on their own then that’s okay, but don’t force them as it could create an issue.

Let them move at their own pace. Checking things out as they want.

This method of socialization is called The Rule of 7’s. 7 different categories. Remember, try to stick to this as much as you can.

#1 Expose (let them see and watch) puppy to ATLEAST 7 different people. So men, women, different races, children, men with beards, people wearing hats, carrying umbrellas, in a wheelchair, with crutches, or with a different walk (a limp). The more people the better. Hopefully, more than 7 varieties!

#2 Atleast 7 different breeds. Various sizes, coat lengths and colors.

#3 Atleast 7 different species. Do this safely! Horses, cattle, cats, ferrets, mice, donkeys, deer, etc.

#4 Atleast 7 different locations. Stores, parks (NOT DOG PARKS), fairs, parking lots, etc.

#5 Atleast 7 different flooring types. Let puppy carefully walk on various types of flooring. Wood, concrete, linoleum, carpet, glass, metal, etc.

#6 Atleast 7 different toys. Size appropriate toys. Ropes, rubber, plastic, cloth, etc.

#7 Atleast 7 different challenges. These should be easy obstacles. You want puppy to succeed every time. Stairs, climb in and out of boxes, tunnels, over and through various objects. Make sure these are safe. Don’t let puppy fall from high distances and don’t allow a lot of jumping or climbing of stairs.

This is a basic list so get creative. Find “strange” things like statues or moving objects like the super scary dancing man that a lot of stores use for advertising. The dancing man is one that I neglected because I never found any when my youngest dog was a puppy. A few months ago we came across one at Lowe’s. It was basically the DEVIL. The worst thing she has ever seen and she is usually a very confident and excited dog. I have since purchased my own dancing man and now we are working on her being comfortable with it. If I had exposed her to it as a puppy then I wouldn’t be spending weeks/months trying to get her comfortable with it. Let that be a warning! It is soooooo much easier when they are young, sponge brain puppies.

This isn’t a process that you do from 8-12 weeks. You will have to do this periodically until maturity. During the 8-12 week time period you should do it heavily, but after that you should still do it occasionally.

Remember to have treats or toys during these steps. This should be fun for both of you. Keep it light and safe!