What does “dog socialization” mean?
Question by Marna O: What does “dog socialization” mean?
I see so many references to “socialization”, but there obviously is a great variation of the definition.
1) What is your definition?
2) What is your purpose in socializing your dog?
3) Give examples of how you expect your dog to act in different situations once you consider him/her properly socialized.
4) How do you socialize your dog?
5) How many dogs have you owned? For how many years?
6) What is the “role” your dog plays in your life? As: just a pet in your house and yard? As a companion, go for walks, to the park, hiking, etc.
7) Do you “work” or compete with your dog? As obedience, agility, hunting, herding, etc.
How many dogs have you actually trained. Did you train at home? Go to training classes?
9) Is your dog reliable off leash…99.999%?
10) Will your dog run up to strangers and other dogs? On leash? Off leash?
11) Do you consider yourself a good trainer? Experienced trainer? Do you train other people to train their dogs? Or do you train other people’s dogs yourself? For what?
Welcome the regulars and “professionals” please!!!
Best answer:
Answer by Jessica Gordon
1) Dog socialization is to properly socialize your dog. This means that he/she will be able to meet new people, dogs, sights and sounds without freaking out and being aggressive and/or frightened.
2) My purpose of socializing my dog is to make sure he’s safe around new things/people and won’t act out of line, such as barking, pulling and possibly acting aggressive. That way walks can be safe and enjoyable, as well as when people come over to the house.
3) I think that once a dog is properly socialized he/she should act in pretty much the same way in any situation. For example, if your dog is meeting a new dog, he/she should sniff to say “hello” and then go about their business. When meeting new people, the same thing: say hello, be friendly, and then just go about their daily routine.
4) To socialize your dog you would slowly introduce him/her to new sights and sounds and correct any inappropriate behaviour along the way. That way your dog will understand what he/she should do in that given situation. Be patient with them as well, as each dog will react to something new differently and may need different techniques to train them.
5) I have owned 2 dogs in my life, though technically speaking it was my parents who owned the dogs. I’ve had dogs in my life since I was born.
6) My dog is not only a pet, but my companion. He’s a great joy in our house and brings us laughter every day.
7) No, he’s strictly a companion animal.
I’ve never trained dogs. My mom took them all to a professional trainer.
9) No, he is not at all. He’s a big people-person and will run to them to say hello. (I realize that this answer clashes with my previous one about socializing dogs properly, but that is how I would do it as opposed to my dog now who was socialized by my parents)
10) Yes, he will. Sometimes he’ll just stay in the yard and look at them, but other times he’ll run to them, but only to say hello; never aggressive.
11) I can’t consider myself any type of trainer as I’ve never trained dogs, though I intend to do so with my future dogs.
I’m not sure why you’re asking all of this, but I hope this helped!
What do you think? Answer below!
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1) it’s like you socializing with other humans
I’ve trained 2 in my lifetime
2) to make them less excited about seeing dogs during car rides and walks and it’s nice to know other dogs
3) usually are calm and sniff calmly without trying to “hump” or growl and snap at every dog they meet
4) take them on walks and to dog parks
5) I’ve owned 2 dogs for 9 and 7 years now
6) pet/best friends
7) I don’t understand this question
9) most of the time, yes, but in certain situations, no
10) they both love humans and dogs and love meeting them
11) now that I’ve owned dogs for a while, I would say I’m experienced, but my dogs are very well-trained because “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” unfortunately. my family and I weren’t very good trainers when they were younger
My definition of socialization is introducing a puppy to as many people, animals, and situations in a positive light as I can. This way there will be few situations my dog will meet that they won’t know how to react to.
2) What is your purpose in socializing your dog?
To keep them from being shy, nervous, aggressive, and for them to be confident.
3) Give examples of how you expect your dog to act in different situations once you consider him/her properly socialized.
They won’t tuck their tails and hide behind me, they won’t snarl or snap. They may act cautiously but they’ll still be curious and rely on me if it’s a new situation.
4) How do you socialize your dog?
Take him/her to homes of friends and family. Let them get introduced to people and animals I know to be calm, and not too excitable or aggressive. Travel with them some, go to parks (not off leash,) and the like.
5) How many dogs have you owned? For how many years?
6) What is the “role” your dog plays in your life? As: just a pet in your house and yard? As a companion, go for walks, to the park, hiking, etc.
7) Do you “work” or compete with your dog? As obedience, agility, hunting, herding, etc.
How many dogs have you actually trained. Did you train at home? Go to training classes?
We do some mock hunting from time to time. Basically all it is is trailing a deer or finding birds.
Seven I believe, including the dogs I had when I was growing up and my parents wouldn’t train them. I’ve taken two of them to classes, but trained the rest with the help of books and movies, etc.
9) Is your dog reliable off leash…99.999%?
Three of them are, one I hardly trust on leash at times.
10) Will your dog run up to strangers and other dogs? On leash? Off leash?
No, though one will sit down and wag his entire backside until he gets a good pet.
11) Do you consider yourself a good trainer? Experienced trainer? Do you train other people to train their dogs? Or do you train other people’s dogs yourself? For what?
I think I’m a decent trainer. I’ve never been paid, but I have helped a few other people with their dogs.
1) Dog socializing is when you socialize you dog with other dogs, cats, humans ect.
I am the trainer of the dogs in my household. So I’d say I’ve trained about 8 dogs on my own (some very stubborn too.) I have always trained at my house with small treats as rewards.
2) The purpose of socializing your dog would be so they are less aggressive and are better behaived around, well everything.
3) Say you are walking your dog through a dog park. If your dog is not socialized, they would be very aggressive and be pretty unmanegable. If your dog was properly socialized, he/she would be very well behaved with little to no aggression and would be very manegable.
4) Socializing your dog isn’t hard at all, unless they have a unruly personality. All you have to do is take them for walks daily and the best time to do so is when they are young. If they do have that unruly personality you may have to take them to training for socializing.
5) Well I am only 13 so I haven’t owned any myself but there has always been a dog in my family, all 13 years.
6) My dog plays my pet, my companion, my best friend, my sister, my dog means everything to me, we go pretty much everywhere together.
7) I live in a very small town, so there is no competitions and I don’t have a job yet.
9) I would say my dog is reliable 97% of the time off of the leash just because she is a rodent/small animal chaser. I always keep her on a leash just in case.
10) My dog loves people and other animals, so she will run up to pretty much anybody on the leash or off.
11) Like I’ve said before I’m only 13 , so I guess I’m not a bad trainer but I am not too experienced. I don’t train other people or dogs.
Hope I covered everything! Good luck with everything!
Obviously dogs or pups if you will, need a certain amount of basic human socialization, otherwise they would all be feral & then eventually wild depending upon which ones actually survived without human interaction for many, many years.
My idea of socialization means getting my pup/dog used to the things it will have to deal with, adjust to, or exist along side in my everyday life.
In my house, the blender (household appliance) is used on a daily basis….my husband makes banana smoothies & I often make Coffee Frappes. My youngest dog was so afraid of the blender for the first few months she was with us….but now she doesn’t even flinch. After enough exposure to the sound & nothing bad resulting…she has learned that it’s okay…nothing to be afraid of…so a lot also depends on just exposing the dog as many times as possible, without any negativity, to whatever it is they are uncertain of which is also “socializing” in my eyes.
For example, my dogs do not have to run happily to every human they meet, but they must not show aggression of any kind towards anyone & as a Chihuahua owner I know how easily this can become reality if you don’t enforce the proper amount of training/socialization. Of course some of this depends on the right genetics as well….but you still have to build on the foundation to get what you want.
Socialization also has a lot to do with training for me.
My dogs are my companions, we do not compete in anything, we have never been to any “classes” either…I have never needed a professional to come in.
All 4 of my dogs are 110% reliable off-leash.
My dogs will do what I command them to do….another dog, human, cat, squirrel, doesn’t matter…if I call you…you’d better come & sit at my feet…I have trained my dogs that you ignore everything whenever I am calling you….you drop what you are doing & you come to me PERIOD. So far it has worked my male has even been put to the test around b*tches in heat because he is intact….he will completely ignore his instinct if I command him to “come” to me of course without supervision you know what would happen but we are all responsible here…I’ve never had any accidental matings.
I have seen a few people here describe their-selves as being GOD to their dogs & that is basically what I have done with my dogs…they trust & respect me & therefore we have a very close bond & they are very much in tune with what I am doing & what I want.
I consider myself experienced, but I am no professional by any means…there are many breeds I have never worked with & many I have, but what I do works for me & those who I do help, such as family, friends, or other Chihuahua/small breed owners.
I have trained other peoples dogs but I also just give tips & information to help them & I do it for the love of doing it.
I would never charge someone to train even if I was a professional, simply because I help people with pets & companions…after all, a lot of it depends on them & the work they do or the changes they have to make in order to have a better relationship with their dog.
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1 – Socialization – You’ve gotten some pretty good replies already.
2 – Ditto
3 – In any situation that is not threatening, or startling, I would expect my dog to react normally. If someone came at me in a threatening manner, if something happened that startled the dog (such as a car misfiring 5 feet away from the dog), etc. I would expect the dog to react. Dogs are not robots.
4 – Take them anywhere and everywhere. You do this, however, at a low level and then build it up. You’re not going to take an 8 week old puppy into a train station. You want control of the setting as much as possible, if not totally. You then want to build up the distractions. You can do things as simple as having a puppy walk over things of different textures, to introducing them to stairs. You want to control their exposure to kids. Having them meet a 12 year old is a LOT different than them meeting a hyperactive 4 year old who doesn’t know how to act around dogs.
5 – 15. One St. Bernard. Two Huskies. Nine Rottweilers. One Aussie that recently passed away. Currently one one Border Collie (picture) and a ten week old Aussie. This has spanned nearly 40 years.
6 – I show my dogs competitively in a variety of AKC and non-AKC venues. I use my dogs as demo dogs for many things also, such as obedience, tracking and other things. Primarily, my dogs are buddies. I compete with my dogs because it gives them a job and because it increases the bond between my dogs and I.
7 – Conformation, obedience, tracking, agility, rally are the things I compete in.
8 – ALL of the above dogs were WELL trained. You always train anywhere and everywhere. Home, classes and even on walks. Initially I went to classes to learn how to train my dogs and to train my dogs. These days classes are primarily used as distractions for my dogs.
9 – NO dog is 99.9999% reliable off leash. NO dog. I compete at the highest levels of dog sports. In a given year there are very few perfect scores, or even 99.9999%, given out. Purina competition this weekend. Agility. These were some of the country’s top dogs and some of them still blew a contact or knocked a bar for a jump.
10 – Depends if the dog is doing obedience, or not. If they are doing obedience. NO. If they are not, they may or may not, it depends on the stranger. My dogs are taught NEVER to approach a strange dog. I’ve taught for too long and I’ve been in too many situations where I want to KNOW what the other dog is like before anything is allowed. Unless it’s on my property, or if my dogs are being shown, they are NEVER off leash. You never know what’s going to happen.
11 – I’ve taught obedience and tracking for over 30 years. I started teaching when I got to the point where I knew that I could train the dogs. I wanted to then move on to teaching PEOPLE to train their dogs. Training the dog is no longer an issue. It’s HARDER to train the people. I’ve been asked to train other people’s dogs for competition. I won’t do it because then the dog becomes my dog. If they want a competitive dog, I’ll show them how to do it. “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
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My dog trainer would say and swear by Positive Reinforcement =>
Positive reinforcement for dogs can include primary reinforcers such as food, or social reinforcers such as vocal (good boy) or tactile (stroking) ones. Positive punishment, if used at all, can be physical, such as pulling on a leash or spanking, or may be vocal (bad dog). Bridges to positive reinforcement include vocal cues, whistling, and dog whistles, as well as clickers used in clicker training, a method popularized by Karen Pryor. Negative reinforcement may also be used. Punishment is also a tool, including withholding of food or physical discipline.
Anyway I am not trying to be exhaustive here. Hope this input give you some ideas!
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