Canine Training Tips to Help Socialize Your Puppy

Raising a puppy can be a joy as well as a challenge. With the right canine training your new furry bundle of love can be a joy to be around for yourself, your friends, children, and other dogs.

Puppies are impressionable and their behavior can be influenced from birth. Traumatic events can leave them with stunted social skills and hurdles to becoming well socialized.  It is not uncommon for a puppy to have an experience early in life that leads them to an aversion towards a relatively safe or nonthreatening experience or situation. 

Training your puppy can be about much more than just commands and compliance. Exposure to different things and situations and building a normalization of things that could be perceived as threatening, can be a vital part of dog obedience.

When Should You Start to Socialize Your Dog?

In humans, the most formidable time of child development takes place in the first 3 years. For dogs, comparatively, the timeline is similar. A puppy between 7 weeks and 4 months old will build social skills, understanding, and behaviors that will give shape to their personality. It will also set the tone for how they interact with other dogs, people, and their environment as adult dogs. Introducing your puppy, with care and guidance, to a wide variety of situations, experiences, and interactions in their first few months, can mean permanent effects on their personality. 

The Role of A Breeder In Socialization

If you get your puppy from a breeder, it is important to consider your pup’s experiences there. By their 3rd week a puppy can already show signs of learned behavior. An affectionate, caring, and knowledgeable breeder can mean that your new friend has already started off on the right foot. Encouraging positive behavior as early as possible is an important step in canine training.

Happy Puppies Walk Daily

While walks are key for exercising your active puppy, there’s even more benefit to gain from them. Going out and exploring means that your dog is getting exposure to new situations and gaining comfort and confidence. Being around other people on the street, cars new noises, other dogs, and just experiencing the world can help introduce them to all these common elements and get them used to their surroundings. 

There is so much to see out there. So much to smell! Try different routes and let your little friend explore a little. Keep a short leash but allow for some curiosity. 

Variety

Try to mix it up. So much of healthy socialization is about exposing your pet to a wide range of experiences and scenarios. This includes diversity in the people your dog has experiences with. Men, women, boys, girls, elderly, louder more boisterous individuals, quieter people. Try to expose your puppy to many different types early on and their social skills will be as diverse as the people you bring them around. 

Exposure to Other Dogs

Dog parks are a great way to build your dog’s comfort and confidence. This may be a later step. You can start with play dates with dogs of friends. Just like with people, building your puppy’s experience around other canines is a crucial step in growing into a confident happy dog.

Balance is important. If your dog is timid in a situation, try to stay calm. Don’t push too much but also try to not react to their nervousness. Stay level and confident even when your dog is getting skittish, but don’t force anything your puppy isn’t ready for. 

Confidence and social skills will play a critical role in dog obedience as well. The whole world is new to your puppy and canine training can take a lot of care and understanding. Be patient and you’ll raise a happy and well-adjusted companion. Lara’s Canine Solutions is a great option for any of your puppy’s training needs. They’re located in New Braunfels, but also service surrounding areas, including San Antonio.

For more information about canine training in San Antonio, San Marcos, Austin, and New Braunfels visit our website at https://larascaninesolutions.com