Do you ever wonder what makes some dogs shy or aggressive at times? Or why do certain dogs only respond to people and places that they are familiar with? This probably means one thing: the dog was not socialized as a puppy.
While they are still young, puppies need to be trained to learn how to mingle and socialize with the world around them. They need to be exposed to many different things so they can learn about a lot of things. Just as when a child grows up, he or she needs to go to school, make new friends, and go to exciting new places. Training a puppy for the real world can be an exciting and beneficial experience, and it lowers the risk of your dog becoming an antisocial animal and possibly hurt or cause damage to others, canine or human.
But how does one exactly train a puppy to “be sociable”?
Basically, there are many Easy Ways to Socialize Your Puppy and get him or her ready to take on challenges and meet new things in the outside world without getting scared. Here are some of them:
- Walk your puppy outside to meet people. In this way, your puppy will be exposed to all kinds of human beings – children, men, women, old folks, people in different costumes and different professions, and even other dogs and puppies. You might also want to take him to the zoo or an underwater theme park to meet other kinds of animals. Familiarize your puppy with them so that when the time comes, he will not be frightened of such creatures.
- Take him on different vehicles. Most dogs and puppies often get scared or act a little crazy if they have to ride on cars, boats, trains, or any other forms of transportation. But if you let your puppy ride these vehicles more often, little by little, your puppy will get the hang of it and realize that there is really nothing to be afraid of in riding them. Both of our dogs just love to ride.
- Let your puppy get used to different textures. For example, if he/she is always used to playing in the grass or your carpet, try putting him on other surfaces like sand, wood, mud, and others.
- Expose him to different sounds. Some dogs that were not socialized are often disturbed by certain sounds that they did not get used to when they were puppies. So it’s a good idea to take him to various places with different noises, such as babies crying, street parties and concerts, construction sites, traffic (car horns and sirens), and other places.
- While you walk your dog around your place, it is important that he gets to experience different scents of the place. This is helpful so that your puppy will not live in a small world where he knows only a few scents. A tremendous benefit of this tactic is that this will heighten his chance of getting home if gets lost.
- Play games with your puppy. A good game of ‘hide-and-seek’, ‘fetch’, or similar physical activities will get your puppy up and active, and away from depression. This is also good for bonding with your buddy.
- Get your puppy to attend obedience classes. This strengthens his social relationship with other puppies that are also like him. In this way, he will feel loved.
Hopefully you will make the effort and work on these Easy Ways to Socialize Your Puppy. It all simply boils down to letting your pup explore the world outside of you, his home, and his yard.
Please feel free to share these ideas with others.
