People seem to be making the same big
mistake when it comes to socializing their dog. So today, myself and instructor Meg and her brand
new puppy Highlight are going to talk to you about some of the things that we
do to socialize our puppy that may be a little bit different than
what you've heard before. So today we're here in our big agility
arena and it's a place that little highlight hasn't spent much time in. And we're going to talk to you a
little bit about socialization. I'm Kayl McCann, this is
Meg and her puppy Highlight. Welcome back to McCann Dogs. [Inaudible]. So Meg, let's talk a little bit
about socialization. In your opinion, what do you think some of the most
common mistakes people are making? I think when I am teaching
puppy classes here at the hall, one of the things that people don't
understand is what socialization actually means. And they really only think
about socialization in one way. And that is dog to dog interaction. They don't realize that
socialization can mean many things. It can be a meaning allowing your
puppy to explore new environments. It might be exposing them to different
sounds and surfaces even exposing them to different family members and
different people in the real world. And it's actually going to
be very puppy dependent. So one of the things I like to teach
students is how to observe their puppy and how to set themselves up for success
so that anytime they are in a new environment or they
are meeting new people, that they have some tools that they can
use in order to really help their puppy so that each socialization experience
is a positive one because that's what's most important. So with all of
these ideas for socialization, I think it's important to talk about how
do we know when something is too much for a puppy when we put them into a
situation where maybe they can't really handle it? What kind of things do we see from our
puppy to know that we need to change our game? So one of the first things I think about
is how long can a puppy at eight weeks work for versus how long can a puppy at
12 or 16 works for work for and by work I mean stay engaged with you and
continue to take reinforcement from you. When they come home, eight
weeks, five, 10 minutes max. I think so part of it is a time thing, knowing how much attention span they have. The other thing is knowing your puppy
and some dogs what we would call stress high. Some dogs stress low. So sometimes when a dog is overly
stimulated and it's too much for them, that environment, they no
longer will take the toy, take the treats or seem to even
care about what you're saying. Sometimes when dogs are overly stressed
out of fear they will also not take the reinforcement. So even the other day I turned and I
walked on a busier street than my street and I found that all of a sudden
her ears actually changed posture. Her ears pinned back for a second and
she no longer would take the treats from my hand as we were walking down the
street. And without even a second thought, I turned around and I went right
back on my quieter street again. The cars were moving a lot faster. They
were louder, they were closer to us, and I could tell she just wasn't
ready for that. Now again, that might be something she's ready for
soon. But I looked at her body posture. I looked at her ability to focus on me
and both things were telling me this is too much for my puppy.
So instead of forcing it, I decided that she wasn't ready
for that situation. And again, we will revisit that as she has more
experience with cars going by on our quieter street. And even then I would take her and I
would make sure that I went with a higher value reinforcement than what I had. I just had her breakfast
with me at the time. So if I'm going to go back to that
street, I'd go back with the big guns. I'd go back with the deliver treats or
the cheese something or the toy, exactly. Something that I know if she was to
start walking I could reinforce her even before she had a chance to look nervous, I would get those reinforcements
in so that she went, Oh, this really is a good street to be on.
This is not a scary situation at all. In terms of socialization when
we first bring a puppy home, what are some of the things that we
like to focus on to begin with? Okay, so puppy's first coming home, typically around eight weeks of age one
of the first things that I consider is the fact that they don't
have a full set of vaccines. They have some protection from their
mother and their first set from the breeder. But they don't
have full protection. So I actually avoid going to a lot of
really public places because it just might not be safe for them. That being said, I do want to make sure that they still
have a lot of positive experiences. So a lot of the time that is a first
just meeting the family moving around my yard, front yard, backyard, and then really watching the puppy
to see how they react to things. So for example there was a dog barking
when she was in her first weeks home at my house, a couple of yards over. And at first she actually startled quite
a bit to that and ran over to me and now that's like an eight, nine week
old puppy. She doesn't do that anymore, but it was the first thing
that I thought, okay, you might be a little bit sound sensitive. Next was a car going by and it
backfired. I guess that's the term. And that again, really startled her and she ran
and tucked herself over to my legs. So those sorts of things allow me to
see what might be a focus for her as she grows out. The other things I noticed about her
right away was that she has zero fear of any new people, any new
dogs, and a new environments. Anytime we go anywhere new, she is very bold and she's actually a
little bit of noxious and that she wants to jump at big dogs faces as she will
leap and launch all over every person that she meets. So I want to make sure that she
understands that other dogs and people are great, but that the main priority is not to
be so bold that you get told off by an adult dog. And that you
still have some manners. So I think a common mistake that we see, we see people make when they have puppies
like hers is they think, Oh goodness. Like my dogs loves other people
and my dog loves other dogs. Like let's let them go play more. And what they don't realize is they're
taking a puppy that already pretty good with those things and they're taking
away from the bond and the relationship that they can be making with them. Where maybe if there was a dog
that was a bit more apprehensive, they might mean they might
put more focus on those areas. But if you have a dog
that's naturally confident, those you actually can inhibit your
relationship development because the puppy just sort of learns it. The most fun thing in the world is
playing with other dogs and playing with other people and it kind of takes
away from the value of us. Absolutely. I was actually just in headstart
classes here at the hall with her. Even as an instructor, we all take our puppies through the
program for their socialization. And instructor came actually said
something that I hadn't heard before and I loved it. And it was, you didn't
get a dog for your neighbor. You didn't get a dog for your other
family members and for the dog down the street, you got a dog for yourself. So if you allow the dog too much
time to seek out all of those other reinforcements, it does decrease the
value that they get from you. Now, I do also appreciate that puppies can
learn a lot from other dogs. Yes, a ton. And she had a really nice vague letter
and but I still think it's important that she gets positive experience
playing with other dogs. I'm really lucky you want to for litter
mates lives just around the corner. And they've gotten together, not recently, but before lockdown they got together
a number of times for generally like 10 minute, 15 minute max
little play sessions. And what was lovely about that as
these puppies are the same size, very similar temperament. They would tell each other when they had
been a little bit too over the top or too rude with each other,
which was really nice. But I never put her in a position where
she could actually get hurt by another dog. And then of course
in the headstart program, we really try to do the same thing here. So we often will look at the
puppies and we'll separate them. So in her class there's a
cute little allow Wiener dog. There was another cute
little, I can't remember, it was now it's tiny little thing. Anyway. they got put in their own little play
session with a larger puppy that was super shy. He was actually a little
scared of his own shadow. So those three puppies started to get
better and better playing together. And then she played with the labs and
the building through the other rough and tumble guys. And she loved
that for the most part. She had a great experience and she would
have been too much for those puppies that were small or a little
more shy. So basically what, what we feel the best thing to do is to
set your puppy up and show them how they should be doing all these things by
coaching them and teaching them through these moments versus to sort of, you know, letting them into the wild and kind
of seeing what happens. You know, I have a saying that I, I often
say to my students is, you know, pick your dog's friends wisely. So get to know the other dogs and people
that you're going to be exposing your puppy to, to make sure that it's going
to embellish your dog's confidence and, and help them move forward
rather than hurt them in any way. And if you're not sure about something,
don't do it. There's no point in, in risking something that
you're not sure about. And I think bringing it back to
the original thing, you know, when we're trying to
socialize our puppies, because our goal is to set them up to
have good experience after good experience after good experience, we need to be ready to train through
those moments so that if things, well, we can say, Hey, what a great
choice. You know, that's great. Or if things are not going to go so well, we're able to control it because the
last thing we want are things to be happening where we don't
have the opportunity to be
giving her dog information. Even in that regard. Like I took her to Wren's when she was a
couple of weeks old to get dog food and I saw another dog in
the store at a distance. She got a ton of rewards for
sitting with me being with me. I'm holding her collar and rewarding
as the other dog goes back and forth. When the other dog got too
close, I picked her up. Sometimes people might give
you a bit of a funny look like, why'd you pick your puppy
up? As my dog got close. But I don't have to explain my
actions to every other dog owner. My only responsibility is for
her confidence and her safety. I do the same thing on the street. So if another dog is walking by often I
will move off the sidewalk and my puppy will be at my sides in
the site on the sidewalk. Now if at first your puppy has
no emotional control, then again, when she was really little, I picked her up as the other dog
went by and I just rewarded her. So it wasn't a negative experience at all
because she got lots of rewards as the dog went by. Now she's getting much
better. So as the dog walks by, I don't have to pick her up anymore. She'll sit at my side or lie down at my
side and she gets a ton of reinforcement for that. The end goal would
be as I walked down the street, as other dogs approached me, my dog
doesn't look at what dog they can jump on. They have a history of
thousands of rewards from me
every time another dog comes by. So they get lots of reinforcement for
checking in with me and not being at rude to a dog that they don't know. Some people if they don't
really understand why we
do that, they think will, you know, if they're being
told to be ignoring other dogs, does it make it not like other dogs?
And actually it's the opposite. When your dog looks at a distraction and
then they changed their focus to us and then we reward them, it actually gives that dog a positive
association with whatever they were just distracted. We would, we would
do the same thing with, you know, a loud truck going by or something
our dog was a little bit unsure about. We would say, Hey, check that out. You're
going to get a reward. Check that out. You're going to get a reward. And
the dog starts to say, Oh wow, when that dog walks by
or when this happens, mom rewards me or she plays with me. So I feel good about that
type of thing happening. And that's a great way to go about adding
a lot of positive reinforcement for things that could be potentially
scary or potentially distracting. You can deal with those things
exactly the same way. Yep. And that's actually been
happening a lot lately. There's been a lot less
people on the streets, a lot less people in the
parks I've been finding. But I am continuously
shown on a daily basis. Things that she thinks is new or
different or sometimes worrisome. Not very often. She's a
pretty confident puppy. But the other day she walked by a fire
hydrant and she was curious to go see it. No problem. Let's go check it out.
So we got a little bit closer. I rewarded her for sniffing
and then we moved on. The same thing happened with the sewer.
Great. Now a couple of weeks ago, she was a little nervous about the
noise of that water. She did not, well, maybe it wasn't the noise, but she wasn't confident about
walking across that sear. Great. Obviously the grounds a little bit
less stable. There are more open. Now, the other day my son and I were on a
little bike ride with her and she walked over the sewer grade again, no problem. And I could tell already then that
she's more experienced and she trusts me more. So if I tell her that something is okay
and I coax her over to see it and I reinforce her for that we are starting
to have a history where she knows she can count on me. There's, I'm not gonna ever put her in a situation
that is dangerous or that she can't handle. And if she wasn't ready for it,
stale, if she still was backing away, I wouldn't force it. I continue
on my walk, I continue on my way. I just tuck that in the
back of my brain of, okay, she still wasn't sure about that
sewer. Great, let's check that out. I and another couple of days or in another
couple of weeks and see if she's more prepared for it then. Yeah. And I think that that brings up another
good topic as to how to deal with things. If your dog is
unsure about something, I think sometimes people will
just sort of say, Oh, you're fine. And they'll sort of make the dog go
through with it and that actually can make things worse. And on the other hand, sometimes people end up doing
what we call coddling the puppy. So if the puppy is
worried about something, we often see people respond by saying,
Oh, it's okay puppy. It's all right. And they start petting and praising and
holding the puppy and the dog starts to say, Oh, I get a lot of
reinforcement when I'm worried. So the best thing to do is exactly what
she said is to be neutral about the scenario. Just kind of tuck it away in the back
of your mind to say this could be a potential issue and just move forward
with confidence and then decide how you're going to revisit it. So you don't want to, you don't want to react
too heavy on either side. You want to just sort of be a little bit
natural and neutral and and then work on it when the dog is ready. Now, I think the big reason why a lot of
people want to socialize their dog as they use that as the way to tire their puppy
out so that they can function more easily in their houses. So let's talk about now some of the
things that we do differently that accomplishes the socialization aspect
but also tires the puppy out. So that, you know, we are getting the most out
of the day with him. Yep. For sure. So when I have a new puppy, and I know
most of the staff here are the same, our puppies go almost everywhere
with us on a daily basis. She is in the car five, 600,
seven days a week for sure. Even little things like for example my
nephew had a birthday party recently and I brought the puppy with me of course, ask permission from my sister
first that she was cool with that. But it sort of assumed but what I did
that was probably different than most people is that the puppy didn't just get
to run it around her house while there was 20 people at this birthday party. She actually had a line
on and for the most part, as balloons were flying around with the
kids and people were walking back and forth, I sat on a dog bed with her and rewarded
her over and over for not jumping around, not being rude. She
got to go visit some people, some people that she hadn't met before. And she got lots of loves and kisses and
hugs, old people, young people, kids, men. So, so far this puppy is not showing me that
there's any person that she is at all worried about. And then after a time when I could
tell she'd been out for a while, she'd been visiting, she'd
had lots of retreats. I used her meal for that or dinner. I actually put her way in her crate in
the front hallway and that is something that I prepared for knowing I want
to be able to take her places. So she is exceptionally quiet in her
crate and that allows me then to take her more places because people
don't mind. It's not a, you don't have a screaming
puppy during a party. Same sort of thing happened
weeks ago when we had some snow. My friends and I took our kids
tobogganing well, at first, at the bottom of the Hill, as I'm
waiting for my son to come down, I had the puppy with me. She got to
see the toboggans and see the kids. Eventually, actually a two other adult dogs showed
up at the park that we were at in Waterdam and I put her back in the car
in the crate because I wasn't able to watch my son watch the puppy watch to
make sure that those dogs weren't going to come over the, I didn't know. So she had again probably 15 minutes
out playing around, she was panting, she'd been running in the snow and
she crashed the entire way home. She was exhausted. That's what people don't realize about
puppies is that they actually do not need to be running for 90 minutes
straight. They come out in 10, 15 minute increments. They are mentally tired and physically
tired. Often they will crash. Unfortunately they will be energetic
again and probably two hours, but that is her day and right now
I'm home with her all the time. Unfortunately with my profession, I'm not able to work right now
and I have a two year old at home, so she comes out sometimes
we train together probably
six times during the day. We play for 15 minutes.
And other than that, she is in her crate and she comes
out and has a ton of fun and a ton of reinforcement from everyone in the family. And everyday we try to still
go somewhere different. Often it is an open field where I might
see bikes going by cars going by nowhere near any play structures,
nowhere near dog park. But as she sees these things, she continues to get reinforcement
from me for checking them out, but then actually
checking back in with me. I want her to see that object not
get disturbed by it and know that the reinforcement comes from me and for
her. Primarily that comes with a toy. She tends to like toys quite a
bit. And I think as a, as trainers, we also know from a really early age,
what are our dogs? Biggest reinforcers. That's huge. I know her
hierarchy of treats. What treats she likes more than others. Even right now I've got
chicken wieners in my pocket. I've got kibble in this pocket. I've got a toy in this pocket and
that's for when I was training with her earlier. I know she's a good girl. She I need to know what reinforcers I
have to pull out at what time when she gets really distracted. Just back to
kibble. Sorry about your luck, girl. We want you to have a
different understanding of
what the word socialization means. It's not necessarily restricted
to dog, to dog and direction. There is so much more involved in terms
of building your dog's confidence and experiences around other people.
Places, sounds, footings, you name it. Check out this video we made what? Retook our young border Collie beeline
down to the waterfront to give her some exposure to some new sounds
and sights and places. If this is your first time on our channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button. We post brand new videos every single
week to help you to have a well behaved for like a family member.
On that note, I'm kale. This is instructor bag and here
puppy highlight. Happy training.
