Introduce your dog to different ages, sizes, colors, and genders of people, so that he's comfortable with everyone.
Socializing means teaching your dog to get along with the big wide world....introducing him to strangers, children, other dogs, cats, and other animals.
Introducing him in all the right ways so that he behaves appropriately.
For example....
You want your dog to greet people politely. Think about how YOU feel when you visit friends and you can hardly get in the door because their dog is going crazy, jumping all over you, or barking maniacally. Or perhaps you can't even touch him because he's so nervous. These dogs have not been properly socialized or taught how to behave.
Don't worry! Some owners are afraid that if they teach their dog to be friendly, he won't be a good watchdog. Not true. Virtually every adult dog will offer some kind of alerting behavior when he sees or hears something near his property. Even the barking of a friendly dog, whose bark is one of welcome, is all the "watching" that most families need.The vast majority of bad guys will shy away from homes in which any dog is barking.
You want your dog to be non-prejudiced. Some dogs are fine with women, but wary of men. (The other way around is less common.)
Some dogs are suspicious of certain physical features – a beard, a hat, dark sunglasses. Some dogs react aggressively to uniforms (police officers, mail carriers). A few dogs are so observant they notice skin color and if it's not what they're used to, they react with suspicion.
You want your dog to be safe with children
Introduce your dog to well-behaved
children of all ages.
You might think, "That's no problem, my puppy loves kids!"
But often this doesn't last, you see. Puppies change as they grow up, and many puppies grow into adult dogs who are wary of children.
The odds that a dog bite victim will be a child are 3 to 1. That's because dogs do not view children as miniature adults, but rather as strange creatures with loud voices, quick herky-jerky movements, and unpredictable emotions.
Here's another statistic: 76% of dog bite injuries to children under age 10 are bites to the face. That's just awful. To keep your dog from becoming one of those statistics, you have to socialize him with children, not only as a puppy, but as he grows through his adolescent months, and on into adulthood.
You want your dog to be peaceful with other animals
Dogs need to be taught how to get along with each other.
You want your dog to get along with other dogs. Many owners are distressed to discover that as he grows up, their puppy no longer tolerates other dogs of the same sex. Or dogs that are larger (or smaller) than himself.
I'm not just talking about aggression – some dogs are shy and fearful, while others are so eager to play they overwhelm other dogs who may not want to play.
All of these behaviors require that you work on socialization and proper behavior, from puppyhood through adulthood.
You want your dog to get along with your own family cat – and leave other cats alone. By teaching your dog to respect cats, you're keeping him safe. A cat's claws carry lots of bacteria, which means cat scratches can become seriously infected. And dogs who become obsessed chasers will dash through open doors, leap from car windows, climb over fences, and rush heedlessly into the street when a cat suddenly appears from the shadows. Also, your cat-owning friends and relatives will be happy to welcome your cat-tolerant dog when you go for a visit!
You want your dog to be calm and confident
Stressed body language: wide eyes, furrowed brow, base of the ears pulled down low, pursed lips.
You want your dog to react calmly to sights and sounds in the world. Unsocialized dogs often develop fears and fetishes. I knew a Beagle who freaked out whenever his owner opened an umbrella. A Doberman who refused to walk across a tile floor. Dogs who won't go up or down stairs....or who will go up but not down....or down but not up. Dogs who pitch a fit when the vacuum cleaner turns on. Fear of thunder, fear of fireworks, fear of emergency sirens, fear of mailboxes. Mailboxes?
Fears and stresses are bad for your dog's health. Socialization takes away those fears and stresses. You can socialize your dog to be calm about what is happening in the world around him.
Finally – and this is so important – you want your dog to trust people. Otherwise, he's going to get really stressed out when a veterinarian or groomer or petsitter has to handle him. Or imagine if your dog was suddenly separated from you. An open door, an open gate, a car crash from which your dog escapes and finds himself loose on the road....will he go to strangers who are trying to help him? Will he trust them?
We never know what our dogs might have to cope with in life. So we need to prepare them by socializing them with everyone and everything. Just as you spend time and effort training your dog to be well-behaved, you need to spend time and effort socializing him to deal calmly with the world.
Socialize from puppyhood through adulthood
Start socializing your puppy at 7 weeks old.
PUPPY socialization (first six months) has the most dramatic effect on how a dog turns out. And here's something interesting....the most critical period in a dog's life, psychologically, is the period from 7 weeks old to 16 weeks old. Now, you wouldn't think those 9 weeks could be so important, but they are. Puppies should be introduced to strangers and other animals during this critical period....but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Remember, this period comes only once in a dog's life, so it's important to get it right!
But socialization doesn't end with puppyhood.
ADOLESCENT socialization is next in importance. Adolescence begins somewhere between 6 and 9 months old, and ends somwhere between 14 months old and 3 years old. (Larger breeds have the longest adolescent periods.)
Adolescence in dogs (as in people) is an awkward time of change. A young dog's attitude toward the world may change from week to week – even from day to day! This is also a difficult time for owners, because up until then their puppy may have been getting along famously with the world. But during adolescence, when the hormones kick in, that sweet puppy may change – a LOT. He may suddenly become suspicious or skittish, or alternate between brashness and fearfulness.
Most owners respond to these fluctuations in ways that are well-meaning, but actually counter-productive with dogs and simply reinforce the spooky behavior. To help your dog through this challenging period in his life, it's important that you respond in particular ways that dogs find reassuring.
Finally, there is ADULT socialization. If you have an adult dog who is acting inappropriately toward people or other animals, you obviously can't go back in time to socialize him during the all-important puppyhood and adolescent stages.
But you can start now and work forward. It may be too late to change his feelings about other people or other animals – but socialization can still change his behavior toward them. In other words, you can teach your dog to remain calm and quiet, tolerating and accepting people and other animals even if he doesn't particularly like them. And that is a very worthy goal!
Start socializing today
Dogs feel most secure when they know how to interact positively with strangers and other dogs, and when they're comfortable with the sights and sounds of the world. So take your dog out into the world and teach him how to interact.
I can show you how to do this effectively. The Sociable Dog (Getting Along With The World) is one of the most popular chapters in my dog training book. I explain the details of socializing your dog with strangers, children, and other animals. I tell you where to take your dog to socialize him, and most importantly, how to respond if he acts inappropriately. The book that includes this valuable chapter is called Teach Your Dog 100 English Words and it's available for instant download or as a printed book.