Text Transcript – Socialization Training Video

That’s my puppy, Good Dog. That’s my puppy, Good Dog.

Hi. Today we’re going to be talking about introducing your extraordinary puppy to the world.

I’m Meredith, a trainer here at canine companions.

This is Bella.

I’m Lauren another one of the trainers here.

Bella was well socialized to lots of different people and environments as she was growing up. You can see that she’s pretty relaxed up here. In fact, we have to keep waking her up so it doesn’t look like she’s sleeping on the job.

Let’s get started right, Bella.

Here are the top points that we’re going to cover. It’s good to start early and often socializing your puppy as early as eight weeks of age. Start small but think big. Teach your puppy to interact appropriately, when meeting new people, other animals or simply out and about in the environment.

Even though you start at 8 weeks of age, you’re still going to be introducing your dog to new stimuli, new environments, new people, new animals, for the duration of their lives.

You want to make sure you don’t overwhelm your puppy or expose them too fast to environments that might be too much for them. You definitely want to go slowly with this, take baby steps. You want to make sure that they’re meeting people maybe one at a time or in very small groups or maybe just one dog at a time. If you think your puppies are becoming overwhelmed, the best thing to do is just remove them from the area. As your puppy gets older, you can start increasing the time and also the environments that you’re going to. It’s a great idea to have some kibble with you and as you meet people they don’t know, you can give them a little bit of kibble to help them realize that all of the experiences they are having, are fun. It’s really important to socialize your extraordinary puppy and help teach them how to meet new dogs. So, Bella and I are here to give you an example. First of all, you’ll see that I have Bella on a leash and collar, that helps me as the owner control the situation and help me clear to Bella on what I want for her to do. Second, I have a bag here with some food in it. You’ll see I got Bella’s attention when I touched it. That will help keep her attention on me rather, than the dog that she’s meeting. Lastly, I’m going to use my voice and touching her to help keep her attention on me and give her praise when she’s doing the things that I want her to do. Meredith is going to join us now with a dog that’s not a CCI dog, to show us how to do appropriate interactions on a leash. It’s OK to let the dogs meet each other, but I should be able to get Bella’s attention back on me when I want to.

You’ll notice, I just use my voice and some food from the bag here to get her attention back on me and tell her she’s doing a good job. These guys are having a very appropriate interaction and I would be comfortable letting them continue to meet each other. If you see that your puppy is starting to look overwhelmed or maybe anxious or fearful with this other dog. Don’t be afraid to just remove your puppy from the environment.

Now Bella and I, are going to talk to you about how to help introduce your extraordinary puppy to meeting new people. So, the first thing I want to do is to make sure that I have all the tools that I need. I have Bella on a leash and collar. I have my bag of kibble. Of course, I have myself, my presence, and my voice, that I’m going to use to help tell her what I want her to do. Bella when she meets new people, she likes to paw at them with her foot. Today, if she does that with the person, she’s going to be meeting, I’m just going to tell her no in a firm voice. And when she does something appropriate, like sits nicely or puts her foot back on the ground, I’m going to give her a piece of kibble or maybe a pet and some praise and tell her that that’s what I wanted.

Meredith is going to help us again, by being someone who’s going to pretend like she’s meeting Bella for the first time.
Hi. Would you like to meet my puppy? I would cause she’s beautiful.
Sit.
Good girl.
Bella sat nicely just something that I want her to do.
(Bella paws at Meredith’s leg) No. Bella.
Good girl. Good. Good girl.

So, I told Bella that that was something I didn’t want her to do and I removed her from the person who was petting her. So, let’s try again.

Bella SIT.
Good girl.
OK. You can keep petting her now.

Bella is not raising her foot this time, so I’m going to tell her what a good job she’s doing. And so is Meredith.
Good Bella. Good Girl.

Bella is keeping her attention on me, which is ultimately as her owner what I want her to do. So, I always maintain control of the situation.

Good job Bella. Sit. Good girl.

You can even give the person who’s meeting them at kibble so that they learn that the other person is fun and exciting too.

Nice job Bella. Come here girl. Good girl. Good job.

We hope you enjoyed the training tips in this video. Here at Canine Companions were celebrating 35 years of training our extraordinary puppies and we wish you tremendous success introducing your pup to the world. For more tips for your extraordinary puppy go to www.puppystart.com/CCI.