Proper socialization is very important as it has a huge influence over what kind of personality Rover will have as an adult.  Is Rover aggressive or friendly, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? There actually are three things that determine Rover’s adult personality: - the temperament he was born with: shy or outgoing? - how well he was socialized as a puppy - how he is treated the remainder of his life Rover learns to predict good or bad things Not only does Rover learn by the consequences that follow his behavior, as in obedience training, he also learns by association. The easiest way to picture this is that each person, situation or context has two glasses, a positive and a negative one. Every time something happens that Rover likes, his positive glass fills up a bit and every time something happens that Rover doesn’t like or that scares him, his negative glass fills up. Unfortunately the negative glass fills up quicker than the positive glass. If Rover’s positive glass ends up fuller with regard to a person, situation or context, his behavior will be happy-go-lucky, friendly, approaching and trusting. But if his negative glass ends up being fuller or his glasses remain empty as in lack of socialization, he will display anxiety, fear, defensive aggression, avoidance, escape, redirected aggression and depression. This learning by association teaches Rover whether a person, situation or context predicts something good or whether it predicts something bad or scary and Rover will then act accordingly. By the way, this process works the same for us. We are constantly making associations too. What is socialization? It was previously thought that socialization was the process of just exposing young puppies to anything and everything that they would encounter later in life. Now we know that just exposing them is not enough. We need to make sure that those exposures are positive, that we are filling up positive glasses. Otherwise we still end up with problems. For instance, say that we need to socialize two puppies. Number 1's temperament is very outgoing and Number 2 is rather shy to begin with. Every time #1 meets a new person, he thinks "great, a new person, my favorite!" A deposit in the positive glass. #2 thinks, "ewe a new person, where can I hide?" A deposit in the negative glass. When we repeat this a lot, #1 will end up with full positive glasses all over the place, while #2 will have full negative glasses and will become fear aggressive. What this means is that we have to adjust our socialization to the temperament of the pup. With #2 you would proceed more gradually and add positive things like treats. If #2 gets treats from a lot of new people, he would learn that new people predict good things. The Numbers Game The reason we want to fill up as many positive glasses as possible as full as we can get them is as follows: Suppose Rover has had 100,000 good experiences with other dogs and then one day he is attacked by a German Shepherd. He will most likely associate the bad experience with that dog only and will show avoidance or aggression toward that dog only. If Rover has had 1000 good experience with other dogs, he now might have issues with all dogs that have pointy ears and snouts and are big like German Shepherds. If Rover has had 100 good experiences with other dogs, he now might have issues with all big dogs. And if Rover has had only 10 good experiences, he now will be dog aggressive across the board. Therefore it is important that we fill up as many positive glasses as full as we can get them. The fuller the positive glasses are, the more bomb proof Rover’s personality will be. For all dogs To have a well adjusted dog, it’s a good idea to especially add a lot of positive experiences (such as treats, Rover’s regular food or play) to things that dogs normally don’t like. Here’s a short list: being petted on top of the head or body (a threat in dog lingo) having their feet touched and nails clipped having their mouth and ears examined being lifted off the ground slippery surfaces: bathtubs, vet tables baths (water in eyes, weird flowery smell and removal of pack smell so they have to go and roll on everything afterwards to smell like themselves again) having their food, bones, toys taken away going to the vet (needles, thermometer up the butt) being hugged or restrained being stared at (a threat in dog lingo) people hugging/wrestling (dog lingo: they are going to fight) having unfamiliar dogs come onto their territory having unfamiliar people come onto their territory, especially the mailman  It’s also a good idea to imitate vet exams at home while giving Rover his regular food or treats. When you live with young children, you really need to step this up. Repeatedly do everything you think your children might do to your Rover, while adding treats. Child proofing Rover is really all about teaching Rover to be a masochist, associating pain with pleasure. That way if a toddler trips over Rover or pulls his hair, Rover won’t mind. Socializing Rover to other dogs Dogs have their own language of which the signals are preprogrammed genetically. How and when to use those signals however, to be diplomatic members of doggie society, can only be learned by a lot of play and interaction off leash. Play has everything to do with learning these social skills. Of course we only want Rover to fill up his positive glass here too. That means that you want to be very selective who Rover gets to play with. Only puppies and well socialized dogs will do. Rover has a puppy license until he is about 6 months old. Before it expires, older well socialized dogs realize Rover hasn’t learned all of the doggie etiquette yet and will go about teaching him gently. After his puppy license expires they assume Rover has had enough time to learn and is just being rude when he does something wrong. Then they won’t be so kind in return. That is why it is important to do a lot of socialization before Rover turns 6 months old. Still let Rover continue to socialize afterwards as well because what he doesn't use he looses. The safest way to socialize very young Rover is to have him play in a confined yard with your friends’ dogs who are well socialized and who have had all of their shots. Once Rover has had his last series of shots he can safely attend a puppy socialization class or a well supervised doggie daycare. Dog parks unfortunately are risky as there can be aggressive dogs there. Especially small dogs run the risk of getting killed in the dog parks. When Rover is well socialized, he will be a well adjusted happy, friendly, diplomatic dog whom you can take with you anywhere without worries. This article is a summary only of the protocol for socialization. For more information or training, please call (303) 255-3713. Disclaimer: Please note that the information herein is provided as a free service. It does not create any form of legal or professional relationship and Affection & Praise Family Dog Training, Inc. does not accept any liability or responsibility for any action taken or avoided on the basis of information provided. It is dangerous to rely on generalized information or guidance. You should always seek independent professional advice in order that it can be tailored to your own individual circumstances.