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Location: South East UK
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 27,437
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Originally Posted by
mishflynn
Good Question, so sticking my neck on the line without reading the other posts......
I believe puppies Should be socaised, MAINLEY with adult dogs, but also with dogs of all ages
I dont beieve that alot of puppy to puppy play does the pups any good, it does not teach them adult manners or when to stop.
I dont realy agree with puppy socailistation classes, Puppy trainng GOOD,
a class for a "puppy party" romp BAD (in general)
Id want the puppies to be meeting dogs of all ages & also people of all types, BUT id also want the pup to be played with MAINLEY with the owner. Its a pet hate of mine that in a "obession" to get the puppy "socailised" that the bond between pup & owner goes out of the window, & the pup puklls towards every new person /dog it sees.
Thats certainley not what i want, I want ME to be the centre of my dogs world & certainley more interesting than Bob Jane & little smokey across the road.
Jmo,
I couldn't agree more with every word Mish has said here, it's for me too!
A puppy has to be socialised to a certain extent, but it learns far more from me and the other adult dog I always like to have back at home when we get a new puppy. I have always let them play with my older dogs, they teach them more than I ever could alone, especially in the manners department I'm sure of that.
I don't feel it as necessary to introduce the young dog/puppy to every single situation, because I think once it's learned to trust in YOU, the way YOU react to different "stuff" (bikes,joggers etc.) then loud bangs etc. then it has every faith in you that everything is alright, there's no need to worry. Only this morning, we were up on our village green, the glass recycling lorry was at the big house next to the green, it emptied a big bin of glass, it made a horrendous noise, it even frightened me
but did my dog worry?? Nah! She was startled initially just like I was, then she realised it was nothing to worry about because I wasn't worried, I grabbed her tuggy ball, we played, all was fine, but she could well have shot off into the road if she didn't have 100% trust in me perhaps! We've never been introduced to a dust cart emptying glass in her life and yet it was fine. Same with the joggers and the bikes, we've never "done" the training to leave them, it hasn't been necessary, she leaves them, ignores them! This morning we saw our first ever pheasant, which was oh so interesting and exciting as it tried to fly and shot under the barbed wire fence......a quick grab of her collar, a little "chat" and she set off along the way offlead, and ignored them!
You can't possibly introduce a young puppy to everything it's going to meet out in the big wide world, but other dogs are the most important TO be introduced to, so that they learn how to interract, learn body language, dog etiquette etc. etc. but in a controlled way, i.e. I would never have let my puppy play with a bolshy, bargy, over playful dog or puppy who itself hadn't been taught how to interract properly. I was very picky and choosy who she could and couldn't play with and I still am to this day, coz I also believe they can pick up other dog's bad habits purely by being allowed to be in contact with on a regular basis. I know that to be a fact because I have seen it myself with my current youngster picking up on my older dog's bad habits, i.e. whingeing in the car especially! When the youngster is on her own in the car, you don't hear a peep out of her you forget she's there, until you open the door to start your walk, and even then, everything is quiet. When I've got the older dog with me, she copies him, she whinges in the car, she scrabbles at the door
and she's a nightmare when they get out, just because of his excitement, it's rubbed off! Then she copies his lack of recall
it works, but it isn't instant like when she's on her own, because the older dog ignores me
So if a youngster can pick up on bad habits like this, then in my view, they can also pick up on bad habits from other dogs they meet, but probably more on a regular basis than a one off, and that is why I'm still picky and choosy about her playmates, and why I really don't care whether or not she even plays from one week to another out on our walks, because she has ME, I'm her main focus in life and that's the way I like it. From day one she was allowed to interract, be offlead, play with whoever we met that I liked, but once that was done and I knew she had learned what she needed to learn, it's me who decides now.