One thing any dog owner would want is to prevent their loved pooch from becoming a fearful adult dog. Letting your puppy socialize with the outer world from a very young age (ideally, when he is 2-4 months old) is always the right strategy. The strategy will definitely help you in turning your puppy into a confident and outgoing adult dog. Isolating your puppy from the outside world is literally a bad idea and something that should be prevented at any cost. There are different means of socializing your puppy with different people and animals.
Puppies take in information rather quickly and attain maturity rapidly between the ages of 2 to 4 months. Therefore, it is important that you introduce your puppy to the following strategies at this age.
Socializing your puppy with people
Socializing your puppy with people is the first step; there are different factors that you need to consider while trying to accomplish this task. It is imperative that you expose your puppy to different types of people who are distinguished in terms of age, gender, ethnicity etc. You should also ensure to choose the right people who love to spend time with puppies and share no hate for dogs. Therefore, inviting your friends and family to your home is always the better idea when it comes to introducing new and different people to your puppy.
Puppy socialization with other dogs
Introducing your puppy to an adult dog can be a tedious task. Just ensure that you consider some precautionary measures to make it a memorable experience. Ensure that you schedule the meeting at a neutral venue; you don’t want the adult dog to be territorial. Introducing them in a park and other open areas like your neighbors or your background area would be a great idea. If you wish to stage the introduction in your home, introduce them to the presence of each other indirectly rather than going for a face to face meeting right away. You can consider swapping the toys of puppy and the adult dog to indirectly accustom them with the presence of each other.
Be aware of the fact that no adult dog would accept puppies readily; you can expect a period of anxiety or curiousness during their first meeting. The first meeting should be strictly carried out under your supervision and your presence throughout the meeting is indispensable. Adult dogs can easily get excited and walk over or knock down the puppy, prevent this from happening. Never introduce your puppy to an adult dog by holding him in your hands. Doing so makes your puppy feel vulnerable and this can easily induce a feeling of fear. See that you do not allow the dogs to spend time alone unless and until they are at ease with each other. Ensure to praise both puppy and the adult dog after their first meeting and spend some quality time with each.
Caring for a puppy and making him socialize with the outer world can be a tedious task. However, if you follow these strategies, you can ensure the optimum result with minimum effort.