Socialize - to introduce a pup to many different experiences, including people, dogs, and other animals, to get him accustomed to 'novelty' so that he remains calm when he runs into new situations.
I introduced my pup to many different people, took him for rides in the car, shopping, to the Vet's waiting room every week, to PetsMart, to the playground, dog park. I also was lucky to find a playmate with similar energy for him to tussle with. ... He is now as calm as a stuffed teddy bear.
In my book, socialization and habituation are the same thing, and Jean Donaldson defines it that way as well. They should mean the same thing, but people misuse the term "socializing" so much that it has come to mean "letting their dog run up to other dogs and letting everybody indiscriminately pet him".Socialisation is the wrong word I think. Habituation is better. Getting them used to different situations and environment and being able to focus on the owner and do as they are told no matter how many people and dogs are around, and being able to be around people and dogs without trying to interact with them.
Something like that. I don't know about stable since that can also mean different things to different people, but more calm and relaxed dogs for sure. Socialization is a form of classical conditioning.If we changed it, and stopped saying "you have to socialise your dog" and started saying " you have to habituate your dog" I think we'd have a lot more stable dogs around.
I don't like Ian Dunbar's statement that puppies should meet "as many people and dogs as possible" in the first 4 months. Nothing wrong with it in itself, but when I got Obi, before I really had a clue, I figured we'd go to puppy classes so he could meet all these people and dogs, so we went to 3 different puppy classes but didn't do much else. As a result he goes weird whenever we go anywhere new to him. He settles down eventually, but every time he's in a new place he becomes a needy sook.
He's great in training classes though, even in new classes in places he's never been with lots of dogs and people around he's completely focused and awesome. But if I take him to the supermarket he goes all weird.
And not saying anything bad about Dunbar either, I think he's great, but that statement just bugs me.
Yeah, exactly what I'm saying. For my next puppy I will focus mainly on habituation I think, just going new places regularly and just hang out and maybe work on some basic stuff, just so it learns that everywhere is good and to be able to settle down anywhere.Anyways, are you saying that you wish you had not just taking your dog to meet people & dogs, but also taken him to places as well?
To me socialization is interaction of many kinds, including interacting with the environment. I know that isn't exactly a dictionary term, but that's how I frame it in my mind in terms of socializing a puppy.
I screwed up socializing, didn't do enough. I do understand the point that Rottysrule makes about not wanting the dog to take things from other people etc, but I don't think that would be a definite consequence. What I know is that not socializing enough Caeda is thoroughly hyper around every new dog and person, we started working hard on this at about 9 months (when she was big enough to be a pain to handle), she is improving, but now its more of a desensitization process than socializing. I SHOULD have taken her everywhere with me, to stores that allowed animals, to work (at least on a Saturday when it was quiet), and I should have found the doggy social and training class sooner than I did. The hyperness might be partially temperament but I can't help but think that more socialization would have been better.
Actually with Caeda as an example, she LOVES people, and would gravitate to them either way, and probably take offered food, problem being is that she is one of those excited dogs (at least for the first 10 minutes), which if she was lost and saw a person could get her into trouble. She's not huge and menacing, but the wrong person could misconstrue it as aggression (really....65lbs of dog running full tilt to see you). She can be a nuisance, and was as a puppy (which was part of the reason socialization was put off...dumb me), far easier to do as a puppy!I wouldn't mind a dog who takes food from everybody. If he ever got lost, you want the dog to gravitate to people.
I totally agree with you that a dog needs to be taught self control from an early age. Sure some dogs, just like people, are more rowdy than others. Maybe they lost out on early socialization or they're just like that. For those, being calm is more artificial because the owner has to make a deliberate effort to teach alternate behaviors, but it's a necessity if the owner wishes to take the dog places. An excited dog is a nuisance to everybody in the environment and will quickly lose his freedom in the world.
My biggest thought on socialization, whether done properly or not as a puppy....its an ongoing thing!
This is my opinion as wellI have always felt socialization includes: introducing a dog/pup to humans, friends, family, neighbors, obedience classes (I have never had the need for day care ... but that is also good IMO ) .... places you can take your dog/pup like pet friendly stores ... even hanging out in a parking lot.
Once a dog/pup has had all vaccines and the "green light" ... and feet on the ground ... a wider variety of socialization can begin.
I have always been huge on environmental socialization. There are sooooo many sights, sounds, smells out in the real world ... IMHO if a dog/pup is confined to only a back yard or just a minimal street walk or always kept in the house ... you are asking for problems. You will end up with an anxious, fearful animal. They need those scary things introduced slowly to be well adjusted. They need self confidence too. The more the merrier!![]()
That is a bad position. Like you said, both are "unnatural" if looking at it from the dog, though I'm not anti-verbal. I use verbal markers and Wally learns with them and understands as well. Clicker is marker. You can have a verbal marker. *shrug* I just don't see why it's a big fight either way. If you like clickers - use clickers. If you like verbal markers - use them. If you like both, use both. Having a good training process and timing is more important than type of marker.Yeah, I actually disagree with a lot of Dunbar's personal ideas - for example his emphasis on verbal communication I think is kind of stupid. He criticizes clickers for being unnatural and talking as more natural way to communicate. Yeah right, because wild dogs go talking with each other. I can go on forever on the subject of talking vs. clicker.
I've seen that in person. There's a JRT just a few houses down that hardly ever gets to go out, and she's become more and more anxious and reactive. Even Wally looks brave compared to her. The only time she's ever out is to pee/poop, and even then...mostly just in the front yard. Hardly ever interacts with anyone else dog or human, and with the way she is now, people that want to are just scared off (literally). She didn't use to be that way.I have always been huge on environmental socialization. There are sooooo many sights, sounds, smells out in the real world ... IMHO if a dog/pup is confined to only a back yard or just a minimal street walk or always kept in the house ... you are asking for problems. You will end up with an anxious, fearful animal. They need those scary things introduced slowly to be well adjusted. They need self confidence too. The more the merrier!![]()