Dog behaviour - socialising your dog
Article donated by Dr. Paula Short, Tasman Bay Vets, Mapua
Having been a vet now for nearly 8 years it’s almost embarrassing to admit that I have only just got my first dog. For years clients have asked me whether I have pets and seem almost surprised that I had no hound of my own. My puppy acquisition was totally unplanned. One of our local breeders had a litter of pups being born and one just flatly refused to come out. So a few drugs and a couple of tugs later and I had my baby! One look and he was all mine!
Even though I had passed dog behaviour 101 at uni, it was more about treating major behavioural conditions than basic training. The current thinking is that most of these conditions can be prevented by adequate socialisation of puppies between the ages of 8 and 20 weeks. So I forked out rather a large amount of money and sent my nurse, Ren, off on a course on dog behaviour – now she can answer all my questions and some. Trouble is, I don’t always like the answers. Some of these things I have been rabbiting off to my clients for years and now I am having a taste of my own medicine. The classic is the “just ignore him, when he (insert barks, bites, chews fave pair of shoes, steals TV remote control)” line. Turns out it’s not so easy!
Attending the puppy school that Ren has been running has been as much about training us dog owners as it is about training the dogs! We are covering the basics of good dog manners, stay, sit, come, heal etc. and are on our way to having a model canine citizen. Watching the pups of all sizes interact has been great fun and is good learning for them in communicating with their fellow canines.
Some of the other things we have been trying to expose him to are the sights and sounds of every day life, cue vacuum cleaner, boy racer, fire engine, screaming baby, thunder, fireworks etc. A CD available for hire from the clinic called “sounds sociable” has been very helpful in this. The CD has all sorts of great sounds on it should you happen to not have a crying baby or whizzing fireworks to hand at the appropriate puppy age. It is now well understood that most major noise phobias in dogs occur because of lack of exposure to the “scary” noises as a puppy.
We are continuing our socialising mission on our walks around town. We haven’t
quite mastered the art of not jumping up on people but we are getting well socialised
to the sights, sounds and smells of the Naked Bun. Although, my canine prodigy
still has a slight tendency to lick the feet of unsuspecting passer’s by!
So, be on your guard Mapua and if you have any questions about dog behaviour
or want to attend a puppy school ring our Motueka clinic and speak to Ren.