Monday, May 20, 2013

The Truth About Socializing Your Puppy (4)

By Julie Brock


At around 8 to eleven weeks of age, puppies undergo what's generally known as the dread imprint period (which happens once more amongst 6 and 14 months of age). For the duration of this time, a pup could drop a number of its self confidence and trust, and become fearful of factors and conditions that it utilised to deal with simply.

A clicker is a noisemaker that can clearly mark the exact moment of a desired behavior, and in the beginning stages of clicker training, the noise is followed by a treat. For example, when a puppy sits, you click and treat for the sit. To improve socialization, for example, you might click and treat when the puppy moves slightly toward a scary object or noise.

Many novice trainers make the mistake of not rewarding positive behaviors. Positive behaviors that are rewarded will be repeated. If your puppy is lying calmly in its bed while you're vacuuming, you might pause to click and reward. Chances are the puppy's good behavior will be repeated.

Correct socialization needs that you really don't coddle your puppy when its afraid of anything that can not harm it, this kind of as thunder. In the event you baby-talk and soothe your pup, it'll feel there's something to become fearful of, and it'll repeat the conduct up coming time it encounters the scary knowledge.

"We all have various smells and different approaches of touching," says Dorian Kingston, a socialization specialist that functions with several top-training dog facilities through the entire country.

One of your pup's first socialization lessons will be its introduction to its new family and surroundings. This should be as fun and stress-free for the pup as possible. To start, get the entire family to sit down in a circle with their feet touching, creating a little barrier, and putting the puppy's crate in the middle.

Socialization and training go hand in hand - or paw in paw, in this case. Use socialization combined with training to teach your puppy basic commands as you expose it to new situations. Socialization isn't just about exposing your dog to new factors - it is also about teaching your dog to behave politely in new situations and all around new men and women and other dogs.

Be patient, and praise and pet your new puppy as it makes its way to visit you. As the pup gets more familiar, lay down flat on the door and let it crawl on you and investigate. Play with the pup, snuggle and plant kisses on its puppy nose.

You can use this same technique any time your dog meets new people. However, if you invite the whole neighborhood over to see your new pup, allow it to meet people one or two at a time so it gets used to the idea of strangers. It can be overwhelming for a new puppy to be immersed into a crowd of people all at once.

David goes on to say, "For instance, when you set up a playdate with one more dog, as an alternative to letting your puppy pull and bark and act like a maniac before playtime, request your puppy to sit, lie down or do a trick to earn the playtime.




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