Thread: Socialising your future working puppy

Hi Jess

This is what I do with a working pup.

do you have it interact with every one including animals?? No

Do you teach it to realise that your its centre, and no one else?? Yes

Do you allow people to pat it, play with it or only touch but with no emotion?? Non of those, no patting, definitely no playing, no touching.

Do you allow it to play with each and every dog it comes across, none at all or only your other dogs?? Only your own and that should be limited. It must however accept other dogs without aggression, but no contact.

Does it live with you as a family, or just with you?? If a working dog, it’s kennelled outside however it must accept your family, and be part of that family in a subservient position in your pack. However, their interaction should be limited; they should not play with the dog, or be overly affectionate.

Are your family members allowed to interact with it feeding,playing,walking ect?? Feeding yes, walking yes; they (one other person) must be able to feed/exercise your dog if you’re not around providing they know what they are doing and with restrictions, playing no.

Your dog should be socialised so that it is neither fearful nor aggressive when on the street. It should be environmentally socialised so that it holds no fear of noise, and most other everyday things it may come across when you take it out into the world…. i.e. trains, stations, shopping centre, slippery surfaces, etc, anything you can acclimatise your dog to, to ensure he shows no fear, is what you’re striving for.

Please keep in mind that I'm used to working dogs in a service environment, therefore the above may not necessarily be what sport enthusiast/handler may do.

Peter

I've done what Summit has does with Montu.

I am having a VERY hard time with other dogs. He will come to me over another dog, but he does show more interest than I want in other dogs. I'm lucky one of my dogs is aloof so nothing Montu does will get a response.

Pretty much what Peter said , esp for service dogs, my one difference would be then that l do in various controlled situations allow people to touch , bump into the dog etc, just to check reaction and proof for accidents.
Also now that l have multiple types of working dogs at home with me , l do allow the dogs some time to run with various other dogs and unwind and be doggy and loosen up a little, but only when l say and only once you have their full attention. l let them run through the mountains, go swimming in our river and run some steam off. l remove individuals from the outing to accompany me for a while , just at random, so it is all controlled, but it is a granted freedom .

The thread seemed to have started with working puppies but grown into service dogs. I think it depends on what age you are talking about for a pup.

My pups are reared in an environment were I use a noise socialisation CD for a large part of there first 3 weeks of age. I have also started using the 'bio-sensory' system on my pups from the 3rd day to 3 week of age period. This is a system was developed by the US mititary to improve working dogs. It is a simple, quick set of sensory sensations the pup is put through to develop its awarness of it environment and seems to make very confident pups.

After the pups start exploring for themselves I regularly change their surrounds and start getting them to explore out side. I handle each and every pup everyday. If any pups seem to be showing signs of being timid, I tell my 12 year old son that he needs to put in some overtime work on this one. Yes I start the pups getting use to kids from a young age. They play with them and I find it an exellent way in reversing the timid pup. It is fantastic for the kids as well.

From 5 weeks of age onwards, the pups live outside in an enclosure on our front lawn. They still get daily contact from us plus all the other dogs at various times. We take the pups down to our lake with some of the other dogs were they start to explore water and mud and an open field environment. We also have deer, sheep, pet rabbits, cats and chickens that they experience on a daily basis. The pups come inside one or two at a time to experience the different floor conditions, etc which I believe is something many breeders never take into account.

From 6-8 weeks of age the pups are rarely locked up and just live outside our house with a couple of our dogs. They learn from the other dogs that this is their territory and how to guard it. We have never had a pup wonder away from the house area. We play with the pups regularly using a rag and let them watch the other dogs working on tugs or the sleeve. I never use anything more than a soft rag on the pup at this age though. I use a clacker stick or the whip around them while i use the rag and rub them with the stick and my hand so they get use to it. Loud noises and unexpected movements never seem to be a problem for them by this stage. I also get the pup use to a crate and try to expose them to different people at this age. My goal is to raise and sell well balanced and socialized pups that are confident and fit in easily at new homes. If people want a working dog, I believe this is a good start for the pup who will thrive on future work. If the pup goes as a pet or for home/family protection I also believe they have a good stable background to begin a good relationship with the new family.

The pups I keep myself stay working on a rag for the next few months or more, but also use a soft ball for fetching, retrieving, etc. A tug is introduced after the pup has grown its new teeth. Up until this age the pups still live around our house with us, not very often coming inside, but allowed to socalize with the animals and other pups and dogs around our house. They learn from the other dogs to be very vocal when something is different or if visitors arrive.

Once the dogs have teethed and are on the tug, I start formal obedience and they strat living in a pen over at the kennels. They are usually let out one on one with me for training and execise, but on occasions I do let them out together for a run around the farm and a play to burn off energy. I also let them out with any younger pups if I have another litter following. The important bit is to make sure you have control or keep an eye on these older pups being too dominant on younger ones. If this hapens they go back to their pen as I do not want them to take out all the hard work put into making the young pup confident.

From 10-12 months of age I start protection training which although is very formal is just prey drive based and similar the dog is treated similar to what others say above but I do continue to allow my dogs play as a pack on occassions just to burn off energy and help with dog intereaction. After 12 months of age and depending on how the dog is progressing and what direction we want the pup to go, we continue from here. Also when I get a chance I take the pup to various locations which include busy shopping centres were I walk them around outside the entrances in busy times, they interact with people and show no fear or aggression.


Anyways that is my thoughts and aims for on pup socializing for a future working dog.

Steve

This is a great topic everyone as I have just got my new pup and would like to learn all I can about socialising him.
I also have AmStaffs so I have been letting him have a play with one of these at a time which seems to be fine. Of course at this stage (pup is only 8 weeks) the AmStaff is under my control or they just get too bouncy and I would hate for the pup to be jumped on.
I also have 2 little kids that just dont get the concept of leave the pup alone lol, is this ok letting the kids have a fair bit of interaction or do I need to limit this??
They are my main 2 questions, everything else I understand well I just need to know about interaction with dogs and kids. Obviously I would like him to interact with the kids as much as possible as he has to live with them.

Hi Dezzy,

Depending on how old your kids are I believe it is excellent experience for pups and kids to interact lots. The important bit is the kids know how to handle the pups......if a pup is hurt or has a bad experience with a kid in the critical period of 6-16 weeks it could have drastic effects on the future of the pup and how they relate to children as they mature. Likewise with other dogs, be very selective which dogs play with the pups, if a dominant, aggressive dog attacks a pup in this critical period stage it can ruin it for life.

The important thing is to give the pups a wide range of ENJOYABLE experiences during this time period and you will end up with a confident, well balanced dog as it matures.

Steve

Yep the kids are great with him and my AmStaffs are too so hopefully all should be good. I do limit the dogs being with him and usually only let one at a time near him so they dont crowd over him. He is a cool little dude, I had him out working with me this morning (when I say work I mean out filling horse waters and things around the place) he was running through sprinklers and everything, not much seems to phase him which is great. One thing he doesnt like tho is the car, he gets car sick. So I have been taking him on short little rides to drop kids off at school and that seems to work, its short enough so he doesnt get sick and hopefully will get used to it.

Hey Dezzy,

It sounds as though you are well on track to having a great socialized pup who will excell when he matures. Dont worry about the car sickness, all pups get it and they grow out of it no problems.

Congratulations on doing a good job with him.....I can just picture those kids with him!!!

Steve

Hi to all i would just like to say that my way of sociolising a pup is a little bit diferent.

Lets look at a scenario of this type I am not a breeder but a working person who went out to buy a pup.

I would insist in piking up the pup at 7 weeks of age. as this is the critical period for human interaction and it gives you a balance dog.

I will make this sort and sweet but so that all can understand.

From 7 to 16 weeks i take that pup every where and I mean everywhere (lifts, buses, trains, boats, shoping centers, bussie streets, beaches. ets)

Thats just a small sample. I make sure that the pupie overcomes its fears if it desplays any enywhere. i do allow it to play with other dogs (pupies) and i do allow it to be tuched patted by other people aspecialy children.

When i feel that the pup has seen enogh people and kids i cut that out.

This gives us a dog that is bullet proof and not afraid of anything.
The rest is up to the dogs genes and training.

If you have a dominant agrecive dog no sociolisation will change that, and on the other hand if you have a pasive submisive no sociolisation will improve that.

So i hope that i could help some of you with your pups

Adam