Why Socializing Your Dog Is Important

Socializing your dog is one of the most essential skills your pet needs to acquire. A child needs to learn how to relate to the world, same goes for your dog, she needs to learn how to behave amongst dogs and humans. When I was a child, I had a dog not well socialized due to lack of knowledge and experience in handling a pet. Dannie, my first dog, do not like other dogs and would bark excessively when he sees one even from afar. Most times, when the other dog is nearby, he would act aggressive towards the other dog. It is embarrassing and it was difficult to handle a dog not socialized.

So take time to socialize your dogs with their own kind, start when they are puppies after they have completed their course of basic immunisation. Socialising them early will get them confident and used to human societies at a young age. With that, you can be confident to bring him anywhere you want. A good place to start to socialize your dog is any public parks as it is very likely you will meet fellow dog owners and let the dogs mingle and have fun together.

Once your dog is well socialized, you can take him anywhere with confidence and you know they will be comfortable in all situations. Dogs can sense your nervousness and defensiveness. Notice an aggressive dog in future, you will realize that their owners are usually fearful of approaching your dog or some other dogs in the park as well. Dogs sense their owners fear readily and will act out to protect the owner.

When starting to socialize your pet, avoid places with running and screaming children everywhere. Keep the dog at a safe distance from children and allow him to observe when there are too many children. Do not be nervous as your dog can pick up your emotions as well and could act in self defense unnecessarily. Bring him to the park daily and get him used to the noise and excitement of the children. If children come up and want to pat your dog, make sure that it is in a controlled environment, i.e. one child at a time. Observe your dog, if he is enjoying it, allow it to happen naturally. As confidence builds up between children and your pet, then will you allow children to come up to him freely.

Your dog is a member of our society, ensure they are well socialized to avoid accidents from happening to the general public (e.g. biting fellow human). News of Dogs that bite are usually not socialized or that they have been abused or taught to attack humans in the past. Such dogs are frequently put down when efforts to untrain them prove fruitless. It is a sad but a reality in most societies that aggressive dogs must be put down to prevent more incidents.

We can do our part to ensure they start to mingle with humans and make the engagements fun filled. Get some friends who are dog friendly (avoid children as they are unpredictable) to assist you on this. Seek professional assistance if you are not confident to handle any behavourial problem on your own.