Puppy Socialisation: Essential Steps for Raising a Well-Adjusted Dog in London
Preparing for your puppy to come home will have you down a rabbit hole of articles and videos, telling you all the things you should and shouldn’t do with puppy socialisation. You may have found that a lot of this information is contradictory and leaves you more confused than you were! You’re not alone. The dog training industry is unregulated, meaning anyone can call themselves a dog trainer and give out advice, even if they’ve never even met a dog before!
So here is everything we know about successful socialisation according to modern, science-based, information from a certified professional.
What Is Puppy Socialisation and why is it Important?
Socialisation is the process of gradual exposure of new and novel things to your puppy. It is important that we prepare our pups for what their life is going to be like by exposing them to things that they will see and experience so that they learn to take London life in their stride. It’s a common misconception that socialisation is just about meeting other dogs. Socialisation, or maybe a better word: habituation, is about experiencing all aspects of life. Walking on different textures, hearing different noises, seeing different people and animals, experiencing different environments. Everything is socialisation! The most important part of socialisation is the use of choice.
One of the biggest and potentially most overlooked elements of positive reinforcement training is giving dogs choice. Taking things at your puppy’s pace and letting them decide what they’d like to participate in and investigate and what they’d prefer to avoid is a fundamental part of confidence building, as well as bond building. We want to ensure that we are not using treats as a way to distract puppies from things they don’t like, or encourage them towards things they’re not sure about. This is where positive reinforcement stops and coercion starts. Give your puppy time to observe things from afar and take in information at their own pace. The more choice we give dogs, the more confident choices they will make.
When to Start Socialising Your Puppy
Puppies are in their critical socialisation period from approximately 4-16 weeks of age. This is when they are making the most neural connections they will make in their life over such a short period of time. At this age, many pups are not fully vaccinated yet which means they cannot walk on the ground. But this doesn’t mean they can’t start their socialisation journey! If you have a pup that is small enough to carry, I highly recommend carrying them either in your arms or in a sling so that they can start to see the world. Take them to parks, cafes, puppy classes etc! If you have a bigger pup, a puppy push chair or folding trolley/wagon is a great way to let them have those experiences too!
It’s important to note that a dog’s socialisation journey can continue all throughout their life so there is no rush to do all the things so young. Pick some things you want to prioritise and take them at your pup’s pace, watching body language for any signs of stress or discomfort.
Socialisation TOP Tips From a Certified Trainer
Quality over Quantity
You have likely read statements like ‘your puppy should meet as many dogs as you can find whilst they’re young’ or ‘your puppy should meet 100 people in a month.’ There is no scientific backing to any of these statements and realistically, they put us at risk of overdoing it. Instead I’d be thinking: ‘which dogs do I know that are tolerant of puppies and good at reading body language’ or ‘which of my human friends will respect the boundaries I set and ensure my puppy is consenting to interacting with them?’
If we let our pups meet every single dog we can find, we are creating an expectation that their life will be like that going forward. It will then be really hard for us to walk from A to B without our pup getting frustrated because they want to meet every dog you pass. Instead, say hello to some (that we have checked are friendly!) and ignore others. This is what life will actually be like for them as adults.Break it down
Let’s say we want our puppy to be able to travel on the bus safely and calmly as an adult dog. As puppies let’s try and break this down for them in super easy steps to introduce this to them in a manageable way. For example, for our first session, let’s go and stand at the bus stop and just watch the busses go by. You can reward your pup for noticing the busses and if they seem worried or won’t take food, go further away and watch from afar. The next day, you could get on a bus at a quiet time of day and just travel one stop and get off at the next one. Whilst on the bus, we could give the pups a lickmat or treats to reward them for noticing the things around them. Again, if they are uncomfortable, do a few more session of just watching the busses go by and gradually build it up from there. Our goal is to break the process down for them into easy, low-stress sessions.
Capture the moments you want to see more of
Treats should be used to reward behaviours that we like. And that could be anything! It doesn’t matter how simple it is, if you reward that behaviour, they will repeat it. It’s science! This is helpful for us to understand during their critical socialisation period as we can start rewarding them for all the lovely choices they make. Looking at a bus neutrally, noticing a dog and not pulling towards them, sitting on your lap calmly in a café. Whilst these things may seem small or even insignificant, if we can develop these lovely habits now at such a young age, we can prevent them from developing alternative behaviours such as pulling towards every dog they can find in hopes of meeting them.
Socialise the Dog in front of you
When I brought my golden retriever puppy home in June 2023, I had a list of where I was going to take her and what training we were going to do before she was fully vaccinated. However, I realised very quickly that she didn’t like to be touched or picked up which meant carrying her around wasn’t an option, and she had motion sickness so pushing her in a trolley was challenging. So I had to adjust all of the expectations I had. This meant that we didn’t get a massive amount of ‘typical’ socialisation done pre-vaccines but once she was able to walk on the ground we began working through the plans I had initially had. We didn’t abandon socialisation all together, we just did different things. We had vaccinated, friendly dogs come round to meet her in our home. We had friends and family come over and meet her, we sat on the balcony and watched people, dogs, cats and traffic go by. Instead of forcing her to do things she was not comfortable with, we changed our plans and expectations and did what she was capable and comfortable with. We socialised the dog in front of us.
Some of our puppy socialisation class graduates
Click on the pup’s pic to check out their Instagram and see what they’re up to now!
Zelda
Barry
Doja
Common Challenges in Puppy Socialisation
As mentioned above with my golden retriever, sometimes things don’t go to plan. Sometimes we have pups that are averse to handling and we can’t carry them around, or our pups get sick during their critical period and we have to pause or stop typical socialisation activities.
In situations like this, I’d be thinking ‘what are the things that are still possible in these circumstances?’ So if we’re stuck indoors, can people come around to meet our pups. Can we put a variety of different textures down on the floor for them to walk on. Can we play sounds of traffic or children playing in the background so they can hear what the outside world sounds like. Whilst things don’t always go to plan, there’s still things we can do!
Toni Trains Dogs: Expert Puppy Socialisation Services in London
We offer two main options for helping with socialisation training for your puppy, depending on your needs and location.
Join a group puppy SOCIALISATION TRAINING class in Bermondsey / LONDON BRIDGE AREA
Our group puppy classes are for pups ages 2-5 months. At this age, puppies are in their critical socialisation period which is from approximately 4-16 weeks of age. This is when they are making the most neural connections they will ever make in their life over such a short period of time. For this reason, puppy classes can be an excellent opportunity for pups to take in so many different novel stimuli such as: going to a new place, meeting new people that will respect their boundaries, meeting pups their own age, learning to interact with different breeds of dog that have different play styles, as well as learning a variety of useful foundational behaviours. Classes with Toni Trains Dogs are a balance between learning time for the pups, social time to interact with each other safely and the opportunity for guardians to chat to trainers and ask questions about anything dog-related!
Contact us for private SOCIALISATION training
Socialisation can be anything! It can be a stranger coming into a puppy’s home and making friends with them. It can be sitting on the balcony or outside the front door watching the world go by. Or it could be going to a café together and practicing some settle training. Our private training packages are specifically tailored to you and your pup, focusing on whatever you’d like to work on. Whilst we do have a curriculum we can draw ideas from, it’s your session and we will take it at your pup’s pace. We like to do a mixture of indoor training sessions to get us started and then move on to outdoor training sessions or social walks. For socialising with other dogs, we have options. If your pup already has some doggy friends, we can do a session where we meet up with them and monitor appropriate play, discuss body language and when play should end. We can also go out and meet new pups in the park as long as the other guardians are on board. Another alternative is introducing your pup to my adult dog (if appropriate) as she is a large, friendly dog who is good with puppies.
Some more happy, well-socialised pups
Hudson
Shreddie
Milo