"Any more than 5 minutes daily socialisation will ruin a dog"....er, what??

A friend threw this nugget my way last week: puppies or dogs should not be socialised outside of their homes for more than 5 minutes a day because it's too stressful for them.

She got this from a 2-day seminar she went to presented by a famous dog trainer here in Spain (her: "He's Spain's Cesar Milan!", me: groan ).

She's just the nicest woman with the biggest heart for animals. I met her looking for a dog here and she's the reason I got Toby/Alf the Bodeguero. She works tirelessly despite horrible odds.

However, I'm really concerned that she is taking this "expert's" ideas as the best way, especially in light of the fact that from what I've seen, the biggest problem with the adoptability factor for homeless dogs here is an immense lack of socialisation.

The idea that a dog "expert" would preach that it is not only not advisable but HARMFUL for a dog to be allowed outside his home and socialised for more than five minutes a day (and that only after all his vaccinations, mind you) is completely bonkers to me. OK, maybe not everyone straps their 8 week old puppy into a baby sling and essentially wears him for the first month like I did, but never outside the house? Yikes!

Any suggestions of articles, short videos, studies that I could share with her? I do not want to come across as preachy or antagonistic, but just want a good strategy to counteract the viewpoint from this seminar.

At the time of our discussion, I played dumb (easy to do with my poor Spanish) and said something about how much I'd socialised my dogs as small puppies and how much they loved people because of it, but I could kind of tell she wasn't buying it.

 

Sounds like this lady isn't thinking for herself and doesn't have a good grasp of the basic principles of dog training and behaviour.

 

Ummm how does this dog training genius plan on providing sufficient exercise if dogs are allowed out for more than 5 mins?

 

Poor Stanners must have been traumatised. He came EVERYWHERE with me. He wasn't allowed out to walk until he was 15 weeks because of the way his vaccinations fell so I used to just carry him (luckily, he was teeny tiny).

We went to the shops, the pub, just for walks out when we were bored. He loved it! And of course everyone wanted to say hello to the gorgeous puppy! I think that's part of the reason he's so confident & friendly now!

 

Good grief , Sam must be a nervous wreck ( but he isn't ! ) He went everywhere, met everyone and dogs by the dozen , never heard such absolute rubbish !

 

Well, it's a bit odd as she's actually instinctually very good with dogs. She has three rescues of her own and walks them every day (which is a rarity in these parts). It made this "five minutes" thing even weirder and was worrisome for me as I think that she's already more of an "expert" than her "expert" who gave the seminar. I don't want to see her second-guessing herself just because this guy is getting paid to give speeches about dogs. Grrr!

 

That's a difficult one! There is a lot of research out there for the importance of socialising, but nothing that I can find about how long you should spend on this every day. The lists do however, list all the types of things they should be exposed to which would be impossible in just 5 minutes a day.

 

Do you think maybe she misunderstood Emily? There is a lot of information now saying not to over socialise your puppy with other dogs. As information changes every five minutes it tough to keep up x

 

Good question.

But this is a BIG problem around here, especially with large breeds. They are left to guard the house and that's considered their exercise. I have met a lot of otherwise kind and intelligent people who would not ever even consider taking their dog off their property for a walk - it's just not part of the landscape. When I mention that their dogs would love walks at the beach or forest and would be calmer and happier at home if they did this, the general reception I get is a pat on the head and "There, there, crazy American, isn't that sweet what odd ideas you have."

Again, this does not apply to my friend from rescue - she takes all her dogs out for daily walks.

 

Anything's possible. I would say I could have misunderstood as well, but that's why I repeated it back to her, to make sure. We weren't specifically talking about socialising with dogs, more the wider world - humans, traffic noise, cows, birds, etc. She said that at the seminar, the trainer explained that dogs only feel really comfortable in their homes, as it is familiar, so anything outside that is a stressor. And a stressor can be harmful, so anything new should be introduced slowly, no more than five minutes a day. That's when my eyes kind of bugged out.

But yes, misunderstandings between her comprehension and mine could both have happened. What's that old game, "Chinese whispers"? Where you repeat something around a circle and it gets more and more bent out of shape?

That's one reason I thought I'd ask here for ideas, so I can bring it up again the next time I see her and come armed with good (non-confrontational) info to present another viewpoint.

 

No it isn't - she's wronger than a wrong thing that's really really wrong.

The secret is to get them used to sights and sounds really early. Guide Dogs play them traffic sounds etc etc from birth. Then, at seven weeks old, we carry them absolutely everywhere. By 12 weeks they are on trams, busses, trains and in shopping centres. The younger the better.

Mollie came to Church with me this morning - there were instruments, sparklers (!) big flags waving, clapping - lots of activity, people and noise. She slept


.

 

Yes, my dogs, too. Very, very traumatised, poor things.

Seriously, the only things that messed with Brogan's head (and severely at that) were gunshots, fireworks and thunder. All things that we do not have in California so I did not think to socialise him to these prior to moving to Europe. OK, we have gunshots in CA, but generally you want to run away as fast as you can when hearing them, not think, "Oh, great - perfect socialisation opportunity!"

 

Awww... Mollie, you go, girl!

 

I can see how with a brand new rescue too much socialization might be overwhelming but only at first for most of them. We tell folks to keep their brand new puppy home and not bring in the whole world to admire him right away, let him settle in at first. I have to wonder if either your friend or the speaker got confused.

I do see as well that too much is stressful. My dogs are all out flat in the car for the ride home after a visit to family that takes a whole afternoon and evening, a meal or barbecue, lots of other people and dogs. I think it's good stress, they just had so much fun.

It's hard to believe 5 minutes is the middle ground.

 

I can see how long periods at a time may too much but lots of interactions for a little pup is so important. I know it isn't science but Harley is regularly complimented on what I lovely, stable, friendly and confident pup she is and whenever we meet another dog or listen to someone talk about their dog and there are issues (without reasons) the dog was not socialised much, if at all. We balanced our taking Harley out with many differrent people coming to our house. So she has seen a spectrum of clothing, ages, genders and all descriptors both at home and out.

And five minutes is nothing. To say that for a day. Wow. That is very little. We also learned to read Harley's body language about when she had had enough. So it trained us too. But again we are very novice.

 

I will definitely ask her again! I'd really hate her to think this is some kind of "rule".

You can say that again!

 

Well no one told Fred and Annie it was bad for them. They went everywhere, I carried them until all their vaccinations were finished. They are such a happy pair.

 

THAT must be what is wrong with Murphy!!!! He is over socialized, I wrecked him!

No wonder he knows which door to go in to get his free ice cream scoop.

The poor guy is sooo traumatized he flips out whenever he sees kids, especially teen age girls. It is so bad his tail starts helicoptering all over the place and almost flips him over!

It also explains why he hates to see Brad the neighbor coming over to visit. It is apparent he just hates it cause he runs right up to Brad to get his ears scratched (to calm him down of course) and his butt scratched. Then, because of the stress, he has to lay down at Brad's feet while we are talking.

I should probably be locked up for animal cruelty. . . . take me away, I deserve it!

I do have a question, just exactly what makes someone an EXPERT? Just because they say so? Because they have read a certain number of books?

Murphy is a great dog, anyone who meets him might think I am some sort of dog expert. . . nothing could be further from the truth. All we have done around here is pay attention to him and try to make sure that he gets what he needs and not create a monster in the process.

 

See, you turned him into a delinquent!

 

Well, we are both delinquents truth be told. I used to be 64 years old, then he showed up about three years ago....now I am 14 again. That is HIS fault!