Hi all, just wanted to update everyone on my singleton girl 'Enya'. I have been taking her to puppy classes for socialization. She is still nervous and anxious around a bunch of rambunctious puppies. In a small group setting (1-2 puppies) she is more at ease. However, she is continuously barking at the other puppies and standing in the 'playful pose'. However, once the other puppy runs towards her, she takes off and hides! Does she not understand the language of the other puppies, I wonder?
As a singleton Enya has not had the benefit of playing and interacting with littermates which can most certainly impact how she responds to other puppies/dogs body language and signals. Some dogs are good at reading canine signals and some aren't but they can be helped. What has been the advice of the trainer leading the socialisation class?
My boy wasn't a singleton, but was alone without his mum or siblings from 6 weeks old (he was a stray, and they found him with one of his littermates when they were 5 weeks old, but sadly she didn't survive). He lived with a foster family and I adopted him at 7 months. I don't know much about what happened with his foster family, but he was really confused about how to interact with other dogs when he came to me. What really helped him was to spend time with just one or two other dogs. More than that was too overwhelming for him. I overdid the socialisation... and then ended up with different problems, as he became obsessed with playing with other dogs. Now he's three, his social skills are usually good. He is scared of breeds of dogs that look strange to him - German shepherds, boxers, and anything with a flat face - pugs, bulldogs, etc, but he will just stick close to me until they are gone, so it isn't too much of a problem. It might be better for Enya to arrange a play date with a calm adult dog, that is good with puppies. The other puppies are probably rude and boisterous, which is too much for her. A calm adult dog that is respectful of Enya's space might help her gain some confidence. If you can't find an adult dog, then I'd just stick to one or two puppies. My trainer doesn't run puppy socialisation classes, but arranges for puppies to meet with tolerant adult dogs. Partly because you have some puppies that are very nervous, and others that are very boisterous, and neither of these benefits from this sort of socialisation because the shy puppies get more nervous and the confident ones get to practice over the top play. Here's an article about socialisation which might help you: https://clickertraining.com/dont-socialize-the-dog
Thanks, @Jojo83 and @lucky_dog. Great article @lucky_dog, thanks for sharing. I think that is the key, socialization in small doses to begin with with tolerant dogs
Hi friends, just wanted to post an update on Enya. She is 16 weeks old and is a crazy lovely puppy, zoomies and all I have been taking her to puppy classes, long walks, left her with a pet sitter a couple of times just to get her to interact with other dogs/puppies. The pet sitter has an older lab who is really mellow. But my girl is still not playing with other dogs. She either sits in a corner looking very sad or will bark her head off Is there hope?
