As soon as we had Harvey (and before he was fully vaccinated) we used to carry him around to begin his socialisation. Fortunately our local garden centre is very close by and we used to go there and spend half an our with people going 'Oh what a beautiful puppy - can we stroke him' - it was great and Harv loved it all. We've kept going there ever since to continue the process (they have a large chicken pen and a duck pond and these are guaranteed to get Harv's attention ) Anyway, on yesterday's visit as I was approaching the front gates Harvey completely freaked out and started bouncing around on the end of his lead as if his life depended on it The cause of this little performance? A wobbly sign advertising ice-cream (one of those that are basically a large flat piece of metal wedged into a solid base on the ground)!!! : Having established that it was the non-life threatening style of ice-cream sign I stayed in place until Harvey slowly began to chill (sorry, couldn't resist!) and eventually he walked up to it, sniffed it and trotted away as if nothing had happened (time for C&T and then we moved on). We then had to negotiate an outing from the local greyhound rescue centre - there were greyhounds everywhere we looked. This was a huge challenge for us as the one thing guaranteed to distract Harvey from walking nicely is another approaching dog. Fine on the open road when you can take evasive action - not so good in an enclosed area with distractions in every direction. Anyway, the next thing that gave us an issue was two old ladies. Now, Harv has met plenty of old ladies before and has never had a problem but these were a special kind of old lady ... they had walking sticks! : Cue more strange behaviour and muttered apologies from me to the old ladies (fortunately they were both 'dog people' and very understanding, and helpful). So, there you go new puppy owners, when you are socialising your dogs make sure to throw in absolutely everything that you can possibly think of - you never know when you may encounter two old ladies with sticks contemplating the purchase of an ice-cream!
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! ;D That really made me laugh. They are funny little souls and I can't imagine what goes on in their minds. When Lady was a young puppy we had big issues with the killer plastic bag stuck in a hedge, the football in the middle of the field, and then shock horror the snowman! ;D Recently we had a log on the side of a footpath where Lady wouldn't pass it but then screwed up her courage and came past at the sprint and snarled at it as she came past.
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! Years ago we went to Norfolk and visited Wroxham, we had our old dog Sheba with us then. The butcher had a huge fat jolly butcher figure outside and Sheba refused to walk past. Eventually we had to cross the road with Sheba growling at it. And Sheba never growled. She was a cross, border collie/retriever. Everyone was laughing. But the thing is the following year we went back and sure enough same thing happened.
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! With Tatze it was plastic bags on doorsteps left out for charity :
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! In so many ways I feel so lucky with Edsel in these regards! He has never shown any anxiety or fear of anything, any noise or anyone! On the other hand, I worry because he also gives no thought to running headlong into any situation! Keeps me on my toes, for sure! Lori
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! Ash is terrified of people opening windows or leaning out & cleaning them. I once opened the window when he was in the garden (about 11 weeks old) and for some reason it freaked him out. I still don't know exactly what it was, the noise or just seeing me through a window but he hid and took a lot of coaxing out from under the garden table. He saw a lady cleaning her upstairs windows this week and I had to cross the road as you would have thought she had a shotgun. Once we crossed the road he seemed okay but she made the mistake of shouting down "hello gorgeous puppy" and he wet himself. It's so odd.
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! Odd aren't they?! When we visited my nana last week she has already put her springer in the kitchen (as she is about 16 years old now and not keen on bouncy pups who forget how big they are!) and she has some pot dogs sat on the fireplace. So Lola could smell a dog but could only see these tiny dogs that didn't move! Freaked her out big time. She shot behind my knees and didn't move for a good 20 mins.
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! Such a coincidence- I had exactly the same thing with the sign with Merla today! We'd just been to the beach and she'd had a lovely swim, walking towards the ice-cream stand and she suddenly freezes, her hackles go up (practically unheard-of!) and she starts growling! To be honest, if I hadn't seen your post I'm not sure I'd have realised what the problem was! This one was a lot easier fixed than the man-in-a-lion-suit though, in 30 seconds she was quite happily eating treats off the swinging demon sign
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! [quote author=lablover link=topic=7206.msg99272#msg99272 date=1407084167] Years ago we went to Norfolk and visited Wroxham, we had our old dog Sheba with us then. The butcher had a huge fat jolly butcher figure outside and Sheba refused to walk past. Eventually we had to cross the road with Sheba growling at it. And Sheba never growled. She was a cross, border collie/retriever. Everyone was laughing. But the thing is the following year we went back and sure enough same thing happened. [/quote] Been there ;D ;D ;D ;D Neither dog battered an eye lid at the statue, well barley tried to pee on it cause another dog had peed on it, but other than that no notice was taken. But the bridge in wroxham was a different story. he was terrified of it, not the first bridge he had been on, but first arched bridge which we apparently missed socialising him with. Puzzle on the other hand not bothered, more interested in the ducks and pigeons :
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! [quote author=lorilou61 link=topic=7206.msg99277#msg99277 date=1407086526] In so many ways I feel so lucky with Edsel in these regards! He has never shown any anxiety or fear of anything, any noise or anyone! On the other hand, I worry because he also gives no thought to running headlong into any situation! Keeps me on my toes, for sure! Lori [/quote] Yes, that's Pongo. Never, ever been afraid of anything. But that includes: moving cars, lawn tractors, strimmers and (most recently) combine harvesters. We've kept him inside for a week while farmer is harvesting the field next door, because I really don't think that an encounter with a combine would be a learning experience for him.... :'(
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! I can understand dogs' strange fears as when I was young and a woodlice in the garden uncurled, I screamed and was terrified ;D
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! my partner came downstairs with his peaked cap he wears for fishing and milly had not seen this before she went mad barking and did not stop untill he took it off dont know if this was anything to do with her previous home maybe
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! People wearing hats do tend to scare dogs as to them it is a completely different silhouette.
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! I think Benson and Pongo are cut from the same cloth...sooo chilled...so far I haven't found anything that has spooked Benson, no doubt there will be something...and no doubt totally illogical...
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! Benson and Pongo - brothers under the skin! (Hello mate, how are you doing? says Pongo)
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! I have posted this before, but meet Lilly's nemesis......
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=7206.msg99977#msg99977 date=1407361181] I have posted this before, but meet Lilly's nemesis...... [/quote] Obviously designed by a dentist to discourage visits to the sweet shop
Re: Socialisation - its the little things that catch you out! Is that blood on her sleeve? Bloomin' spooky!
