Visitors

Yvonne was in town to meet a potential puppy buyer with her dawgs and pups. We are friends and help each other out. Her house is mine and visa versa. Our house was just closer for these potential buyers (yes they got a pup) and they got to see the dad, the grandma and hang out and hey I got to hug and snuggle with Yvonne's pups - yum!

This is one of her cuties.

It is really important to socialize puppies, adults always. We had a lot of dawgs here today and it reminded me why I used to board. It is that critical exposure to other dogs that lend a comfort ability that is necessary for a dawg to become balanced.

Here is an excerpt on socializing from an article I had written.

By socializing, we help our dogs learn how to cope and respond, in a healthy and acceptable manner, to the spectrum of people, animals, places and things they might encounter in this world. We also practice a word association to help our dogs relax when they encounter something different.

By exposing our dogs to different kinds of people, we as owners, can help create a balanced dog. What we do makes a difference. Everything from dog obedience classes to vet visits to walks in the park, to visiting our home and other people's homes, can help them develop confidence and ease. This goes a long way in helping them become stable and balanced in the face of unsettling situations.

Socialization does not end at puppyhood. It is a lifetime adventure that will lead you into making new friends and much laughter and joy with your addition. In the book "The Other End of the Leash", applied animal behaviorist Dr. Patricia McConnell talks about "juvenile-onset shyness", a period in adolescence when dogs become more cautious and perhaps aggressive towards people and animals who are unfamiliar to them. If this aggression is due to a lack of experiences in adolescence or early adulthood, one way to prevent it would be to continue socialization well into adulthood. We embrace this and have seen it create positive results.

So socialize but do it in a safe way!