My Near Perfect Dog - Getting Started

A balanced dog is a joy to live with and a well behaved dog is welcome almost anywhere. I believe that every dog can become one. Since our dogs are going to be living in our human world, it's up to us to show them how to safely navigate it.

One of the ways to help our dogs (puppies and adults) is to expose them to a myriad of SAFE situations and people, especially when the dogs are young.

Everybody knows that you need to socialize puppies, but puppy doesn't have to mean a literal puppy. I got Sox when she was about a year old and I made it a point to socialize her just as if she was 12 weeks old.

That meant I introduced her to how to ride safely and calmly in a car, lots of different people and situations, even going so far as to help her figure out how to navigate different types of flooring and how to ride in a shopping cart. I might mention that Sox is a 60 pound pitbull ;)

There are numerous things to expose them to, but people are the most important. One goal is to have your dog meet 3 strangers a day for their first year of life.

It's good for them (and you) to not make all the people you meet be just like you. Let them meet all races, colors, men, women, children, people dressed "weird", old people, people in hats, people wearing scrubs, people using wheelchairs or canes ... you get the idea ;) As you're exposing them to all these new people, you're also going to be exposing them to some new places. Like Petsmart or Petco where the doors SLIDE open and the floor is slick and shiny. Or a flea market with all it's exciting old smells and those weird metal things that roll.

Because you're going to be causing a little stress to your dog, learn to recognize their calming signals. Calming signals are things that dogs do to help themselves calm down or to let other beings know that something they're doing is causing the dog to feel uncomfortable.

Read more about The Language of Peace. Be pro-active and stay on the lookout for opportunities that present themselves, and above all - have fun together!

Ms Mary PS - Here is some good reading for later :) Puppy 101: Socialization (100 in 100) http://gooddogsco.com/2014/05/puppy-socialization/ #conwayspetnana #mynearperfectdog