[Dailydrool] puppy fear

[saraberry at aol.com]

If your puppy has all of it's shots, you can take it anywhere and should.  The odds of getting a disease are far outweighed by the benefits of socialization.  

At the same time, you can carry your puppy rather than walking them if you have concerns, but they need to be out there meeting odd people and things and having good experiences.  Believe it or not, the city is the best place to take a puppy on a walk.  Most dogs in cities are vaccinated and they will encounter pretty much everything there they would ever have fear of.  Diverse people, loud sounds, other dogs, etc.  

For successful puppy walking, have squeeky toy, soft toy, ball and high value treats like Natural Balance cut into 1/4" squares.  That way if your puppy encounters something new, you can first just drop treats.  Drop them right in front of the puppy on the new surface.  Trust me, high value treats will trump surface.  As they meet new people, you can ask people to throw a toy or provide one of your treats to your puppy.

The goal is to make anything the puppy shows concern about to be "WOW!  Look at this great new thing!" instead of "Oh dear. You don't like this so we will avoid it" - your message to the puppy is as important as experiencing the new thing.

Best,

Sara Watson
Bluefence Bassets
SFSPCA Behavior & Training Intern



 

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