I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from clients, “I don’t understand how he/she got this way. I socialized him constantly as a puppy! I took her everywhere!” Ok. And the learnings/associations created during all of that socialization landed you in front of me. 🤷🏻♂️ Only good socialization is good. If you socialize your dog in a fearful, nervous, unsure, anxious state, and never help them get through it - in that moment - they’re not going to magically get better. In fact they just become more addicted to that state of mind bc they survived the activity. Calm, happy, exploratory (nose) socialization is good socialization.
Our challenge for you today is: if your puppy becomes unsure of an object, stop. Take the time to allow your puppy to explore that object with his nose. Lead her to it without dragging her. Show him it’s safe and use food if needed to unlock the nose and create curiosity. Once she feels good around the object, reward with affection and move on. But stop talking. “It’s ok” means nothing when they feel nervous/unsure. You’re opening their ears instead of their nose. Remember- Dog Psychology. Not dog training.
