Socialisation

 

We honestly believe that socialisation is fundamental to the eventual nature of the dog. Oskar initially didn't get as much socialisation as we would have liked as he didnt go out until 14 weeks when he had all of his vaccinatons - this led to some early nervousness that took a lot of work to resolve. This isn't what we wanted to happen with Sarah and any subsequent dogs. Sarah went through a programme of early vaccination and she was carried everywhere, this allowed her to get used to traffic sounds, being in the car and people.

We also endeavoured to socialise Sarah's puppies. They were welcomed in our local pub where they were constantly handled by other people and especially children. They were carried in turns (after all there were 9 of them) to the high road to get used to the sound of traffic and they went in the car. The puppies also went to ring craft classes with us to get them used to the presence of other dogs and (again) children.

The photo on the left shows starting with the white puppy going clockwise Blanquito, Chiqui, Ebony and Jasmine. The next photo is Ebony and the final photo is Chiqui!

Socialisation doesn't stop as the dog gets older, it is something to continue to work on. You may be interested in a couple of AKC documents. Why is it necessary? How to go about it.