What it Means to Socialize Your Dog

There are many misconceptions around what it means to socialize your dog. Most often people believe that means introducing your dog to as many dogs as possible. But as that sounds logical, it is not what socializing is or should be. Dogs need to see the world, they don’t necessarily need to engage with every aspect of it. Socializing your dog is getting them use to loud noises, unusual surfaces (like bridge), people with different ethnicities, people with different abilities and disabilities, different kinds of animals, seeing other dogs, riding in the car, walking in a busy neighbourhood, basically, getting use to the busy world we live in. If you let your dog meet every dog that you come across, then they will expect that every time. You want your dog to be able to walk past another dog with no care in the world. Not all dogs are friendly, so it is important that you and your dog can walk past a dog without the need to engage with that dog. Choose a few dogs that your dog can have as ‘friends’ and arrange playdates with those dogs. But otherwise, on your outings with your dog(s) let them learn the world around them through observation.