Old Farms snowman

Puppy socialization

According to Dr. Ian Dunbar, a puppy training researcher and innovator, puppies should be introduced to at least 100 people before they are 3 months old. Well, that has passed already, but we are trying to make sure the pups meet new people as often as we can. They are actually quite friendly, and enjoy meeting new men, women and children. They do not seem to be afraid with new people, and quite like meeting new dogs as well. At the puppy class, they see about eight or ten puppies and people each week, and while they sometimes like to just observe the other pups, they don’t seem to be afraid of them.

Today we took another nice walk at Old Farms Golf Course. We all love the openness of the area, and the freedom to meander across the snow-covered links. It won’t quite be the same when the snow melts, as it soon will, but for now we are enjoying every walk we can get. We met a snow-shoeing couple with a big Golden retriever named Ted today. Will and Emma were pretty excited to meet the people, and love to get a pet. Emma, as usual, jumps up to bump the face and we really have to work hard on keeping her from doing that. We have her sit before she gets attention, but it’s hard to tell new people to ignore such a cute puppy until she sits still. Will is better at settling down, but he is not perfect either. Anyway, they were happy to meet the big Golden, but much more interested in the people, I think. Even men don’t seem to bother them as often is the case. The first week we had them they met lots of men and children, so I think that really helped to socialize them. Also, their parents are quite friendly dogs, so they are naturally sociable. We were careful to evaluate that when we selected the pups, since we have had the experience with a not-so-sociable dog.