A Common Socialization Mistake

Yesterday I witnessed an adorable puppy get swarmed by a group of people. They surrounded the pup and started giving lots of attention. I wasn’t apart of this interaction but was watching it to see how the puppy felt.

The puppy went into a sit and dropped it’s ears back. The puppy was overwhelmed. Based on the body language, the pup wasn’t enjoying the interaction. The people petting the puppy were blinded by cuteness and the pup’s parents were sitting back watching the interaction happen. It’s very likely that in their mind, this was a good thing to do.

What will the outcome be from this or events in the future like this? It’s hard to say. Puppies can be quite pliable. But there is a chance that the pup is developing a negative association with people approaching, being in crowds, being touched and so on. If that’s the case, that body language will continue and once the puppy starts to reach social maturity they may see an escalation in behavior in an attempt to get people to stop approaching. This is where the phrase, “he was fine with it when he was younger” can come from.

What would I change if I was there to help? At the very least I would be pairing the interaction with high value treats. The puppy would see the people approaching and then once they started touching I would start feeding the tasty treats. If the pup was only slightly overwhelmed an the food was high enough value, it’s likely the body language would change and the outcome would be a positive one.

In a more ideal scenario, socialization can start off with one person at a time instead of a large group of people.