Bad socialization

[AthenaClimbs]

Anyone have any examples?

[Lilie]

Lack thereof....

[Lucy Dog]

I brought my 5 month old puppy to the dog park and it got attacked by a much bigger dog. That would be a perfect example of bad socialization.

[AthenaClimbs]

touche.

I think Athena is very well socialized. She has no food,toy,people,dog aggression. A very confident puppy (and she plays with the big boys). She always shares her toys and doesn't mind if another dog steals her ball (which is actually sometimes I'm not too crazy about).

But wondering if there's anything I shouldn't do when socializing.

[Lilie]

I think that some folks push their dogs too hard to provide the correct amount of socialization for the handler and not exactly for the dog.

Some dogs are social butterflies. They enjoy the company of others. Some dogs just don't care for other dogs. No amount of socialization is going to change that.

My dog is not a social butterfly. He doesn't care for the company of strange dogs. BUT! He is not dog reactive. If I were to push him and take him to dog parks or force him on play dates he could very easily become dog reactive. That would be bad socialization on my part.

[AgileGSD]

Originally Posted by Lilie

I think that some folks push their dogs too hard to provide the correct amount of socialization for the handler and not exactly for the dog.

Some dogs are social butterflies. They enjoy the company of others. Some dogs just don't care for other dogs. No amount of socialization is going to change that.

My dog is not a social butterfly. He doesn't care for the company of strange dogs. BUT! He is not dog reactive. If I were to push him and take him to dog parks or force him on play dates he could very easily become dog reactive. That would be bad socialization on my part.

ITA with this!

I'd say forcing repeated bad experiences on your puppy, no matter how well intended is poor socialization. Forcing your shy puppy to interact with strangers is likely to convince them that strangers are even scarier than they thought. Forcing them to "play" with other dogs that they are afraid of is likely to convince them that they need to say "no don't want to play" even more forcefully.