How To Socialise Your Puppy With People

In our previous post, we looked at how to socialise your puppy with other dogs. In this post, we will be looking at how to introduce your puppy to people.

Now the goals with socialising your puppy around people are pretty much the same as with dogs, we want them to be calm, predictable and whilst enjoying people, we don't want them to be too excited. Nor do we want them to be overwhelmed or scared.

How To Socialise Your Puppy Around People

When it comes to introducing your puppy to people, it’s best to start with family and friends (ideally people who will follow your instructions) at your home.  Initially, your puppy is likely to be cautious when meeting new people, this is totally normal and nothing to worry about.  

• Allow the puppy to approach at their own pace.

• Don’t force them to interact (this adds negative pressure).

• Keep initial interactions short

• Allow the puppy to leave if they want to

• Keep calm

  
  

When out on walks, you’re going to need to try and limit your puppy’s interactions with people so they don’t get too overwhelmed or start to get too over-excited when walking past people.  This is easier said than done as people will often want to say hello to your cute puppy, often without asking you.  Now to this day, I haven’t found a bulletproof to completely eliminate this but some things that work are:

• Saying “No thank you” when people ask

• Saying “Sorry we’re in training” or purchasing some ‘Puppy in Training’ gear.

• If dealing with a persistently difficult person, putting your palm out - as if to say stop, works quite well.

• Avoid eye contact - this can be interpreted as an invitation by some people

• Walk away - particularly when you notice people coming towards you

Mistakes To Avoid

• Forcing your puppy to say hello to people - the lack of choice can lead to your puppy developing fear or anxiety around people, this can lead to problems later on in their life.  Allow your puppy to observe the situation before they decide whether they want to approach or not.

• Making every interaction positive - dogs learn via association, which slowly develops over time.  When it comes to people, puppies who are repeatedly played with, made excited by people will usually find it hard to ignore them later in life.  What we want to aim for is a calm and relaxed association between your puppy and people, this is done by managing the interactions, paying attention to body language and making sure excitement doesn't get too much.

• Expecting your puppy to like everyone - this is a biggie and it applies to most scenarios.  For some reason, a lot humans expect/believe that dogs enjoy all interactions and are always happy - this just isn’t true.  When it comes to people, try to have a realistic expectation that your puppy will not like everyone and that’s ok.

Summary

The end goal for socialising your puppy with people is to form predictable, positive associations, without causing any stress, over-excitement or frustration.

This means taking a proactive but controlled approach.  For every 1 person your puppy interacts with, try to make sure the next 3 they just observe/don't interact with. Keep interactions short and watch out for signs that your dog is getting overwhelmed.

In the next post, we'll look at how to socialise your dog around wildlife.