# Socialize your puppy early! A cautionary tale...



## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

Hi there, fellow vizsla lovers! I haven't been here for a long while. I've posted before about Rosie's issues with fear aggression. Her issues began when she was 6 months old. She started barking and sometimes lunging at children and strange men on walks, and barked aggressively when people came to the door. The demographic of person she would react to on walks became less and less predictable with time. It could be someone with a cane or hat, someone fearful of dogs, a jogger or cyclist, or someone with no identifiable risk characteristics. It used to be that the one thing we could count on was that Rosie would be comfortable with other dogs. Then, slowly, she began to react to dogs if she was on leash. At first, she only behaved this way when she was prevented from reaching the other dog to greet them--as though she was frustrated. Over time, she began reacting to all dogs whenever she was on the leash.

We have had three behavioral evaluations for Rosie, who is now 4 years old. I'm happy to say that she is getting better with consistent work, and she has never bitten anyone. Our most recent work-up was with Nicholas Dodman here in Massachusetts, who is pretty famous. He underscored the importance of socializing puppies to all manner of dogs and human strangers EARLY, before 12 weeks. This means socializing your puppy even though vaccination is not complete. In our case, our breeder cautioned us to keep Rosie away from other dogs and public areas until she was fully vaccinated. At the time, we weren't sure this was wise given the need to socialize the dog, so we sought a second opinion from our vet. Unfortunately, our vet agreed with the breeder, and we stopped taking Rosie to parks and delayed taking her to puppy classes. Dr. Dodman thinks this is a very important factor in Rosie's development of anxiety and fear aggression. So please learn from our experience: don't listen if your vet or breeder tells you to keep the puppy close to home until fully vaccinated. By the time they are fully vaccinated, the window is closed!


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## Carolina Blue (Sep 20, 2012)

I ignored my vet to a point because socialization is very important at that age! I took Kiya out the day after we got her to a local store to meet people, took her to a birthday party at a local park..I was nervous about that but took a blanket and also held her. Once she got her second set of vaccines, I was more liberal with her..we hung out at the river board walk in Savannah Ga where she met tons of different people, some dogs..overall a good experience and suffered no illness from it! I know my vet would have had a fit, but she is afraid of nothing and no person. I credit that from not keeping her sheltered for 4 months.


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## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

Thanks for your message. Yeah, we started out ignoring the breeder's advice, but then backed off when our vet seconded what the breeder had advised us. I wish we had ignored all the way through. Lesson learned the hard way. Vets are more aware now of the risks of improper socialization as against the risks of illness. Sure, illness is a threat. But it is a threat to your dog (not to mention others) if they are aggressive for a lifetime. I remember a tragic case from this forum of someone who surrendered their dog because he showed signs of aggression and they didn't feel they could manage it. I am glad we have Rosie, and we are determined to work with her. As I said, thankfully, she hasn't bitten. But that is always a potential risk when you have an anxious and reactive dog, and it could have gone so much smoother if we had ignored the misguided advice we got.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

We took Dharma to a dog beach, met other dogs on walks, took her to the Village at Blue Mountain (Tourist area), had her at my parents house the first week we had her and we took her on car rides and through drive thru for fast food a few times. she was fine. All of this before her 2nd shots. She would never have gotten as much socialization if we didn't do all of these things.


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## Carolina Blue (Sep 20, 2012)

I look to my vet for vaccines and any illness..that's it. I lost total confidence when she looked at me with a crazy eye when I told her I was not going to get Kiya spayed at 6 months..oh and when I told her Royal Canine was not an acceptable food for her. So yes shopping again for a new vet..interviews will be in order!


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Funny you mentioned the spaying issue...... Dr. Janice kind of batted her eyebrow when we were talking about clogged tear ducts potentially and fixing that when we have her spayed. I said we had to wait until she went through one heat. I explained that is better for this breed especially and that the breeder is adamant about it too. I mentioned that it decreases the risk of cancer. I think that the early spaying philosophy might be old school. They are also not familiar with the brand of food that we feed both Dharma and our 2 cats. Go figure.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I don't think your breeder and vet were wrong in cautioning you. Yes a young pup does need socialization but within reason. Private fields, with other dogs that you know and have their immunizations are fine. They can be introduce to lots of people and things without them going to dog parks, or where you would encounter a lot of other unknown dogs.

Please keep in mind, puppies that contract Parvo or Distemper have a high death rate.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

A link to Robin Bennet's article.
Two Misunderstandings About Dog Socialization

http://www.robinkbennett.com/2013/08/14/two-misunderstandings-about-dog-socialization/


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

This is a good message for a lot of new owners.

We socialized Oso like crazy, but in a safe way. Oso was a purse dog as a baby. He came with me everywhere. He came with me to the bank, on walks, shopping at the store, they even let him in a local grocery store. We had a big checklist. We used to go to the park and Oso would sit on a blanket with me. I had treats and hand sanitizer. The little kids would come up to see the puppy and I had them wash their hands and then "train" him or just give him treats.

You can also start puppy classes at 10 weeks at some places (make sure all the dogs in the class have at least 2 sets of shots).

As soon as Oso got all his shots and we were cleared to go outside, i think 16 weeks - he got sick a LOT. I am very glad that we were cautious with him earlier as it is quite serious when a young pup gets sick. We live in an area where there a lot of people walking their dogs, out in the country it may be safer to let a pup out earlier. For us, we were both safe and provided socialization.


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

@sarahaf - we are still making progress with Gus too on the fear aggression front! He is getting better with people as he is getting older. 

I would add that people should also be absolutely sure to meet both parents of the puppy they plan to adopt! That was our mistake - we never met Gus' mom. Find out later she is very fearful, and had to stop showing because she wouldn't let the judges touch her. Red flag! Early socialization is VERY important, but genetics play a big role too. We had a behavioral evaluation that pointed to a large part of Gus' issue being genetic. Also, we didn't adopt him until he was 10 weeks old, and he had been in a rural location with very little exposure to other people and dogs. When we brought him home, we suddenly exposed him to a gazillion people and dogs, and I think it shocked him and freaked him out, making things worse. I guess in other words, socialization needs to be done CORRECTLY so you don't cause the problems you're trying to prevent!

Also interesting is that Gus also has grown to hate ALL other dogs as he's gotten older...it's weird because he played with all the other dogs in his puppy class and was fine around dogs, but was scared of the people. Now it's becoming the opposite???


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## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

Agreed, jjohnson. Genetics does play a significant role, as emphasized by the first behaviorist we consulted for Rosie. I just wanted to emphasize the important role socialization (particularly before 12 weeks) plays. Dr. Dodman felt it was a significant factor for Rosie. I think it's especially important for dogs with a genetic propensity to reactivity/anxiety.


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