A Faithful Friend – Part 2 - Party pooper

Whenever I read a post on Facebook, that someone has got a puppy; it has just been vaccinated; and they want to meet up with other strange puppies and owners for a play date, I wince.

They could be making a big mistake.

"Don’t be a party pooper", I hear you say, or words to that effect.

And,

"Surely its good for my puppy to learn to be social with other dogs".

This is why I discourage it:

When you first get your puppy or dog, it is very important to build a relationship with him so that he is totally responsive to you, so that you can teach him how to behave. One of the ways you can do this is by playing and having fun together. And you should do this not only at home, but in places you take him on walks.

Failing to do that, can lead to these problems:

# Problem no. 1 - Recall

If you have not yet established a relationship with your dog, and shown him how much fun and rewarding to be with you are in the park, and instead you introduce him to strange puppies to play with there, he could learn very quickly not to be responsive to you. You are now on a back foot with recall training.

# Problem no. 2 – Pulling on the lead

If the highlight of the walk is getting to the park because he has not been trained to walk happily on the lead, then he is bound to pull all the way there in order to arrive as quickly as possible, so that he can play with his friends.

# Problem no. 3 – Jumping up

If you have a dog or puppy who is unresponsive to you, but you still let him off the lead, you do not have the control to stop him doing things like jumping up that he should not do. If he is an excitable puppy, he may be inclined to jump up at people, especially if they give him attention because they think he is a cute puppy. They may not think he is so cute when he grows a bit bigger in a few months’ time, but he does not know that.

Jumping up at a person could cause an injury or make someone feel threatened. Both could land you in trouble with the law.

# Problem no. 4 – Fear aggression towards other dogs

Meeting up with a group of strange puppies to play freely can be intimidating for some dogs, and rather than learning to enjoy being with dogs, it can have the opposite effect.

# Problem no. 5 – Playing too roughly with other dogs

On the other hand, you may have a dog who gets over excited with other dogs and does not know when to stop. It is not fair on the frightened dog to ‘put the rough dog in his place and teach him a lesson’ because the frightened dog then learns to be more aggressive.

Solution:

To teach your dog to be social with other dogs, is to first teach him to listen to you and to take your cue on how to behave. This might be walking past another dog calmly, the occasional 3-second polite sniff greeting if acceptable with both parties and then called away, or a walk together with another known, well-mannered dog. This is what I suggest instead of puppy meet up groups.