The best thing you can do for your dog—starting as young as possible—is to socialize her to a wide variety of experiences. The goal is to teach your dog to be comfortable in all the potentially stressful situations she might encounter. Even if one day, long after she is grown, she has to deal with something she’s never seen or smelled before, she’ll be confident that you will protect and guide her.
Think of all the different kinds of experiences your dog is likely to come across, and start exposing her to them gradually. I can’t emphasize enough how much easier this is when the dog is young. But if you have adopted an older dog, start her off in kindergarten if that’s what she needs.
Strange people and strange dogs would be high on my list of things a dog needs to learn to handle calmly. It will make a difference, too, where these encounters take place. Like you, your dog is more comfortable meeting new people or dogs in her own home than in unfamiliar territory.
Here’s how you might teach your dog to tolerate strange people, taking baby steps as always:
- Kindergarten: Meet the same person several times on her own property.
- Elementary school: Repeat with several different strangers. Start adding in children and see how well your dog copes.
- Middle school: Expose the dog to the same people off your property.
- High school: Bring people together in groups, first on your property and then off.
- College: Remain calm in the presence of a loud group of very active people, first on your property and then off.
You can work through this kind of process with each situation your dog is likely to come across.
If your dog is particularly afraid of something, make a special effort to help her. Take even smaller baby steps. Give bigger and better treats when your dog successfully manages a step. For example, if your dog has trouble around kids, reward her with her absolute most favorite treat when she manages to be in the same backyard with just one child. For being calm around grownups, she gets a treat, but not the best one.
The goal is to practice positive experiences. You want your puppy to know that the world has a lot of different things going on all the time—but it’s all OK because you will take care of her.
