Preparing future Assistance Dogs – Socialisation

Whilst out in public, our Assistance Dogs often get complimented on their good behaviour. The secret to our sauce is that our dogs learn to cope with the wider world from an early age. It is easier to make good decisions when you have useful information!

Our puppies are exposed to a variety of stimuli, starting in Puppy Block where their first human interactions are with staff and volunteers. These lovely people ensure that life in Puppy Block is filled with excitement and fun and, most importantly, that our pups feel safe. Puppies learn the value of cuddles, as well as how to navigate life’s little frustrations. The pups’ littermates and mom also teach them valuable lessons and skills, such as reading other dogs’ body language.

From here, our Puppy Raisers take over the important task of raising self-confident pups. Each day brings new learning experiences as the pups encounter the sounds and movements of a normal household, learning how to fit into a family and how to put their best foot forward. Our Puppy Raisers attend weekly puppy classes with their new pups for the first few weeks, where they learn how to guide their puppies through life in the big, wide world. Puppy classes include basic obedience training, dedicated puppy playtime and socialisation.

The importance of socialisation

The most important aspect of socialisation is the exposure to various stimuli. The aim is to introduce a puppy to something unfamiliar, and to help them establish either a positive or neutral association with it. This exposure will help them form a baseline approach to new stimuli in the future.

Dogs, like humans, have various developmental stages throughout their lives. Much like the ease of learning a new language at a younger age in comparison to when you’re an adult, puppies are more receptive to being introduced to new things than adult dogs are. Exposure to new stimuli is gradual, so as not to overwhelm the pup. We also avoid trying to force a puppy to interact with something if they are clearly uncomfortable, as this may result in the puppy forming negative associations with the stimulus, the handler or the environment.

A puppy who is eager to engage and explore will, in turn, be more likely to become a confident Assistance Dog, reliable in their choices. Effective socialisation is therefore stress immunisation. Below are examples of the ordinary and out-of-the-ordinary socialisation scenarios we set up for our puppy classes, or that our Puppy Raisers seek out for our pups:

• Listening to and watching the garbage truck pass by
• Exposure to environments where there are cats, birds and squirrels
• Hearing and seeing someone sweeping, mopping or vacuuming
• Watching someone blow-dry their hair
• Meeting people of various ages, heights, races and genders
• Sitting calmly in a café
• Going shopping: riding in the trolley or walking next to it
• Walking over different surfaces and being comfortable at different heights
• Climbing stairs
• Travelling in a car, bus or train
• Visiting the vet
• Seeing farm animals

There are two prevalent misconceptions with regards to socialisation:

• That it means letting your puppy greet and play with every dog they encounter, so that they are ‘sociable’ or ‘friendly’. This may lead to bad interactions, frustration, lead reactivity and dog distraction.
• That there is a compulsory, set list of stimuli to encounter before a certain age, to guarantee that they will be well adjusted. This may lead to overwhelming a dog with stimuli and not allowing them to fully process each interaction. Each dog is also different, so there are no guarantees.

Socialisation is fundamental to the success of our Assistance Dog programme. It is a considered approach to training our dogs about the world they live in by exposing them to various stimuli while encouraging and supporting them through their experiences. This in turn helps them navigate their environment confidently, as they have learnt to regulate their own emotional experiences whenever they encounter something new.

Written by Christa Scorer, Learner Guide Dog Mobility Instructor