Hello everyone, we just picked up our puppy, Lexi on Friday and things are going pretty well. Oh boy, the work this is!! This is our first puppy, so everything is new to me. She is doing pretty well on the potty training, as she holds it all night and then we crate her or gate her in the kitchen area and or LR/kitchen area and have only had a couple accidents.

I am now trying to figure out how to socialize her, as we are newer to the area and I do not know that many people, and since we are military, our family is far away! I am going to do a puppy socialization class at Unleashed during the week, but I am not sure what else to do with her?? I do walk her a few times per day and try to keep her on sidewalks and such, but what other ways can I get her to meet people and other dogs safely???

Does anyone live in the Northern Virginia area??

I really need to socialize her, as I am also going to be training her to be my service dog, so this is really important that I make sure she isn't afraid of people or dogs, etc.??

Thanks
Tanya

I think you should read up on Dallas Gold's posts--she brought home a pup in December. You can go to Lowes and other places to meet people.

Here's the thread where she lists the numbers of people met & places visited: http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...tion-yogi.html (Introducing Our Newest Addition- Yogi!)

Good luck with your pup!

A member here takes her dogs to an elementary school in the mornings or right after it lets out.

I've also heard of visiting malls or stores like Home Depot and Lowes.

Basically any public place where there are few dogs. Outdoor Cafes, town centers, etc.




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IMO, this is the best advice you could get for socializing a pup, especially one that you want to be a future service dog. My own dog (who I started being a competition dog, and is now my service dog also) began with more traditional socialization with letting everyone love him and treat him and letting him greet other dogs, but he didn't really flourish until I started the advice below. I will start my next pup like this from the beginning.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

check out this thread for members in your area

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...tup-group.html (I am the new organizer for the Retriever Hiking and Swimming Meetup group)

I am in Winchester which is close to NoVA! Where are you located? My boy Beamer I'm sure would love to help with socialization.

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I also would not recommend a puppy socialization class for a future service dog. You want your dog focused on YOU completely, and like the video says, strange people and dogs should be as insignificant as furniture to them.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

^ Absolutely true. But for me not all socialization and friendly visits with people is bad. I want my golden retriever to be a golden retriever. It gives me joy to see my puppy turn into a wiggly waggling ball of LOVE when somebody stops to visit. And the other thing too is that, I really do not want to be dealing with a puppy who is shy or unsure about people. I went through that once and it was a huge handicap for my golden back then.

Puppies need to know when they are training/working and when they are on their own time.

I was thrilled when I did a drop in open floor class this morning and I went from Bertie wiggling around on his back for my friends he was terribly excited to meet in the sitting area outside the rings.... but then he was only focused on me in the ring. I used only half a ring with Bertie, so somebody else was out there with their dogs. And they did not exist in my 14 week old puppy's world. That's exactly what I want to encourage.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Fortunately Bella isn't going to be a service dog, because that would be awfully difficult. We had 30 people over for Christmas. What would you do then? I was actually hoping that more exposure to people would make them less interesting over time. Perhaps not. She is so easy going that I don't forsee any of the potential problems mentioned in that Leerburg video. But again, I'm not training her to be a service dog.

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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)

I take my puppy, who isn't fully vaccinated to a bunch of places: Home Depot, Lowes, Petsmart, Petco, PetZoo, Sportsman warehouse.I put him in a shopping cart. All those places allow dogs in their buildings. I also take him to the park where there are a lot of people. I just make sure that I pick him up when there are dogs around that I don't know. Finally, I take him to a local dog day care. There, I know all dogs are vaccinated, as they have to be to go. He gets socialization with dogs and people. Not all dog day cares accept puppies, and some have to be a certain age.


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