Dog Socialisation 2 – How socialised is my dog?

This article is a continuation to – Dog Socialisation 1 – What do you think of when you hear the word “socialisation”?

An off-leash JRT that approached Donna during our walk at the park.

We brought our dog Donna to a Dog Daycare Centre for a temperament assessment a few weeks back. We realised, as we watched Donna trying to blend into the wall in that room full of other dogs at the Dog Daycare Centre, that she does not get to play with other dogs enough to know how to deal with this sort of situation.

After that she further showed us how true that thought was when she started to show a tendency to mount the dog she was playing with when the dog run was over crowded with dogs. She gets too excited and humps the dog she is playing with. And the over-arousal makes her less responsive to recall and other cues we try to distract her from the obsession with trying to gyrate against another dog.

How socialised is Donna? 

I’ve not seen, heard, read about any way of quantifying this before. I found it difficult to give a Yes or No answer when asked if Donna is socialised.

I thought about it further and thought that perhaps this question needs to be broken into parts in order to give a well-considered answer.

But first, let’s make sure I did get the basics right.

What is Socialisation?

My understanding of the word, is that “socialisation” is a process of exposing the dog to a variety if things and circumstances. The Socialisation Process can be seen to be beneficial for the dog if the dog displays positive emotions and socially-acceptable behaviour towards what it is being socialised to.

Infographic: Factors affecting the dog socialisation process – exposure, good experience and socially acceptable behaviour. Some things we learnt along the way on how to manage the contact and experience with other dogs in different environments, and also what to do to actively stop unacceptable behaviour and encourage good ones in the dog’s reaction to what we are trying to socialise her to. 

Going by the three factors in my chart above, I can say that Donna is socialised for certain things and situations, and not socialised for some other things and situations.

From our past experience in the dog run, we have learnt that repeated negative experiences will only distance the dog from what one wants to expose and socialise them to and cause them to want to avoid it or to react to it negatively.

It took time to desensitise Donna to the dog run so that she will approach it again, we now need to help her learn the appropriate behaviour while playing with the other dogs inside. It is not going to help Donna very much if she is having fun playing with another dog, if the other dog did not feel the same way. Neither is she going to get many new friends if she does not display behaviour towards the other dog that humans around find acceptable.

So while I did not want to say in one simple sentence in our interview with the daycare center owner that “my dog is not socialised”, she is indeed not socialised for certain contexts. And being in a room for an extended period of time with many other dogs is one of those situations that she is not socialised to. Chances are that she may mount the dog she plays with and that is socially not acceptable.

Socialisation of Donna for dogs and for humans

I realise there is this distinction when I was writing – Why does my dog hump other people/dogs?

Not all humans have the same understanding of dogs. And not all dogs have the same understanding with each other.

For example, my dog mounting another dog that is a good friend may be acceptable to both dogs but not to the humans around them. In the same way, a dog playing bitey face at another dog may find a lot of joy in that, but not for the humans who are horrified by what they may perceive as one dog attacking another.

Is Donna attempting what I think she is attempting?  – – 

And then there are dogs that do not find being humped by my dog acceptable at all, and there is always the worry that a more aggressive dog may bite Donna for trying to mount him, even if they were playing well before.

In order for Donna to play safely in a pack, she needs to be socialised in that aspect and to learn to stop displaying the mounting behaviour that has the potential to get her in trouble with other dogs and their humans.

In Dog Socialisation 1,  Linda raised a very valid point that – A well-run daycare is a better option than a dog park because the play is monitored. At the dog park you have to hope that all the dogs are friendly and that the people are paying attention and able to control the dog if things get out of hand.

Donna would certainly get that exposure and probably a better experience with friendly dogs in a controlled environment like the daycare centre. But that doesn’t mean that the daycare center will operate as a trainer and we do not have to worry about socialising her ourselves in that respect.

I do still find it invaluable to be part of her socialisation process in the dog run or a dog cafe. If anything, at least it is precious time that I can use to work on her recall to distract her when she engages in behaviour that other dogs or humans find undesirable. It would strengthen that bond between us and make her recall more reliable, especially if there ever comes a time that we really need it.

This discussion will continue in Part 3. You may also like to read Dog Socialisation Part 1 – What do you think of when you hear the word “Socialisation”.

For people with older dogs just adopted, not puppies, we sometimes may have missed the boat for some contexts when it comes to socialisation. Tracy wrote great article on desensitisation on Oh Melvin.com just recently.

Sharing a great infographic on Socialising your Dog by Lili Chin below. 

Note: Some of you who have been visiting recently or have read the about page, will already know that I am not the expert, having only adopted a dog early this year. What I have written in these series of posts on Socialisation, is what I understand from what I have read and my experience with Donna. What I hope to achieve with this exercise is hopefully a discussion on dog socialisation and from there verify or adjust my approach, based on the good learnings I may get from this discussion. I am sure there is always room from improvement. I know I have benefited a lot from comments in my previous posts, and I hope you find the post and comments helpful too.