{"id":6125,"date":"2011-06-02T10:55:43","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T17:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shibashake.com\/dog\/?p=6125"},"modified":"2011-06-02T10:55:43","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T17:55:43","slug":"dog-socialization-good-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shibashake.com\/dog\/dog-socialization-good-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Dog Socialization Good or Bad?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Dog Socialization a Good Thing?<\/em><\/p>\n

Absolutely. <\/p>\n

Is it that simple? Are we done?<\/p>\n

As with most worthy endeavors, it is a bit more complex than that.<\/p>\n

\"Is
Is Dog Socialization a Good Thing?<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

What is Dog Socialization?<\/h2>\n
\"What
What is Dog Socialization?<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n

As I understand it socializing a dog<\/a> means introducing him to a variety of objects, people, animals, and environments so that he becomes comfortable in a wide range of situations. <\/p>\n

This is a good thing because when confronted with something new and possibly scary, a well-socialized dog is confident enough to handle it without resorting to aggression. Instead, he may just be copacetic about the whole thing, look to us for direction, or try to diffuse the situation through calming (body) signals. <\/p>\n

When we talk about dog socialization, most people only think about dog-to-dog socialization<\/a>. Dog to dog interactions are certainly a part of dog socialization, however, socialization<\/em> encompasses all things new including objects, noises, people, animals, and environments.<\/p>\n

Note that socializing our dog does not mean that we completely remove all possibility of aggression. Socialization, however, will help raise our dog’s aggression threshold so that he is capable of using other behaviors to deal with new and possibly threatening encounters. <\/p>\n

\"Socialization,
Socialization, however, will help raise our dog's aggression threshold so that he is capable of using other behaviors to deal with new and possibly threatening encounters.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Dog Socialization Is Frequently Misunderstood<\/h2>\n

Today, dog socialization has become one of the popular metrics for measuring a good dog owner<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n