When it comes to dog training, having a plan is important.
And if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.
This is especially important when it comes to dog socialization and introducing
your puppy to other dogs, things can go in a couple of different directions.
That's why in today's video,
we're going to talk to you about the things that you need to know about
introducing your puppy to other dogs.
We're out here for a walk and in the camp property,
we've got the dogs with us and like, wouldn't,
you love to have an opportunity to walk with your dogs where they, you know,
you can interact with other dogs, but they'll still listen.
These are the tips we're going to share with you today. I'm Ken Steepe,
I'm Kayl McCann. Welcome back to McCann dogs
Here in our training facility.
We've helped more than 100,000 dog owners who are just like you to overcome the
same dog training challenges that you have.
So if this is your first time on the channel,
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behaved four legged family member. So this afternoon,
we worked with a little lab, puppy named Hank,
and we worked on some of these exercises that we're about to show you.
And he's never been around any dogs that he just finally got his last set of
shots.
So we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to show you the best ways to
introduce your dogs to other dogs for the first time.
So let's turn the clock back and check out what we did.
Before I get to the point that I'm actually going to let my puppy go and play
with. I go and play with other puppies and need to make sure that I've first
established teaching the dog to listen to me around other dogs.
Once I have an idea that my puppy can choose me, my puppy can listen to me.
Then I might actually consider letting him go and learning how to play with
other dogs. Now, when I do that though,
there's a couple of things that are going to keep in mind. Number one,
I'm going to try and make sure that I go to a neutral place. So if I'm,
you know,
my friend has a dog and I have a dog we're not going to necessarily start off by
being in, in one of our houses where one of the dogs might be a little bit more
comfortable, may possibly territorial.
I'm going to go to a place that's a little bit more neutral and wide open to
allow the dogs on opportunity to escape.
The other thing I'm going to do is make sure that we have long lines or leashes
attached to the puppy so that if we need to stop and get control,
we're able to do so. In fact,
when we first let her puppy start to play with other dogs,
we actually purposely let them play for only a couple seconds.
And then we practice calling them away and rewarding them for being with us.
And then we might, Hey, settle, settle, settle.
Then we might allow the puppy to go and play once again.
And then we would call them back and reward them for control.
So we want them to learn that you can go and play with other puppies.
That's great. But remember at the end of the day,
I'm the one that's really the most important.
And we want to get to the point where we can allow our puppies to, you know,
spend a lot of time with our older dog, whether it's in the house,
outside the house as well. But before we do that,
we need to make sure that we have some type of control.
So one of the things that we start off with when our puppies are really young,
is teaching them how to respond to their main, all around the other jobs. Now,
it's really important that when you do this,
that whatever other dog that you have is also under control. So we have our,
the poodle out right now and she actually really likes puppy.
So this is going to be a good distraction. Now,
as you can see their interest in being with one another.
So I'm going to take it off the page and get this point.
Good boy. Now you'll notice,
say his name and then cross my fingers and hope that he responded.
I said his name and then automatically use some high value treats in order to
get him to move towards me.
The other thing that I did is I moved away from my other dog and because if I
was trying to get his attention and I was just staying really close to the other
dog, or if that other dog wasn't on a leash,
she would just want to run to me too, to get the treats.
And then it could just be a pile of chaos. So I'm going to try it again.
I'm going to just move my food away. He's a bit distracted by her once again.
Oh, that's such a good choice. Yes.
I'm going to take an opportunity and reward that he chose to lay on a loose
leash rather than go jump on that other dog you are getting so smart. Good.
Let's try it again though. Good.
Wow. Good boy. Yes. Now with good timing, I said his name.
I used a bit of food and he was actually old, most turning on his own.
So I'm actually going to be a little bit daring right now and I'm going to test
Hank. I'm going to call his name and I'm not going to use the food to help him.
And if he turns all by himself,
I'm going to give him a little jackpot reward here and make sure he understands
that I love this behavior.
Once I get to the point where he's responding reliably to me all of the time,
I then can start to think about allowing the dogs to be a little bit more free
together and spend more time together without being so quite so controlled.
We want to get a little bit distracted.
I'm going to ignore him here for a second. You're so smart.
Yeah, good boy,
I think just from a few repetitions,
I'm hoping to working with this dog for a couple minutes here with a good couple
of repetitions and high value treats, he's having to learn that.
Choosing me over, jumping on that other dog is much more important because my,
my hope for my household,
especially with multiple dogs or taking my dogs to different places is that my
dog can be around other dogs and more harmony.
I want him to be able to spend time together. They can play,
they can do those types of things, but also in the house.
I just want them to learn to chill out and mind their own business. Yeah.
When you're talking your puppy,
it's all about finding those opportunities to work via, just ignored in there.
And he maybe had just pulled his leash all the way over to the other dog.
So I always want to be in the lookout for when I need to control things.
Good boy, I do want him to understand like the other dogs,
but I also want him to understand that at the end of the day,
I'm the most important thing and that he needs to be focused on moving with me.
It's common when people have puppies interacting with other dogs,
for them to say things like, just let them figure it out. You know,
let the older dog teach the younger puppy what they're supposed to do.
And in cases that is okay,
but you need to be really good at reading dog body language before you're able
to do that. And the truth is most people just really aren't that good at it.
And if you don't know when to step in and intervene or redirect,
you could be putting your into a potentially dangerous situation.
You could also be putting your older dog or your friend's dog or whoever's dog.
It is into a situation that is uncomfortable for them. And it could lead to,
you know,
puppy being nipped or dogs becoming really stressed about other dogs from
puppies.
I want to give you an example of when it's important to control your puppy
around other dogs. Now, hippies laying here be behaving herself,
just sort of being a little bit calm and Hank is super interested in him.
And you can see when, Hey, it goes towards her.
She's bearing her teeth is saying back off. Now,
if I was to sit here and do absolutely nothing,
I'm not being a good advocate for this older dog here.
So what I need to do is I need to make sure that I'm controlling Hank.
So that hippie feels Kate. Mom's got it. I can be country. I can be confident.
I don't need to be stressed out about it. No,
I'm just going to pull Hank away a little bit. Good. Good. Just leave that.
Nope. Leave it. Since he always tried to inch towards, if I let him do that,
basically I'm just teaching him. He doesn't have to listen to me.
You can just behave yourself over here. Leave that. Yes. Good.
There. Now he chose to pay attention to me. Where's my treat bag. Here. It is.
Good voice. I'm going to reward him for that good boy. Yes. Good girl down.
Good. I want her to understand that when I'm in the room,
she doesn't have to worry and stress about anything,
but that also means that I need to be in the room and they're together.
If I wasn't here watching Hank would probably jump all over hippie hippie would
get stressed out and then nip and bite him. And then, you know,
chaos would ensue.
So I need to make sure I'm controlling this scenario just for that good
boy. There we go. Why don't you lie down instead? They're good.
Good boy.
If you are a family that has multiple dogs and you're bringing a puppy into a
home that already has one or two dogs in it,
socialization is something that you're going to probably feel it needs to happen
all of the time. But you know,
with some of these tips that we're giving you about controlling it and sort of
being on it, it's impossible to pay attention to them all of the time.
So sometimes socialization is just learning how to be around the dog and be calm
and quiet. So he's afraid. And my other dogs are loose at the moment. You know,
maybe it's a time where I don't have all the animals loose.
I have the puppy away and let the dog, the adult dog have some alone time.
Some just chill time. I'm going to just teach my puppy.
Sometimes you don't get free. Ran to the house,
the older dogs they've been through the road,
they understand what to do in the house.
You need to be calm and quiet and I'm actually going to choose to reward Hank
right now is he just decided to like more, a little bit more quietly.
And then I also teach him to, you know,
listen properly and to be calm and relaxed in his crate while the other dogs are
doing other things. And this is something that I like to do with my own puppy.
So I have treats here and I'm going to reward this dog.
[inaudible] for being just a little bit more. Okay, good,
good, quiet, good boys. So if I start to interact with this dog,
I'm going to reward a hand for just chilling out. Yes.
Sit down. Yes. Good boy. Good. Quiet. There it is.
Good boy. So he learns that this other dog will go fast. Good.
Yes. Good, good. Yes. Good.
If there's other jobs fine, she shouldn't be barking. Ooh. Yes,
absolutely. Very good. And I can also try things. Oh, you got a freebie.
I can also try things with, uh, with the roles reversed.
I can have funky in a bit of a controlled situation and I could be teaching Hank
that when he's out in and hanging out with me,
not to be jump going and jumping on the other adults, um, dogs heads,
and just to be learning how to act appropriately inside the home.
Once you get to the point where your dog is able to have a little bit of
listening skills and you're able to control them,
you're going to start to think about what types of puppies and other dogs are
you going to expose your puppy to first?
And I have this silly saying that I follow in and teach.
And then as I choose my puppies friends wisely.
So I want my puppy to think that the world is full of sunshine and roses.
And I don't want my puppies to have bad experiences,
especially when they're young and in a really impressionable state.
And so I need just kind of get to know what my puppy's personality is like.
And then from there,
I didn't need to make sure that I'm exposing him to puppies that are going to,
um, accelerate his confidence is going to teach him how to be, you know, um,
a social and respectful dog to others.
What I don't want to do is expose him to other dogs that might be a little bit
too, um, boisterous for him. They could, you know,
be a bit of a bully and teach him to be a little bit worried about other dogs or
with a lab, which is typically not our problem.
I want to be careful that I don't teach him that he can be a bully.
I wouldn't want it to line him up with a sort of a Meeker and more mild dog and
teach him that he could just steamroll every dog that he sees,
because that's not going to be very nice, um, lesson for him to learn either.
So I'm going to pick and choose dogs that are very similar matched to my puppy.
Not necessarily in breed,
but in temperament and then energy level and in place style to ensure that when
he's learning to play, he's learning to play appropriately.
And then I'm going to keep it controlled.
That's pretty easy to make mistakes when you're training a puppy, but the more,
you know, the less mistakes you'll make.
So to note the biggest mistake that people make when it comes to socializing
dogs, check out that video right there. Now,
if you'd like an opportunity to train your puppy with us,
check out the link in the description below to our puppy essentials,
where you'll get to work with the mechanics structure every single week on that
note, I'm Ken happy training bye for now.