100 dogs 100 people 100 days

Socialization is so important for a puppy.  This is as important if not moreso for a deaf puppy.   Rogue has to learn visual cues from dogs because she can't hear growls or yelps of pain.  She came to us with pretty good bite inhibition (Thanks again to her wonderful breeder) but she also came fearless.  Fearless is great but it means that we have to be particularly careful about her exposure to people and other dogs.  Good things can come with good socialization in those first hundred days but bad things can cause problems that will take a lot of time and training to fix.

So while quantity is good for socialization, quality is probably more important.   So, we played it smart.


We started small.  Little boutiques are going to have fewer people and fewer dogs and they often have a store dog that is well socialized.   Much less stressful on the dog than rushing into a large store. 

Go Dog Go is a local boutique and they loved Rogue there.  Even the store cat liked her.

Another place that welcomed her was our local Home Depot.    They might not all allow pets but ours does and there were a lot of employees and customers that were just dying to meet the fluffy little puppy.

Since she did so well in a smaller setting, we did take her to Petsmart and she wowed everyone she met.  We kept her in the cart to prevent accidental encounters with dogs we didn't know.  Rogue is fearless and would have no problem marching up to any dog whether or not that dog was interested in meeting her.  That could spell disaster for our social girl.  Socializing with other dogs is a lot about control and knowing your dog and knowing the dogs you're introducing her to.

We lucked out this year.  Our local Petsmart had puppy play time which was an hour of play for puppies up to 4 months old.   This was an awesome opportunity for Rogue to socialize in a controlled environment with young puppies who could match her energy level and enthusiasm.  There were 8 puppies in addition to her and they all romped and played very well with only a few time outs when someone got over excited.  And honestly, what's more fun than watching puppies play?  

Rogue was particularly fond of Staley, a young blue heeler.  They spent most of the hour wrestling with each other.  The good news is, Staley and his people live nearby so we see lots of playdates in the future.

The other advantage of all this socialization is that it's mental exercise for a young puppy.  It tires them out almost as much as that hour romp with other puppies.   Rogue has gone out socializing just about every day since we got her and even visited the vet today just for a playdate.   She doesn't know she gets her shots next week.

In the end, socialization gets the puppy what the puppy wants and gets you what you want...
This:

A little peace and quiet.  

I'm so happy my little deaf girl is so fearless and that so far, (knock wood) nothing has happened to rob her of her fearlessness or her love of people.  Her lack of hearing certainly doesn't seem to bother her and while I could really use the ability to tell her no when she grabs my pant leg, we've had to make adjustments and redirect or remove ourselves from her instead. 

It's been an awesome week so far.   She has a great default sit and we're working hard on recall.  This weekend she goes to her first disc dog event and can meet even more people and dogs.  I can't wait.