It's great to start training at home where there are fewer distractions but, once we have a little experience under our collars, it's time to venture out into the world to work on socialization and distractions.
It seems so small but even going to someone else's house is good for the puppy's socialization. It's new people, a new environment, and, in this case, new safe dogs. And when I say safe dogs I mean that they are vaccinated and they are good with puppies. Not all adult dogs are good with puppies so you have to be careful who you introduce your puppy to so he doesn't have a bad experience. Adult dogs who are good with puppies will tolerate certain behaviors from a puppy to a point. But, as that puppy gets older, they'll start telling the puppy that some of those behaviors are not ok. These are really important lessons for the puppy to learn so, as adults, they know how to appropriately interact with other dogs.
Before we go inside anywhere, we stop for a bathroom break. We're also careful to make sure he is not going to the bathroom in an area where a lot of unknown dogs have gone to the bathroom. One of the diseases that he is not fully vaccinated for yet is transmitted through infected animals waste. Just being thoughtful about where you take him is enough to keep him safe. That being said, I also like to make sure I'm getting a puppy out and about on leash to go to the bathroom so they get use to going in other places. If the only place he goes to the bathroom is in the back yard off leash, you will likely have problems if you leave the house with him or travel with him. I have known people who have spent most of their vacation trying to get their dog to go to the bathroom. Not a great way to spend your time.
I gave him time to explore the new environment so he could get use to everything. He adjusts very quickly and takes in new things with ease.
There are new dogs to meet which also means new distractions.
We're in a small enough area I feel confident I could follow through with him if he doesn't respond when I call him to come. But, like a rock star, he comes running to me even with these brand new dogs as a distraction. I cheer him on every step of the way as he runs faster and faster towards me. A beautiful recall! I reward with one small high value treat after the other while I'm telling him what a good boy he is.
If he were to have veered off along the way because he was distracted, I would just make more noise and start to move away from him to encourage him to divert his attention back on me. And, if he did, I would reward heavily because he made the choice to come off of that distraction. That's a really big deal.
Another part of his reward for coming when called is getting to go play again. That makes your reward pretty powerful; tons of praise, rewards, AND he gets to go play again. It makes it well worth his while to come when you call him.
While we are here and we have some nice distractions, we can work on his on/off switch too. It's really nice when you have a dog who can go from an excited, playful state to a nice calm state.
So every once in a while I ask him for a sit when he's playing.
We can practice our down too. Again, we can use that nice reward of getting to go play again. So he's learning that there is a time to be playful and a time to pull it all together and be calm and in control.
Such a good boy!
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