How to Socialize a Dog with Your Pets
Being a furparent, it's often our dream to see our pets become best pals. However, if the proper dog socialization process isn't followed, they can quickly become more foes than friends. So, if you're planning on bringing home a new pooch or pet, we highly recommend socializing your dog with these tips.
Before getting started, it's essential to know that socializing your dog to accept new pets into the household is not always an easy task. Your dog usually has its own ideas of its territory and home. Generally speaking, doggos can tend not to be generous creatures when it comes to sharing, where they'd much rather chase the intruders away. For this reason, we have to reprogram our dog's thinking to make it understand that chasing the cat, or whatever other pet you may have, is not acceptable.
Best Dog Socialization Training Tips:
Safety First
For starters, furparents have to make sure that their new pet will be safe. As you start your dog socialization training, try placing the new pet in a pet carrier or in a protected room. The goal here is to prohibit the dog from actually physically contacting the animal but still allows for both pets to see, smell, and hear each other. This provides a way for pets to acclimate to each other in a safe, though possibly stressful situation.
In our opinion and experience, we've found creating a safe space is best done by introducing your new pet to their own room. In the room, you can place their food, beds, and litter box (if needed). By doing so, they will become comfortable and confident in your home while knowing that they have a particular area to retreat to when they're feeling nervous.
To keep the room protected from any curious pets, try using our Door Buddy latch. By adding our door latch to the room, you can give your new cat the freedom to come in and out as they please while limiting your dog's access. This is a perfect solution as you start to slowly introduce them to one another and a great aid in socializing your dog.
Train Then Treat
After both pets have calmed a bit, you can give them each a small reward. After all, we all know how much our purfect pets love the taste of their favorite food when they've done something right! While treating them, be sure to give the dog lots of verbal praise and affection when it is not barking. It would help if you also praised them when they're not trying to get to the new animal. As a result, you will start to show your pooch that you are accepting of the new pet's presence, and you expect him to do the same.
Following a train then treat method for dog socialization is a great way to promote positive behavior. Our goal is to alleviate any negative energy that comes with learning how to socialize a dog and pets.
Don't Force a Friendship
One last point to keep in mind is that just like humans, not everyone is going to get along. There will be days where the dog and the new pet are going to feud for the fun of it. Imagine if you were expected to get along with someone you don't like all day! Chances are, you'd start to act out too. This is an essential step to remember when learning how to socialize a dog.
When you see this start to happen, remind yourself that both cats and dogs need their space. You can try spending some quality one-on-one time with each pet or encourage them to spend time in their sacred areas.
Regardless of what happens, dog socialization training doesn't happen overnight. If you're ready to put in the patience and love, your pets will soon be living in harmony.
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