Socialization – The greatest Gift

The greatest gift a breeder can give to a new puppy owner is a well-socialized skye.  But, no matter how much time a good breeder puts into working with puppies, all the good can go down the drain by just taking them home and loving them.  This may sound incorrect, but consider what can happen.

We socialize our puppies as breeders.  As owners we take those puppies out to show our family, friends, pet store owners, etc, how cute they are.  Wary puppies are placed in the hands of friends who will show them how wonderful it is to have attention showered on them from humans. Places become not so strange.  Noises become not so scary. People become friends. Treats seem to appear everywhere. 

But, then they get older and bigger and maybe they are no longer in the cute-and-easy-to-carry puppy stage.  Now even a short trip may require more preplanning.  Here is where the problem comes in. 

Just when they are getting to the point where it is easier to leave them at home, a skye is moving into what I would term a critical age. I believe that from around 18 months to 30 months, our skyes begin to test us to see if maybe they might be in charge after all.  They can start to challenge authority. This can also be a deciding point in their socialization.

Now is precisely when extensive work and time spent getting them used to different situations will pay off ten-fold in the long run. Use these months to solidify their feelings of being comfortable in many varied surroundings.

A positive-reinforcement obedience class or perhaps a tracking class might be a good idea. After 2 years of age, agility is also a possibility. These ever changing environments will expand your skye's world.

The worst thing a new skye owner can do is to take their wonderful puppy  (whom you, as a breeder, have spent countless hours socializing) home to be enjoyed by only themselves.  A new owner usually does this because it is easier to leave them at home then to make the necessary arrangements to take them along when they leave  the house such as bringing treats, water, cleanup bags, or going to a dog friendly places.  New owners need to understand that to not furnish them with these changing environments will diminish their skyes view of their world.  They will soon come to forget all the hard work you have done and when, as a breeder, you next see them, they will be standoffish and not want to be anywhere except in their own backyard.

Many of us love this breed and understand that they are aloof with strangers.  But there are those of us who long for a time when our dogs will receive strangers with a kiss or a tail wag and we work long and hard to acclimate our skyes to all types of situations.

Make the wide world familiar to them!  Show them the sites and the wonders of people and places.  Be their guide to this wonderful world we live in. A broader view of their world will prove to make them wonderful members of their community, not just their home.

The greatest gift you can give to yourself, your skye, your breeder, and your community is a well-socialized skye.