Clean Run - April 2017 - 20

him to be out and about with us. When
that tail starts to dip, or those hairy ears
flatten and he starts to look anxious, it's
time to call it quits.
The world does look very different once
the sun has gone down so I also made
a note that during the next month I'll
make sure we're out and about during
daylight hours; he can stay at home at
night. I don't believe there's a time limit
for socialization, or that there are strict
guidelines for fear imprint periods. I've
rehabbed several puppy mill dogs that
had never seen anything outside their
cages, and one hoarder's dog that had
never been outside of his shed where
he lived with 175 other dogs. They were
considerably older than the recommended ages for socialization. It took
time, in the case of the hoarder's dog
nine months, but they all got there in
the end working at their own pace. If
they had off days or went backward,
that was okay. However, once I've noted an odd reaction, I take a lot of care
to make sure the pup stays happy and
confident and steers clear of what has
upset him for a while.

We have a steam fair (a rally of historic
steam-powered vehicles and machinery) coming to town, which will be a
fun daytime event for him, and I will
keep an eye on the local papers for any
other suitable events.
I think he needs to keep seeing strange
dogs so I will look for a class for him to go
to; this time a competition obedience
class as I've had enough of pet classes.
I'm looking at popular places for walks
and hiking so that we can spend time
in their car parks at busy times. The object is to teach him to behave sensibly
no matter what situation he's in. I'm not
interested in him being friends with every dog or person he sees. He is quite
a sociable little lad, but he needs to
learn that not every dog feels the same
way and there are certainly some very
strange people who don't like dogs! Every time I take him out he is rewarded
for calm sensible behavior, going past
people and dogs sensibly. Last night
we walked around our supermarket car
park and he worked on his sit-stay next
to the shopping carts.

I'm spending quite a long time greeting Shade each morning, discovering how he likes to greet, what makes
him happy. I discovered with a lot of
the rescues we've rehabbed across the
years that greeting behavior needs to
be established. If you can show a pup's
new family how he likes to be greeted,
children especially are thrilled and
once the whole family is in the habit
you can happily side-step common
complaints-think, "he jumps on me,"
"he gets my nice clothes dirty," etc.
Dogs are social animals and greetings
are important. He's still not a cuddly boy,
but in the morning when I greet him
Shade likes me to sit on the floor and
scratch his back. As I scratch, he pushes
his head up against my neck and wiggles madly. He settles for a few minutes
by my side and we have a chat. He then
joins Ty and Boo downstairs.
When we come home from outings
without the dogs, Shade is in his crate
whilst I greet everyone else. I then
throw everyone else outside and sit
down and greet him. In the beginning,

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