Socialisation, in the broader sense, is learning to behave in a way that is ‘Socially Acceptable’ to a living being (of any species) and their society. Every social species get socialised if they are living / co-existing with their own or other species in this beautiful ecosystem called Earth !
Socialisation is an ongoing learning process. It can happen:
a) Organically : Sudden, day-to-day unplanned ‘encounters’ with people, dogs, new environments and their elements, etc.
Life happens … and because it does happen randomly, organic socialisations can be unpredictable, resulting in experiences that can be quite extreme , example, encountering a pack of Streeties during a quiet morning walk, Fireworks going off suddenly and at close quarters, meeting a bunch of children excited to see a new dog in the block, sudden bite from a reactive dog on a walk, being woken from deep sleep by the sudden sound of the pressure cooker whistle or the mixie running, etc.
Depending on the breed, age, lifestyle, type of exposure, genetic and epi genetic disposition, the dog’s day-on-day experiences begin to define his/her response and this is formed naturally by the dog.
b) Structured : Training with voice cues or commands (Obedience), Co-operative Tasks (Tricks, Nosework, Agility, Tracking, Herding, etc.), Conditioning & counter-conditioning.
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Structured socialisation has been the most prevalent form of socialisation due to its being the age-old practice with working dogs (police dogs, farming dogs, hunting dogs, gun dogs, etc). It is based out of a practice of consistent response to cues and heightened focus despite distractions.
But Life is not that structured, is it? Our canine companions live in the real world with us in a human-centric urban habitat
- Real-world distractions are just that – real, varied and random
- The body and it biochemical and instinctive response mechanism to real-world distractions (for both dog and their humans) is still a mystery to science! This results in inconsistent cues and varied responses to stimuli which adds complexity to the Experience.
- State of Emotional well being (mood of the moment) matters !
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The need for a middle path that brings some method into the proverbial madness seems to be the need of the hour!
Our Socialisation 101 attempts to :
- Tap into the dog's cognition and his ability to adapt to a natural stimulus and decide on his choicest natural response basis his experiences
- It attempts to create gradual exposure to new experiences and reduce the unpredictability in the environment so the dog can choose his response
- We shall also do our best to showcase and convince responsible caregivers (pet-parents) of their dog's intelligent responses to stimuli and enable them to watch out for the very clear and unique responses their dogs give in various scenarios
