Now we are going to talk about the important work of outside of the home socialization and it’s sub category of out of the home exercise. We are addressing these together because for puppies under the age of 16 weeks (the critical socialization period) socialization, exercise, and exploration activities always occur concurrently. It’s imperative to the mental health of our siblings that we continue to schedule outings on the same rotational schedule as our in home daytime and nighttime routines. Because socialization requires that we pay close attention to the emotional experience a puppy is having this is the area where it is the most important that each puppy can have the undivided attention of a caregiver. So during the first 16 weeks, while our puppies are still in the critical socialization period we will only take puppies on outings together if there is one adult per puppy, and we are taking the puppies to familiar and favorite locations. We will save novel location exposure, or any exposure to a challenging location for a single puppy outing.Remember! It’s impossible to manage young children and two puppies and give full attention to all. Please do not attempt to socialize young puppies and manage young children, or multiple older children, at the same time. 1. Novel Locations the puppy has never explored:📌 Take a single puppy one day, and the other puppy the next day. 2. Locations each puppy has visited, explored and ENJOYED. 📌 Take both puppies together, ideally with one adult per puppy.3. Locations a puppy has visited, but had either conflicted feelings or downright negative emotions (fear, anxiety, avoidance, hesitance, food refusal, etc) repeat an easier and less intense version of the outing.⚠️ Re-evaluate with instructor or trainer before proceeding If puppy fear doesn’t improve.4. Hard to control locations (places where they may be loose dogs, overly friendly people, or other things you cannot predict or control).📌 Take one puppy per adult caregiver whenever possible, even if the puppies have been to this location before. When taking two puppies together we will continue to work on fostering confident independence by working on both being together and being separated. We have several basic routines.Two Puppies Go, one puppy at a time explores (one or two handlers):

For this protocol you will bring both puppies to the location together, but you will only take one puppy into the location at a time. So, one puppy will go in, and the other puppy will stay in the car (assuming this is safe) ideally puppies are crated in the car with a VERY high value chew. After Puppy 1 has had enough time to explore and practice some known behaviors you will return to the car and exchange Puppy 1 for Puppy 2. Puppy 2 then has their time to socialize, explore, and practice at this location. If BOTH puppies are rockstars on their individual experience then you can bring them both into this location together, so the puppies can practice their manners behaviors and explore this location together. Two Puppies Explore At A Time (two handlers):

For this protocol you and your helper will each take a puppy into the location, puppies can leave the crates and enter together (one puppy per handler) and explore, socialize, and practice known behaviors together for 1/3 of the planned visit time. Then each handler takes their puppy off, out of sight of the other at least part of the time, and each puppy has their own individual experience for 1/3 of the time before being reunited for the last 1/3.

Two puppies at a time (one handler):

For predicable locations the puppies know well and enjoy you can take both puppies together for exercise and manners practice. Remembering for each joint puppy outing you take, each puppy requires their own individual outing.

One Puppy Goes, One Puppy Stays Home:

It’s also important that the puppies learn how to stay home while the other puppy goes away. Hyper bonded dogs often experience separation anxiety when separated (something this course hopes to prevent) so we also want to include in our plan a time when you leave with only a single puppy. This is actually the hardest of the four options, so it’s best to normalize this from the earliest days your puppies are in your home.

Observe and Learn:

In an Observe and Learn the puppies stay in one place, often crated in the car, and observe the activities happening around the car. There is tremendous socialization and habituation value in simply observing, and considerable convenience for owners. One person can easily take two puppies for an observe and learn. An entire family can easily take two puppies for an observe and learn, one parent supervising the children while they play sports, play on the playground, etc, while the other parent simply sits by or in the car and supervises the puppies. Puppies can be brought along on errands such as grocery curbside pick up, drive through banking, drive in theaters, picking up kids from school or lessons, the list goes on. It’s also a great way to take puppies to experience dog parks (from a distance), playgrounds on busy days, and urban areas, all without taking the puppy out of the car. The secret to a successful observe and learn is TIME, puppies need at least 15 minutes of observation and 30 minutes to an hour is ideal.

Alternating Puppies: Socialization, Exercise, and Exploration

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