Can you oversocialise your puppy?
Keith Legros
2025-08-16 08:03:06
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He’s had some issues with anxiety and shyness very young. With Covid happening we tried our best to work with our trainer and dog walker to introduce him to calm dogs and get him socialized to people. It worked great to the point he’s way more comfortable outside and way more with strangers. So then We started taking him to dog parks and he was a bit hesitant with the other dogs, but now he loves it. Cue the big problem, he wants to meet like EVERY dog on the street. To the point he would pull like crazy toward them barking and howling in desperation to meet. My question is did we over socialize him meeting way to many dogs and giving him the expectation that he gets to see and meet them all the time.
Garfield Trantow
2025-08-08 18:25:27
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Socialization is habituation to the environment through exposure. Overwhelming stressful exposure is harmful. Lots of good exposure is not. Your puppy needs a lot of rest so you don't want to exhaust and burn them out. But continuous social exposure to sensory stimuli will, if anything, lead to habituation and satiation. In other words people/places become old news and less interesting to your dog so they focus on you more. If your dog lacks impulse control and wants to run and greet every dog and human they see, and becomes frustrated and acts out if they can't, this is a training issue, not a socialization issue.