Socialization Defined
Socialization isn’t what we think it is. Can you take a high energy puppy and introduce them to enough people, places, and things that they become socialized to and familiar with… everything? Can they become accepting of the world?
Better yet, can I take a puppy and trigger their relaxation and submission? If I get a dog to submit, I trigger it to be at a lower energy level. Lower energy level dogs are the dogs without the problems. That goes for all dogs, both genders, all breeds, all ages. Low energy dogs are the dogs you want if you want a dog with no problems.
What’s Your Point, Doug?
Therefore, what’s my point? Socialization takes a high energy dog with no experience and creates a high energy dog with some experience. Unfortunately, it’s just a high energy dog that’s familiar with some people, places, and things. Then, at any time, something may still trigger that dog’s spring-loaded energy level that was never addressed. That 7.999 spring-loaded dog hiding under its 8.000 threshold. That stress of being at such a high level of energy all its life shortens its lifespan. That’s sad. Nobody talks about it, either.
Put any dog through an effective series of submission drills. It creates a truly relaxed and submissive dog. Fortunately, the proof is exactly in its submission to you. Its energy level is now low, and provided you keep up on the little maintenance doses of discipline throughout its life, it’ll stay low. Also, if you then take that puppy, now triggered to be at its low energy level, and expose them to the same people, places, and things that you did for the high energy puppy and you’ll truly have a dog that will accommodate all of those people, places, and things.
Here’s the Thing About Socialization
Furthermore, it’s not the familiarization from the socialization that makes the dog act in an accepting or acceptable way. It was the dog’s submission to you that did it. A relaxed, submissive dog submits to its leader. Submission is accompanied by an instruction set that says, “If it’s okay for my leader, it’s okay for me, too.” It’s not the familiarization that results in the desired behavior; it’s the dog’s having submitted to its leader that whitewashes everything as having been approved, “vetted,” by its leader.
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