Any tips for socialising an older rescue pup?

[porcelaincider]

...just that really! He's 19 weeks and everything I'm reading saying I have missed the boat in terms or socialisation is worrying me 🙈
He's a sweet thing and seems to be a quick learner but noticed he does bark at other dogs when he sees them on walks. If I spot them in the distance I can reassure him and give him a treat and had some success with this. But close up or if they come round a corner is more tricky (obviously)
I really want to try to correct this but a little unsure how. Any tips would be greatly received!

You’ve missed the socialisation window yes but you can still take him out and carefully and slowly expose him to the world 🙂

Keep him at a non reactive distance (so he notices but doesn’t do anything) and treat treat treat. Have a look at click the trigger or engage disengage.

Thank you, will take a look

How long have you had the dog? You might be pushing him too far too fast if he’s a nervous rescue you just got and are walking. Just a thought

We dealt with this in our dog by keeping a distance from other dogs as much as possible. She was two when she came to us and frightened of everything.

When we saw another dog (or anything else she was scared of e.g. grey haired men, skateboards, big rocks, people in hi vizs!!) we gave her a treat. Gradually she associated other dogs etc with a treat and calmed down. As she calmed down we let ourselves get closer to other dogs then treated. We closed the gap and kept treating until all was well and she was a happy dog eager to meet and greet other dogs politely.

We also went to a series of group training classes where she met lots of other people and dogs. She learned lots but the biggest difference came in us learning how to handle her in various situations and our confidence grew.

Thanks @Hopskiplou , wondering if you may have a point there thank you

Thanks @BristolBlueGlasses , that's helpful and she's OK now?

I enquired about one today and they say they don't take barking dogs 🤦🏻‍♀️

I run training classes. Find another one. Part of the class is helping you to work out why he is barking and how to deal with it appropriately. I agree that a well run class that doesn’t flood the dog can be a game changer.

@newpeep thank you so much I'll Google and see if I can find another x

How long have you had the puppy?

If he doesn't know you properly and has never really been socialised then I would be taking it very, very slowly.

He is out of his socialisation window (which closes at 16 weeks) so from now on it's really all about counter-conditioning him and trying to teach him that the world really isn't a scary place at all.

I agree with training classes but it may be better to start off with a few solo classes so that a trainer can properly assess what's going on and what needs to be worked on.

Make sure your trainer is properly accredited and registered and not just some random person. Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a trainer as it's not a protected title so you need to be really careful about making sure they're legit.

Good luck!

You are looking for classes that use reward based methods and ideally use games to teach the pup. No punishment. No ignoring. No flooding.

If you message me your location I may be able to recommend someone.

I would say at 19 weeks barking at pretty much everything is fairly normal but it can become an issue if not dealt with.

I got my dog in December, she's already 8 years old and reactive. We did Dog School Reactive Dog classes run by Dogs Trust which were really helpful, she's doing much better with dogs at a distance, still challenging with dogs close by but I can't blame her really, she's a tiny dog and it's hard when everything is bigger than you.