In the dog world, the term “socialization” refers to what professionals believe puppies need by about three months of age to support their future chances for emotional and behavioral stability. But terms are constructs, open to misinterpretation and misapplication — to human error.

A common misconception regarding canine socialization is that older dogs can be socialized via the same methods puppies can, and this misconception causes well-intended owners of dogs with social challenges to seek solutions in group settings, whether the setting be a group class, a dog park, a local dog-friendly store, or even the owner’s own multidog household.

Attempts to socialize adult dogs by sudden immersion in the experiences that their owners or handlers feel they must “get used to” is not socializing, but high-risk flooding. Flooding is the generally frowned-upon practice of over-exposure of the dog to the source of her/his anxiety against the dog’s will and/or with no option to leave.

Although flooding comes originally from the field of behavioral psychology, its use with dogs can be very harmful and tends to exacerbate their challenges, not solve them, which is one of the reasons animal behavior professionals find it objectionable.

It makes no sense to take a dog that is anxious around other dogs into a classroom, park, or store full of dogs; doing so will only cause more anxiety and give the dog more practice in the undesired behavior.

“Flooding” the dog with the triggers of the dog’s anxiety does not help alleviate that challenge any more than my dumping a box full of spiders on someone afraid of spiders would cure that fear, or having you stand tethered in a room full of snakes for an hour if you hate snakes will cure that hatred.

The proper course of action is a progressive behavior modification and training program that works at the dog’s own pace, ensuring the dog feels safe by maintaining a non-triggering distance from the source of anxiety, while changing the dog’s negative associations to positive associations via a series of small, positively reinforcing steps over time.

Is it play or is it bullying?

It is both wonderful and sometimes frustrating that there is always something new to learn. Those who have social dogs may come to realize that play time isn’t exactly what we thought. Is one of our dogs, or one of our friends’ dogs, bullying another dog during play? Or do we have the doggy play haven we presumed?

For most people and their dogs, play will remain mostly fun and only a little extra effort. First, we learn to recognize some key signs of mutual play. Dogs who are enjoying their play together tend to show the following characteristics:

• Role reversals — taking turns being chased, “winning” and ‘losing,” and being on the bottom.

• Imprecision — being floppy, wiggly, and bouncy are common.

• Clear signals and responses to signals, e.g., dog 1 rolls over to expose belly; dog 2 gives dog 1 space.

• Self-inhibiting, self-moderating, including breaks — resulting in relatively low levels of arousal, avoids being worn out to the point of dangerously exhausted.

• Participating in play willingly, including return to the play on their own after owner removal.

Bullying 

Dogs’ play does sometimes look like fighting, in that they may snap, nip, even appear to bite. Their mouths are often open, they may growl a bit. They play-fight, they chase, they fall — purposely, most of the time — and climb on each other. For some dogs, even mounting and humping are part of play. Here, however, are some indicators that one or more dogs may be crossing a line into bullydom:

• Fast, precise, predation-style chasing. Chasing to over-exhaustion, e.g., collapse.

• Not letting a playmate get away.

• Ganging up on a playmate.

• Ignoring back-off signals from another dog who, e.g., is on the bottom or being chased.

• Long chases or other interactions without breaks.

If you’re worried about your dog playing with a suspected bully, test your dog’s interest by recalling your dog away from the play, rewarding, then releasing to see if your dog chooses to go back to play.

The good news is, there are positive behavior modification and training solutions for play bullies! Contact your certified behavior consultant-trainer for assistance.

Rain Jordan, CBCC-KA, KPA CTP, is a certified canine behavior and training professional. Visit her at www.expertcanine.com.

Dogs’ play does sometimes look like fighting, in that they may snap, nip, even appear to bite.