If you live in or near Seattle, you know that it snowed in the Puget Sound last night. We woke up to inches of blissful snow! Almost nobody is driving. I even saw two buses that are stuck on the road next to my house.
If you have a puppy, you should be especially happy about the snow. If you aren’t off of work because of the snow already, you should go home to take this chance to be with your puppy.
Why? Because puppyhood is for socialization and snow gives you a lot of chance to get your dog some new experiences. In particular:
- Kids in your neighborhood (there’s no school or work in Seattle today, so everybody’s outside playing!)
- Adults in funny outfits (some are wearing babies on their fronts like kangaroos, all have coats and hats.)
- People carrying funny things (sleds, usually).
- Other dogs. Don’t assume they all want to say hi, but dogs are in a good mood today. 🙂
- Snow!
Although you probably need not bother with the socializing your puppy with snow. Dogs have some sort of genetic love for snow. A client told me yesterday that snow was like dog crack. I changed it to cocaine because, well, it’s a lot more like snow than crack.
So get out there, enjoy the snow day in Seattle, but don’t forget your treats! Reward your puppy for not jumping up on the little snow bunnies. You can keep up a stead flow of treats to keep your puppy on land.
Or physically keep your dog from being able to jump: stand on your leash (with an inch or two of slack if puppy is standing) or crouch down and hold their harness/collar during the greeting, so you need not reprimand him and ruin the fun.
Remember, any time spent around kids right now should be all pleasant, while you keep the puppy from learning bad habits like jumping. If you only ever going out of your way to socialize your puppy with one Scary Monster, it should be children. They are on the top of the scary list and also the most vulnerable to bad dog bites.
On today’s walk, Peanut and I encountered the most kids we have ever seen. So today is your chance to socialize easily with kids! Then come home and let your dog rest. They need a ton of that, too, to help recover from the stress (even fun stress) of meeting all of those people.
