Safety First: Five Things All New Puppy Owners Should Know

Training your new family member and keeping them safe are job numbers 1 and 2. photo: Adobe Stock

No matter how much you read about being a responsible puppy owner, there are some things you just can’t prepare for, as many discovered when they decided to bring a pandemic pup into their homes for the first time this past year. But between the chewing, the housetraining, and the nonstop antics, don’t forget that your first responsibility is keeping your new pup safe. 

With that in mind, here are five key pointers for safely socializing your adorable ball of fluff. 

1. When is it Safe to Venture Out and About with Your Pup?

Puppies need to be fully vaccinated before they are allowed to meet other vaccinated dogs out in the world. This doesn’t mean they can’t socialize as early as possible with other healthy puppies in clean environments.

Most puppies receive their first set of shots at six weeks, before they are even placed in their permanent home. At this point, they can play with other healthy puppies in environments that are considered “clean”, meaning away from grown/vaccinated dogs or grass that other animals/dogs have traversed. A private yard or playspace with other puppies is ideal. Avoid dog parks until your pup is fully vaccinated, but do seek out other puppy owners for safe play experiences. Many dog pros offer puppy socials so ask around!

2. Adult Dog Reactivity to Puppies: Understand It and Don’t Judge

Now that your pup is fully vaccinated, it’s safe to investigate dog parks. As a new puppy owner, you may have already noticed that some adult dogs are less receptive—or even reactive—to your pup’s attempts to play. This does not mean the other dog is “bad.” Aggressive displays may startle us humans, but it’s just that dog’s way of telling your pup that he is not comfortable with her getting in his face or near his human and to please stay away.

There are a multitude of reasons why an adult dog may be reacting to your puppy, but please do not assume that this dog is bad-natured or wrong in doing so. Respect it and move on.

Puppy owners need to exercise caution during early trips to the dog park. If your pup wants to approach adult dogs, ask the owner first if their dog is puppy tolerant. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

3. Understand and Prevent Predatory Drift

Predatory drift is an important concept to understand and prevent to keep dog parks safe. Here’s what happens: a smaller or younger dog gets overstimulated or perhaps experiences pain and cries out, exhibiting what all dogs instinctively recognize as prey behavior. Often the puppy will also run away quickly, drawing the attention of every dog in the park.

All dogs, having descended from wolves, retain some hard-wired predatory instincts. Many have buried this instinct through generations of breeding as pets. But they all have a switch that might flip if triggered by prey behaviors. Even the friendliest dog in the world has this instinct and, while it may never be triggered, it is always a possibility. Most dogs are not very easily triggered, but all it takes is one dog to flip, and the others at the dog park may well join in and gang up.

If your pup cries out shrilly in a dog park setting, understand that you need to quiet that pup down. Many think the situation will improve if they pick up their puppy, but I warn against this because most dogs will see this as an invitation to come and grab the toy. So what should you do? Kneel down and cover your pup with your body and also cover its eyes to immediately quiet it down. If you must pick up your dog, hold it close to your body, tucking its head inside your coat or in the crook of your arm.

Keep in mind that predatory drift is very different from ordinary aggressive displays. It’s always triggered by prey behaviors, while ordinary aggressive displays are frequent, normal, and usually just dogs communicating or negotiating for space or resources. Predatory drift is infrequent, intense, and scary, but being able to recognize it is key to keeping it from happening.

You’ll find more on predatory drift here.

4. Limiting Leash Aggression: Make Positive Associations

Passing another dog on-leash on a public street can be a lot more stressful for dogs than meeting that same dog off-leash at a park. First, their movements are being limited by the leash and their owner. Second, they are being forced to enter another dog’s space. Some owners may add to the confusion by jerking on their dog’s leash in an attempt to limit interactions, which the dog may interpret as a signal that their owner gets mad at them when other dogs are in sight. Thus, leash aggression is born.

Many times, humans just don’t understand that their actions may have unintended consequences. How do we make these misunderstandings less common and avoid the development of leash aggression in dogs? Instead of giving harsh leash “corrections” every time another dog is near, simply create a positive association when other dogs are near by using Distract/Reward techniques. I won’t belabor the details here, but you’re essentially training your dog to ignore distractions and look to you instead, with a treat or reward for checking in with you. This sounds easy, but like any training technique, it takes faithful repetition over time to really work.

By using this technique consistently whenever other dogs are around, your dog will start to associate seeing other on-leash dogs as less of a threat and more of a signal that good things (treats and praise) are on the way.

Always remember, it’s up to you to pay attention to your surroundings while walking your pup. Leave your phone in your pocket on these outings (yes, you can). Be aware of who’s walking towards you, and understand that the other dog may not want a puppy to come into its space.

5. Stay Vigilant and Don’t Take Unnecessary Risks

Recently, a video made the rounds of a brutal attack on a puppy by an adult dog standing outside of a café with his owner. Both were leashed, and the video of this attack was indeed disturbing, not just because the adult dog gave little warning before grabbing the puppy by his throat, but because nobody intervened or paid attention while the puppy excitedly and repeatedly jumped up at the older dog and tried to lick its face. The adult dog was standing stock-still, mouth closed (this is a warning sign that it is ready to bite), and clearly not happy about this. Neither the puppy’s owner nor the adult dog’s owner recognized the dog’s discomfort, either because they weren’t paying attention or because these are subtle signals that the average person or puppy can’t always properly read.

The moral of the story is that sometimes even an adult dog’s owner can be taken by surprise and not be good at reading their own dog’s signals. Puppy owners need to pay close attention to the dogs their puppies are approaching because it’s everyone’s responsibility, not just the other dogs’ owners. Familiarize yourself with dog body language and always, always ask other dog owners/walkers before allowing your puppy to try and play with them. Understand that things can and do escalate in a fraction of a second so you need to pay close attention to everything in these early days.

(For more information about dog body language, check out this great article, Dog Communication and Body Language, from Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. And for a fun visual of doggie body lingo, see Lili Chin’s awesome chart.)

If more first-time dog or puppy owners took the time to learn how dogs communicate and what they are saying with even the briefest of movements, we’d see less negative interactions between dogs, both on- and off-leash. So brush up on your dog etiquette, pay attention, and enjoy safer outings with your pup.