Shyla's Socialization: An Update

I have been continuing the rewarding process of socializing Shyla. Since I never take out my camera in town when we are doing our training, I'll pepper this post with some photos taken near our home.

She's been with us now for about 9 months or about half of her life. She's come a very long way in those 9 months, reaching a point where I sometimes forget that she is much more sensitive (to the point of being fearful) than any dog I've had before. She wears a Thundershirt almost all the time when we are in town - and it seems to help her immensely.

Over those 9 months, Shyla has come to truly understand that she's part of our family. She loves her brother, and she adores the Runner.

Since our trip to the desert, we've been to town a bunch of times for training. "Town" is a very different place in the summer than the rest of the year. The sidewalks and parks are teeming with people, and many more children are out during the day than Shyla has ever seen. However, as long as I stay focused on her and helping her through the tough spots, she has done amazingly well in adapting to the mayhem.

We recently went to a park that where I've done socialization training with her many times over the past 9 months. Sometimes, I feel silly about it because there are so few people there. When we visited last week, insanity had erupted. Children ran screaming everywhere, scooters and bikes zoomed along the paths, older kids played lacrosse and ultimate frisbee, and men walked around talking loudly on cell phones (an odd trigger for fear in Shyla).

When I first saw the scene, I almost turned out of the parking lot and went someplace else. However, my trainer's advice has been to start challenging Shyla more. Shyla now trusts me enough that she bounces back rapidly after "losing it" in a fit of fear. A "fear fit" consists of darting movements, lowering her body, pinning her ears back, and hiding behind me. Fortunately, Shyla doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in her body. Many dogs handle fear by being aggressive. Instead, Shyla shrinks and tries to be invisible.

On that day in the park, we "warmed up" by walking side streets near the park to let Shyla get used to the noises of children playing and screaming. Then, we started circling the park, gradually getting closer and closer, using our BAT techniques to let Shyla control how fast we approached. Believe it or not, we reached a point where we walked into the middle of the mayhem, ever so briefly, and Shyla was FINE!!! It was a proud moment.

Due to successes like that one, I find myself occasionally forgetting about Shyla's sensitivities. Yesterday, we went to a dog training class in town - and Shyla was a star. We attend the classes for socialization (the class is held in outdoor locations around town) - and Shyla was exuberant despite lots of potentially scary things like a rowdy off-leash dog (not from the class) who charged her.

After her happy-go-lucky demeanor in class, I swung by the vet's office to weigh Shyla - and she seemed happy to visit the office. Then, I decided to do a quick errand at a dog-friendly hardware store. I took Shyla in with me but forgot about her "issues" as I grabbed a few items quickly. As I shopped, she became skittish and scared. In my rush, I'd accidentally taken her too close to loud children, hand carts, and other scary things. My mistake... After I realized my error, I felt that I'd put her too far "over threshold" to make it into a good experience so I simply ran her to the car and forgot about the shopping.

The difference between the Shyla of 9 months ago and the Shyla of today is that we returned to the same store today, and she was fine. Nine months ago, she would have remained wary of that store for weeks. Of course, today, I was more careful than yesterday to let her "warm up" to the scene by approaching it at Shyla's pace, and I was much more generous in rewarding confident behavior. But, the fact that yesterday's bad experience was already erased from her memory banks was a huge victory!

I'm now fairly sure that Shyla will never be "bomb-proof" in town. I'll always need to be aware of her demeanor and how she's reacting to the world. However, she's come an incredible distance since I met her. Sometimes, strangers can't tell that she's a sensitive/fearful dog. In contrast, 9 months ago, everyone who met her could tell that I was rehabilitating a fearful dog.

It certainly has driven home the importance of socialization as a young puppy. We systematically socialized all of our previous puppies, and they have all been able to handle the bustle of town without problems. That includes R, who only visits town occasionally but handles it without a hitch every time.

Shyla missed out on that socialization program when she was young, and, having missed that window of time when her brain was primed to learn about a broad array of things, it's hard to make up for it. But, both she and I are doing our very best, and I think that she's become an incredibly happy dog!

Even if she doesn't continue to improve (which I think is unlikely), I am now comfortable with Shyla's level of confidence as she navigates the world, and that says a lot!