Do you often bring your dog to the dog park? Are you a dog daycare that wants to gain better insight into playgroups? Maybe you're a shelter considering starting up playgroups as part of an enrichment program? Or maybe you just want to better deepen your knowledge about dogs in groups? If yes to either of those questions - then this blog post is for you!
We have probably all heard it in one way or another - bringing your dog to daycare or to the dog park is a great way to socialize your dog! Not only is this statement inherently incorrect - it can also lead to a lot of issues down the line if we don't understand why it's incorrect, and how to better understand the pros and cons of playgroups.
So, to begin with, we want to investigate the word "socialization". When it comes to the dog world - this word actually means something different than what it is usually meant to communicate. Socialization is a developmental phase that usually occurs when a puppy is between 3 weeks old to around 12-16 weeks old. This means, a dog older than 16 weeks is actually not able to socialize. This developmental phase is crucial for dogs to build core memories and associations as well as to habituate to different types of stimulus. If we are proactive with puppies we can use this to our advantage, by for example introduce them to humans, dogs, cats, busses, cars, city environments, novel surfaces and scents and so on, in order to create distress tolerance, positive associations or neutrality to environments and experiences we know our dogs will encounter frequently. During socialization we want to focus more on neutrality and safety rather than anything else, socialization should be as effortless and without pressure as possible. Watching people or observing other dogs from a distance together with a few calm and safe interactions is much more important and effective than interacting with an unlimited amount of people and dogs just for the sake of interaction. We want our dogs to feel safe and in control rather than overwhelmed and overaroused. This means that when we talk about puppy socialization - playing with other dogs, especially in groups - should be a very small part of that.
As our dogs mature more, the socialization window closes and we can't really affect our dogs in the same way anymore. If they're scared or nervous around other dogs after the age of 16 weeks - we need a much more structured and thought out plan to change that. We can't simply just go to the dog park and hope our dogs will "socialize", on the contrary, we might actually just excacerbate the problem by doing so. To better understand why this is we also need to really understand the dynamics of dog-dog interactions and how larger play groups actually affect our dogs.
Technically, by definition, dogs aren't pack animals. They are considered social animals, since they do not form packs with their own species - and technically they don't form packs with humans either. A pack animal is generally considered a family group of an adult breeding pair and their offspring. Our dogs are closest to forming packs with humans since their role of our dyad is the role of an offspring while our role of the dyad is of the adult, they do however not form these pack dynamics with their own species. Dogs in the wild, stray dogs or street dogs form temporary alliances to scavange for food or to mate, but once mated they go separate ways. The pups grow up to go their separate ways as well. All of these things are not typical for canidae species. Our dogs domestication process has morphed them into something slightly in between a solitary animal and a pack animal, they can co-operate with other dogs but also understand they benefit more from the human-dog dyad, however, they sort of need to be invited into the human-dog dyad, so their preferences might be forming social groups with humans but their default is to be largely on their own. This is actually very interesting and also very important in order for us to understand how to properly have them interact with other dogs. Because not all dogs like other dogs, and that is completely normal, species appropriate behavior!
When we introduce our dog to another group of dogs we want to think about a couple of things. The first thing we want to be aware of is that all unfamiliar dogs and unpredictable playgroups we put together is going to be confusing and unstable at first. Dogs need time to get to know each other, it takes time for them to assert social hierarchies within the group - these things can't happen in the span of 30 minutes. It will usually take weeks to have a stable and well functioning group of dogs. The second thing we want to think about is that not all dogs enjoy spending time with other dogs. Some dogs are super sociable but most dogs are dog selective. This means they are picky with who they want to keep in their inner circle (I relate big time to that honestly). The third thing we want to keep in mind is that a huge amount of the dogs living in the modern human world are extremely socially incompetent! This is something we have sort of brought on to ourselves by generations of misunderstanding dog body languague, dog behavior and the needs of our canine companions. Generations of improper socialization and superficial, random interactions are causing epigenetics of lower sociability. This doesn't mean our dogs don't necessarily have a desire to be social, it rather means they have no clue how to properly be social. A puppy needs a well socialized older dog who is tolerant and able to properly teach communication skills. This is something most of our puppies lack. Instead, either they get over corrected by intolerant older dogs, overaroused with same age puppies or they get thrown into playgroups with unfamiliar dogs and are forced to try and navigate those sometimes very traumatizing experiences with the few skills they have. What do they tend to learn from those interactions? Survival skills - how do I get out of this situation alive? For some dogs this means appeasement gestures and fawning, for some dogs this means functional freeze responses, for some dogs this means flight responses and for some it means fight responses. Neither of those responses are sociable skills based in safety, they are survival strategies rooted in high levels of stress.
So if we put all of these things together, all of a sudden it makes a lot of sense to why play groups tend to be quite chaotic, right?! Play groups with over 8 dogs is on it's own a stressor, and if those large playgroups are inconsistent and unpredictable they are going to be extremely stressful for our dogs. When creating playgroups we want to have predictability, stability and consistency. Meaning, we want the same or a similar playgroup consistently over time. Preferably a smaller group. We also want to make sure that there is more down time/rest time than it is playtime. Preferably, if in a facility, the down time is provided separately, with comfy and roomy kennels as well as tons of enrichment and decompression opportunities.
So the next time you're thinking about visiting the dog park - ask yourself if you're actually truly able to tell, by the communicative signals and behaviors your dog is expressing, that they're enjoying themselves? Are you able to effectively observe calming signals, threathening signals, displacement behaviors, overarousal, stress and fear, conflicting behaviors and fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses? Even well experienced professionals who studies these things have a hard time picking up on these things with the naked eye, we usually need to examine footage in slow motion to fully catch all the signals and understand the context of the signals to truly understand the communication being "spoken". A fight or a scuffle never occurs for "no reason", we are simply too slow in our observation skills to pick up on the constant communication between our furry friends. It happens fast and it is subtle. Could you consider the fact that maybe there are other activities that are more beneficial for your dog than entering the dog park?
If you're a dog daycare or a shelter offering play groups - could you consider the fact that maybe the environment you're providing is not suitable for dogs? Are you able to make adjustments to accomodate the wellbeing of your clients? Are you able to recognize that maybe you didn't have the full picture of what is beneficial for dogs when starting your business up? Are you able to make changes to make sure your facility is striving to maintain health, wellness and safety for your canine clients? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, good news! There are so many things you could do to improve your existing business or organization! You could change the structure and size of your playgroups, the human:dog ratio, the routines of playtime vs resttime, the rotation of playgroups vs restgroups, you could implement enrichment programs, get better behavior assessments implemented for new clients to ensure you have good fits for your facility, there's education available for staff, you can change your rates and the structure of payment/services to ensure you're not losing revenue while simultaneously re-focusing on healthy playgroups over larger playgroups. There really are so many things you can consider and change to make sure your canine clients are thriving!
It is never too late to change, there is absolutely no shame in changing. The only shame is in remaining the same and expecting things to change.
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