As stated in Part 1 of Socialising Your New Puppy (access Part 1 by clicking on the blue link), raising and training a pup to be people-friendly is the second most important goal of pet dog husbandry.

In Part 1 Dr Ian Dunbar covered the first of the 3 goals of socialisation

1. Teaching your puppy to like and respect people.

In Part 2 of Socialising Your New Puppy, Dr Dunbar covers the remaining 2 goals of socialisation:

2. Handling and gentling
3. Guarding valued objects

Goal 2: Handling and gentling

Your puppy needs to be handled by

• Familiar people before unfamiliar people,
• Adults before children
• Women before men, and
• Girls before boys

As with the socialisation exercises, adult family members need to accustom the pup to enjoy being handled and gently restrained, so that your puppy knows and enjoys the handling and gentling games before strangers and children become involved.

Hugging/restraint

This is the fun part - you get to hug your puppy!

Provided your pup was handled frequently prior to weaning and especially neonatally, at 8 weeks of age it should go as limp as a noodle whenever picked up and settle down as relaxed as a ragdoll on your lap. Even if it didn't have plentiful early handling, these exercises are easy at 8 weeks of age compared to a hard-to-handle adolsecent, so start now!

• Pick up your pup, put it on your lap, and hook one finger around its collar so it doesn't jump off.
• Slowly and repetitively stroke the pup along the top of its head and back in an attempt to get it to settle down in any position it finds comfortable.
• If it is squirming, soothingly massage its chest or the base of its ears. Once it is relaxed, lay the pup on its back for a soothing tummy rub in a repetitive circular motion.
• While your puppy is calm and relaxed, periodically pick it up to give it a short hug.
• Gradually and progressively increase the length of the hugs (restraint).
• After a while, pass the puppy to someone else and have them repeat the above exercises.

Handling/examination

Teaching your 8-week-old puppy to enjoy being handled and examined is as easy as it is essential. Many dogs have a number of 'hotspots', which if not defused in puppyhood can be extremely sensitive to touch e.g. the ears, paws, muzzle, collar area and rear end.

Once your puppy is happy being handled and examined by family members, it is time to play pass the puppy with your guests. Remember to praise your pup for getting things right, not punish it for getting things wrong. Punishment isn't an effective way of controlling a dog - it usually indicates ineffective training plus causes the dog to dislike both the trainer and training.

Collar

It is important to teach your puppy to enjoy being grabbed by the collar, rather than react defensively.

While playing at home, or later at the park, frequently interrupt puppy play sessions by taking your puppy by the collar, asking it to sit, praising it, offering a piece of kibble, and then letting it go play again. Thus, the puppy learns that being taken by the collar is not necessarily the end of the play session.

Never lead or drag your puppy into confinement as it will no doubt come to dislike being taken by the collar, as it will come to dislike confinement. Instead, teach your puppy to enjoy confinement. Stuff some hollow chew toys with kibble in your puppy's confinement area, and then close the door with your puppy on the outside. In no time at all, your puppy will beg to go inside. Now simply instruct your pup , 'Go to your doggy den/bed/crate' and open the door. Your pup will happily rush inside and settle down peacefully with its chew toys.

Above all, NEVER call your puppy to you and then grab it by the collar to reprimand or punish. Doing this just once will make it hate coming when called and hate your reaching for its collar. If you punish your pup after it comes to you, it will take longer to come the next time. Eventually slow recalls will be no recalls.

Object-guarding is a common problem with family dogs, and will develop throughout puppyhood if owners allow it to.

First, make sure that your puppy develops a strong chew toy habit. If it always wants to play with its chew toys, it will not seek out inappropriate objects which need to be taken away.

Additionally, you have to teach your puppy to voluntarily relinquish its chew toys upon request, by teaching it that giving up the object doesn't mean losing it for good.

Your puppy should learn that giving up bones, toys, etc. means receiving something better in return - praise and treats (or play) - and also later getting back the original object.

Exchanging Valued Commodities for Treats

Start working with objects that both you and your pup can hold at the same time e.g. a rolled newspaper or Kong on a rope.

Firstly, hold the object yourself and instruct the puppy to 'leave it'. Then waggle the object in front of its muzzle enticingly and praise the puppy when it 'takes it'. Don't let go of the object.

Say, 'Puppy, thank you', stop waggling the object to encourage your puppy to stop tugging, and with your other hand waggle a very tasty treat (freeze-dried liver) in front of its nose. Praise your puppy as soon as it opens its mouth and you have regained full possession of the object.

Continue praising as you offer one, two, or three treats, then instruct your pup to take the object again and repeat the procedure. When your puppy has promptly relinquished the object upon request five times in a row, you may let go of the object each time. Now you are ready to work with smaller objects e.g. tennis balls, kong toys etc. Once your pup eagerly takes and receives promptly, simply drop or toss the object and say 'Thank you'.

Retrieving is a lot of fun. Puppies love retrieving and quickly develop confidence about surrendering objects. Puppies think it's a great deal. They temporarily swap their toys for treats, the owner safely holds the toy while they enjoy the treat, and then they get the toy back to exchange for more treats. If your pup offers too many unsolicited presents, simply instruct it, 'Take it to your bed', which is a great way to teach your puppy to 'fetch' and clean up its toys!

Bones & Food Bowls

A puppy may become protective and defensive if allowed to chew a bone in private and without interruption. Until you are quite comfortable taking bones away from your puppy, never let it have a bone on its own. Instead, instruct 'Leave It' and 'Take It' as before, but hold on to the bone as your puppy chews. Periodically say, 'Thank you!' and waggle a very tasty treat in front of the puppy's nose as you withdraw the bone. Hold the bone as the puppy eats the treats and then instruct the pup to sit and lie down before repeating the sequence over and over.

Hold your pup's bowl while it eats kibble. Offer tasty treats and handle the puppy, and it will learn its dinners are more enjoyable when people are present. Let the puppy eat kibble from its bowl, offer a tasty treat, and then temporarily remove the bowl as the pup enjoys the treat. Then try removing the bowl prior to offering a treat. If it growls, remove the bowl and wait until it stops growling. Once the puppy stops growling, praise it, back up, and have it sit and lie down, give back the object and repeat the procedure.

Sit with your puppy while it is eating and have family and friends walk by. Each time someone approaches, spoon as mall dollop of canned food on top of the kibble. Your puppy will quickly make the association between approaching people and juicy canned food (or meat) being added to its kibble.

Lastly, get your pup to sit and wait for its dinner. Pop one piece of kibble in and casually walk away. When your puppy begs for more, walk over, pick up its bowl, place in one more piece of kibble, wait for your pup to sit, and then put its bowl on the floor. Your pup will become calmer and its manners will improve with each 'course'. Also, by feeding your puppy's dinner in many small courses it will welcome your approaches.

Author Dr Ian Dunbar is a veterinarian and animal behaviourist. He is the Director of the Center for Applied Animal Behaviour (Berkeley, California) and  founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (US) and host of the popular British TV series Dogs With Dunbar. Ian is the author of numerous books and videos on dog behaviour.

Article reprinted with permission from the author and Petalia A world of Petcare www.petalia.com.au Petalia & My Local Guide make no representations about, and accepts no responsibility or liability for, the accuracy or currency of the information provided.