Social Gatherings During The Early Training Phase-Helping Or Hurting?

00:00 — Kati introduces the dilemma of including dogs in summer gatherings without undermining their training.

Summer is finally here. It feels like we've waited forever, at least it does to me here in the Northeast. And, uh, now that this glorious weather is here, um, people are getting out there with their dogs. And you might be getting out there with your dog, or you might be having some family get-togethers, going to some barbecues or on camping trips, and you're kind of wondering, gee, should I take my dog? And how do I include my dog? Like, what is the best way for me to include my dog in all of the stuff and not sacrifice their training and not create setbacks for us?

And so that is what we are going to dig into today. Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered. Trigger warning. I'm Kati Peppe delivering the truth in dog training. Welcome back to another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. I'm Kati Peppe, owner of Diamond K9 Dog Training in Biddeford, Maine, and we specialize in e-collar training here, both for off-leash obedience and behavior modification, helping people stop all those really annoying unwanted behaviors ranging from simple stuff like jumping and barking and digging holes all the way to the more serious stuff, the serious reactivity, aggressive stuff, resource guarding, uh, and separation anxiety and, and other anxiety.

We specialize in, uh, a lot of state of mind work.

e-collar is a fantastic tool for state of mind work if you didn't know. So you can do so much with it. Uh, we use it to get that nice off-leash reliability. We use it to disagree with and correct unwanted behaviors, and we use it to help get your dog into just a calmer, more stable state of mind. Excellent, excellent training programs that we offer, uh, that help people learn to use the tools in that manner with their dog. So that's, that's mostly what we do. We also offer puppy training, and this podcast is here for us to share everything we know and everything we do every day and everything we talk about with our clients, uh, with you guys.

And without further ado, I wanna dig into, dig into summer with your dog, right? So summer's finally here, we've waited forever for summer in New England.

It's just been raining and it was cold forever too. And it's, it's gonna be 90 degrees and sunny out there. I'm absolutely loving it. This is my kind of weather. Uh, Niblet does not agree. My pug, they do not love the heat. They're not heat lovers <laugh>. So, but we have the top off the Jeep, and so he is, he's riding okay, as long as we're moving, he's, um, tolerating it pretty all right, <laugh>, and we still, we're, we still have the air conditioner on, so I'm the only one on the road that has the top off the Jeep and the air conditioner on, uh, pointed, of course, right at the pug, right?

03:00 — Barbecues, reunions, and parties prompt Kati to examine the challenges of bringing dogs along.

So he can stay cool <laugh>, and he's doing just fine. Uh, but anyway, it occurred to me the other day that, uh, as I was out at a party, it occurred to me that that's what everyone's doing, right?

They're having get-togethers, barbecues, family reunions, uh, you know, all that sort of stuff. Um, so much fun. Love it. Love when people can include their dog. And I know a lot of people wanna do that. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the challenges that we face when we want to involve our dogs in those events. Um, because we're either just not prepared for the challenges, you know, or maybe we're just not even thinking about what they're gonna be. We're just kind of winging it, right? So we just kind of throw the dog into the mix and we haven't given it any thought.

We don't really know what it should look like, and then we're just kind of floundering around through the awkward moments, <laugh>. And then in the end, in retrospect, we look back on it and we're like, that could have gone better, right?

Even if it didn't go bad, we're kind of like, you know, I'm putting all this time into training my dog and working with my dog, and then like, we go to this event and I just kind of let them pull me around and do, you know, stuff that just isn't productive. And so it's like, okay, what do you do? It's like, okay, if you're me, right, which you're not, and most people listening to this are not. Um, but if you were, you know, you're gonna be super, super vigilant about it, right? So I always err on the side of the caution.

I always err on the side of I'm just not even gonna bring my dog or involve my dog unless I feel totally comfortable and confident that this is gonna be a productive experience. Productive meaning it's gonna be under control. I feel confident.

Um, and that we're not gonna have setbacks, right? We're not going to damage what we've already done. Um, and that's not to say anyone's going to be perfect or the dog's gonna be perfect or like that I'm ever perfect, but, you know, it's not like you can't make mistakes. Like, that's not what I'm saying, but like, I'm not gonna involve my dog if I know that we're gonna go backwards. Like there's just no point. Like, why would I do that? That would just be silly. So, but here's the thing that I really got thinking about.

If you really wanna know the truth, what I got thinking about is most people aren't me, right? So they wanna involve their dogs in this stuff, and they're not really thinking about it, right? They're just having a barbecue and they just bring their dog out because they're not dog trainers.

06:00 — Owners with training goals need to plan their dogs’ participation rather than simply include…

Like they're just people having a barbecue who own a dog <laugh>, right? So, and that's fine. Like people can do whatever they want with their dogs in their house, et cetera. But if you're one of those folks that actually wants things to look a little different, wants things to look a little better, and you do have goals, then you should not fall into that camp. You should be one of those people that is thinking about it. So I, I think the finite point there that I wanna make is that you do have to be intentional.

Hey, <laugh>, there's Nibbler starting to get into a little bit of trouble. Um, you do have to be intentional when you decide, alright, I want to train my dog. I want things to look a little bit better and different with my dog. So you ha—you can't fall into that camp anymore where you just throw your dog into the mix, right?

Everything has to be a little bit more thoughtful. And so I think just that alone is more of a challenge than I really appreciated for the average person. Um, because not only do they have to be more intentional and thoughtful, because I think like most of my clients are, I would say they are, but they are then surrounded by people who don't get it because they're not in that camp and they don't have that situation with their dog or in their household because maybe they don't care or maybe they don't have a dog or whatever the case may be.

And so now you, right? You're not a dog trainer, you're just a dog owner having a barbecue and you want your dog to behave a certain way. You wanna shape their experience in a certain way. And, and no one else there. It's not even necessarily that they don't get it or that they judge you, although that's certainly there a lot of the time too.

Um, but they're just not even thinking about it, right? It's just not a thing to them. It's like the furthest thing from their mind. And so you have to be really proactive and really willing to shape that experience. And if you don't want to, if there's nothing else you hear during this whole podcast, hear this. If you are trying to train your dog, if it's important to you that your dog does learn the way you want 'em to learn, that you shape things to look different and better, you want their experiences to be productive, forward-moving experiences with training.

Um, if you don't wanna do that, if you don't wanna be the proactive, thoughtful, intentional, controlling things with your dog during an event like that, then just don't bring them. Don't bring them. Okay? So I went to a party the other day and I did not bring Niblet even though I know I could have.

09:00 — Niblet’s current goals emphasize boundaries and self-control rather than greeting every child at a…

'Cause these are people that I, I know very well that I'm close with. Um, and there are gonna be lots of kids there who would love to see Niblet and, and Niblet's very social and very friendly. Um, but that's not what I want for him right now. I don't want—he now is getting a little bit older and we're moving into the, okay, we don't need to socialize with everybody. We don't need to meet everybody. We need to learn boundaries and self-control. And so that means I would be at this party and I would just be fighting kids off and telling kids no, and like disappointing kids the whole time.

<laugh>, right? So, and nothing wrong with that. Nothing, nothing at all wrong with telling a child they can't touch your dog. That's normally what I advocate for people to do. Um, I really, really condemn actually letting kids ever touch your dog.

Um, but sometimes, you know, you have a toy breed. You have a puppy who's super social, super friendly. Maybe you let kids pet your dog, right? So I've definitely let kids pet Nib—Niblet before. Um, but we're done with that now. And so for me to bring him into an environment where I know there's gonna be a lot of people around and there's gonna be a lot of kids around, um, and they're all gonna wanna say hi to him, and I don't want that, well then I have a decision to make. I can go and I can tell them all no, which is fine, right?

But to me, if I had to weigh the options, it's like, I'm just gonna leave him at home.

I'm just not going to bring him. And that's okay too, right? So you don't have to include your dog and have those moments where you have to set the boundaries. You have to explain why you're setting the boundaries, not that you owe anyone an explanation, right? But most people do that. They're gonna say, no, we're training, we're doing this, we're doing that. Um, if you don't want to have those interactions, then just don't include your dog. That's okay. You can still train your dog. You don't have to include them in everything. Sometimes you just want to kick back, right?

And like, enjoy the barbecue, have a brewski <laugh>, and not have to worry about what the dog is doing. Not have to worry about giving the dog feedback, not have to worry about telling people, no, you can't touch my dog. Like, just don't bring him, right?

And then just make sure that you are intentional and proactive about creating other training opportunities for your dog outside. Like, you don't have to go to every event with your dog, right? It's like, no, you can set up, set up a time the next day to like go to the park or go to a store and like walk by people or even, you know, meet a friend and ask the friend if they can just like walk by you with their dog, whatever it is. Like, you don't wanna, if you don't wanna have that experience at the barbecue or the party or the family reunion or whatever it is, then just don't bring them and your dog will be fine in a kennel all day.

12:00 — Kati discusses boarding requests and reassures owners about leaving their dogs kenneled at home…

Like, no, it's not my favorite. It's not anyone's favorite, but that's life and they will be fine. So I actually do have clients who will board their dog with me because they don't wanna leave them in a kennel all day.

And that's okay. Like, I don't have a problem with that per se, and I'm happy to do it. And a lot of times I'm really happy to get to touch base with the dog again. Um, but what I hope those folks know is that their dog is fine if they stay home and count, it's fine. Like, if I'm full and I can't take them, don't skip your event or whatever your plans were for that day, just put your dog away. They, they'll be okay. I promise you they're not gonna die in their kennel. Um, it's not their whole life.

It's one day. It's gonna come and it's gonna go and it's gonna be over with and everything's gonna be fine. Um, so, and I get it because I used to be that person. Um, and I've definitely had to force myself out of that mindset and to relax.

I used to be that person that couldn't leave the dog in a kennel all day. Um, you know, even if I really had to or like, it'd be like, oh my God, I have to rush home. I have to get the dog out. They've been in there for six hours. Oh my God, dog's fine. Dog's fine. So I'm not saying don't make it a priority, right? But don't panic, don't stress yourself out. You're gonna have a heart attack, your dog's fine. Put him away. <laugh> Really, it's okay. Um, but anyway, what if you are having an event at your own house and you want to involve your dog, right?

You maybe you intentionally bought a dog that you knew was more likely to trend on the friendly, happy social side. Um, and as they started to grow up, that turned out to be exactly true. Their personality is very happy, lovey, um, and social. And so when you have a social gathering, you're like, this is exactly why I got a dog. I wanna involve my dog. This is where things get a little hairy because yes, you have a happy lovey social friendly dog and that's wonderful. Couldn't be happier for you, by the way, that's way better than having the opposite dog <laugh>.

But

Is training important to you? Are you trying to shape certain behaviors? Because here's another point, another big takeaway hopefully, um, from this podcast for you is you might really wanna train your dog. You might have training goals and you might really wanna involve your dog in your social events and have them be part of it, but you can't prioritize both, right? So there's really no such thing as equal priority, at least not when they're competing goals. So I'll say that again, there's no such thing as equal priority when they are competing goals, right? So saying my dog's behavior is important to me and I wanna train them to have manners, to listen to me around distractions and to be able to shut off and be calm and to not do any of that awful annoying stuff like jump on people, um, and just be all over them.

16:00 — During early training, unrestricted greetings and repeated excitement compete with obedience goals.

And I also want my dog to be out making out with everybody. <laugh> Of course, I'm not being literal there, but for my dog to just be outside, running around, wagging their tail, running up to everyone, getting all kinds of love. If you're early in your training, those are competing goals, right? So that situation I just described, where your dog is out running around saying hi to everybody and getting love, that comes post-training <laugh>, if you have training goals, right? Then the training needs to come first, otherwise it will not happen because you cannot give your dog free rein.

You cannot allow your dog to have that cycle of overexcitement completing all the time in their brain, um, and train them at the same time.

Those are competing goals and they kind of cancel one another out. So you, well, that's not really true. It cancels the training out <laugh>, right? And so again, who am I to tell anyone else how to live with their dog? Like, if you don't care, then I don't care, right? Unless I'm a guest at your house and your dog is like jumping on me and, you know, tearing at my clothes, then I'm probably going to leave and not come back <laugh>. But, um, a lot of people have really well-behaved social dogs and they don't care that much about having them well-trained, and that's their prerogative a hundred percent.

Um, but hopefully those people aren't calling me because that's not what I do. <laugh>, right? So a lot. So when someone looks at me and they're like, well, I don't get it, like I want my dog to, it's like, okay, but then why are you here? Because like we already know your dog can do that. We already know your dog can run around and like love on everybody. That's not what I teach.

It's not that you can't do it, it's just not what you're paying me for. So people hire me to teach them how to train their dog and a lot of times to train their dog directly as well, but to teach them how to train their dog to be well-behaved and to listen around distractions and how to be calm on command. And so those are the things I teach. And you simply cannot give your dog the feedback to teach those things while they're running around being all crazy, even if they are sweet and well-behaved, right?

These are just conflicting goals. Um, so here's my advice. Like if you want to involve your dog in these things, then you have to just swallow this pill that it's going to be a little bit of work. This doesn't mean it's gonna be hard, but it means that experience you want of just like bringing your dog out, taking the leash off, letting them like mill around and say hi to people.

19:00 — Early training requires feedback on choices, command practice, and accountability rather than unrestricted mingling.

You're not there yet. You're going to have to wait for that, right? Again, 'cause you can't have both. Like during the early training phase, you need to focus on controlling everything. So dog makes choices, you're giving them feedback, you're practicing commands, you're holding them accountable for them. That's the stuff you need to be doing. So, and I can give some really clear examples too, in case like you're going, well, what does that look like? If I had a barbecue at my house? Now my dog is a little bit different because even though he actually is quote unquote friendly and social, um, and really likes attention, he's really insecure and kind of suspicious.

So he'll run right up to someone to get attention. But then if they're looking at him in the eyes, he gets really unsure and he starts growling. He is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you wanna fight?

Is that what's happening here? <laugh>, it's ridiculous. Um, and then he'll get over it pretty fast, right? But we don't do that because that's not a good thing to let happen. So I teach my dog to mind his business, but even say Niblet, right? Who's just starting out his e-collar training here in a few days at the end of the month, if I were to bring my little Niblet pug puppy outside and I'm having a barbecue and I've got a bunch of people over, um, what that's gonna look like is I'm gonna put him on a leash and I'm gonna open the door.

He is gonna see all these people out there and stuff going on. Like maybe there's music, he's gonna lots of food, right? Uh, there's no pulling me through the door. There's no even going through the door at all until I say you're going through the door, right?

So we train doors a certain way here. Um, I talk about that quite a bit where I don't tell the dog what to do, I just let 'em make a choice. I tell 'em if it's the wrong choice, right? So right off the bat, my dog's in this mindset of I'm not fully autonomous. Um, I don't control thresholds and doorways and I listen to my handler. I'm not allowed to just go do anything I want. So it kind of sets the tone from the beginning. So I open the door, he doesn't go out, then I invite him through the door, right?

And we go walking around. And if he gets out ahead of me and he is putting tension on that leash, there's gonna be a good leash pop, maybe a tap on the e-collar, maybe both, right? You can't pull me, even if we're not walking in a heel, he still can't pull me, right?

And so if your dog is out ahead of you pulling on the leash, that's no good, especially if you're on a prong, which hopefully you are because your dog is learning every every second that that leash is tight, your dog is learning to ignore that pressure. So you're literally training them that it means nothing, right? So the second that leash is tight has to be a good leash pop to say, hey, you can't make that leash tight. So now right off the bat, we have the door, which gets them into a little bit different of a state of mind, brings that arousal down, uh, they're more engaged, then it's no tight leash, no pulling me.

22:00 — The dog practices sitting beside the handler during a conversation instead of automatically greeting…

So now again, we're wiring that dog to be less aroused, less independent, more handler-oriented. Um, and then, you know, maybe we're gonna walk up to somebody and we're gonna chat for a minute, but the dog's not gonna say hi.

They're just not gonna, right? The dog is going to be taught to just stay sitting next to me while I talk to this person. And if you're one of those people that want your dog to be social and they do enjoy it, and there's very, very little risk of anything going sideways, like if that's what you wanna do, I don't recommend it. Um, but if you're one of those people that's going to do that, then, you know, if my dog behaved perfectly and was like sitting there with no problem, was totally calm, then maybe at some point I would say, yeah, go ahead.

You can say hi, right? And so then I would monitor that interaction, and if my dog jumped, I would correct him. Um, or if he did anything else rude, I would correct him. Um, but again, that's not the sort of thing I do, but lots of people do.

I get it. Um, but you know, I would say if I was going to give advice to someone that is going to do that, your dog needs to be in a good state of mind. If you're really having to manage your dog and, and nag and, and give the command over and over again or, or correct him over and over again for getting overexcited, like he can hardly contain it and he is overwhelmed, that's not a good time to say hi. You, you have to work on the hard stuff, guys, which is, you're not gonna say hi, you're gonna just sit next to me.

Um, and if they're handling that fine and they're totally calm and basically they get to a point where that's easy, then yeah, right? I guess that's kind of the key. If it's not easy for your dog, then they shouldn't be going and greeting anybody because you are prioritizing social interactions, um, and other people's feelings and your warm fuzzies over your dog's training.

And again, you can't prioritize both of them. One of those things is gonna take the number one spot on your priority list. It's up to you, right? So we're gonna go out, we're gonna chat with someone, we're not gonna say hi, we're just gonna walk around and see everything and smell everything. And my job is just to give my dog feedback. That's it, right? It's not that I can't give him any commands, I can, but even in between commands, my job is to just let him make some choices and give them some feedback, right? If he pulls me, it's a no.

If he tries to get food off the grill, that's a no, right? A no is always followed by a correction. Of course, I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you that, right? You're all experts at this point.

25:00 — Gatherings provide opportunities to practice boundaries and calmly sit or lie down amid people,…

Um, but so my dog gets to experience like this social event and all these people and all these sounds and visuals and all these smells and all this food, and they get to just experience these are what the boundaries are and I'm actually able to just sit down or lay down and be calm, right? And we're gonna do mostly that until it's really easy. And I notice that my dog doesn't need me to correct things anymore. Like they've learned not to do them, uh, which shouldn't take long, but it depends on how often they're in this kind of a situation.

And then if I wanna just let my dog say hi to people or mill around a little bit, again, not my preference, but if I was one of those people that was going to do that, um, then we're in a position where I can do that now because I've taken the time to teach my dog all the important stuff first, right?

But I can't stress enough how much just allowing the over-arousal and the pulling and like the straining on the leash is counterproductive, right? You, you never want your dog pulling on the leash. So if they're pulling on the leash and then they're being rewarded for that by saying hi and getting all kinds of affection from people, that really, really works against you. Um, so definitely, definitely not a great idea. And so it's not like, you know, we're trying to be super militant or like take away the enjoyment of the social event that you wanna include your dog in.

But it, you can only prioritize one or the other, like training or warm fuzzies. Like you can't have them both at the same time. You have to do the work first if training is important to you. Um, which I think most people listening to this, obviously it would be or you wouldn't be here <laugh>.

So, so think of it like, okay, like we're gonna go out, I'm gonna include my dog, which is awesome, right? But I'm gonna spend, I'm gonna prioritize giving my dog feedback over just letting him romp around and do whatever he wants and be autonomous, right? Because it's really hard to dial that back once you let your dog pattern that stuff. It's much, much easier to just pattern and be consistent with rules and boundaries and just self-control and handler engagement, like engaging with me, caring about me, and listening to me even though all these other people are around.

Like, if you can build that kind of a relationship with your dog, that's amazing. And I think that's one of the key things that sometimes I fail to really articulate when I talk about this stuff is like, people talk about, oh and oh want people say hi to my dog and oh, he loves it and it's so much fun. It's like, I get it kinda <laugh>. But the key to having a dog that is well-behaved, like really listens to you, right? Which is what everyone says they want, is to teach your dog to listen to you no matter what.

28:00 — Kati emphasizes practicing responsiveness around other people and dogs to build a stronger handler-focused…

And that means when there's other people around, when there's other dogs around, and it means holding them accountable for stuff. And so you have to actually do that. Like, it's not gonna be magic. It's not gonna happen on its own. And if you can do that, if you can have your dog in these situations and around this stuff and you can actually hold them accountable for listening to you and engaging with you, then you build this amazing relationship where you really just are the center of everything for them, right? And then once you achieve that and you know, it's like you and your dog against the world, right?

No matter where you go, it's you too. It's eyes on you, it's all about you. Now it's like, alright, we, maybe we can loosen up and have some free time or whatever. Um, so that's the way I like to think about this is number one, if you don't wanna do that, you don't wanna be proactive. You don't wanna be drawing boundaries. You don't wanna be explaining to people or, or saying to people they can't touch your dog. You don't wanna be telling your dog no and giving them a correction. Then it's like, don't bring them and don't feel guilty about leaving them at home or putting them in the kennel.

Um, but if you do want to, then you need to really remember like, hey, I'm prioritizing training right now, not social interactions.

And no, your dog doesn't need it. No, it's not super beneficial for them. Everyone thinks that it's like really good for their dog. And I know 'cause it's like the narrative out there and it's the baloney out there, like, like usual, that it's really good for their dog to like, oh, say hi to everybody and get affection from everybody. It's not, it's really just not, it's not that good for your dog. So I'm not saying it's bad or it's damaging either all the time, although it can be depending on your dog's personality. Um, but most of the time people are just screwing themselves because they're just teaching their dog over and over and over again to prioritize everybody except them, which is the antithesis of our programs, right?

We teach dogs to prioritize us over everything else, and then that allows us to open the gate and allow the freedom whenever we want to because we have a relationship with our dog where we have total control, right? If we want something, if we need something, if we ask something of them, they listen. It could save their life. Um, it can prevent a lot of injuries, it can prevent chaos, frustration. Um, that's what allows us to be able to involve our dogs.

And so if you're one of those people that are thinking, I wanna have my dog at these events, just, you gotta prioritize what's important to you,

You know? And if it's training, then do it. Totally encourage that. I think that's awesome. Um, but if it's not, then just accept your results, right? If you're gonna put the social interactions and the excitement, which really is what it is, people think their dog's happy when they're excited. And I'm not saying they're, they're necessarily not, but they're not the same thing. So your dog can also be very calm and laying on a place spot and still be happy. Um, but if you're gonna prioritize that running around and that excitement and the social interactions, and then just accept the fact that training isn't happening there, <laugh>, because it's not that, that's not training.

32:00 — Kati challenges using socialization as an excuse to let dogs become overstimulated and ignore…

Um, and I, I like to, I know I'm kind of harping on that, but I think it's kind of become almost like an excuse, right? Because we'll say that like the socialization, and if you can see me, I'm doing the air quotes, the Kati air quotes, um, the socialization is good for the dog, right?

Where they need the socialization. And so we kind of make this excuse for ourselves. We create this little loophole in our training program where we're like, oh, we can let our dogs go be crazy and make out with everyone. Um, but it act—that actually just isn't true. And so it's important for me to say that because then you, that sort of eliminates that excuse I think some people make for themselves, um, to not do the training, right? So people say they're training, but then they go and they just throw their dog out into, um, an event where they're overwhelmed, they're overstimulated, they're not listening, they're, you know, just learning to be a rowdy p. Um, and so that's counterproductive to your training and you're not getting the benefit from it that you think you are <laugh>.

So don't let that be the reason that your training suffers. Um, and your dog doesn't need it anyway. They have you. They don't need to make friends with everybody. Um, but again, I know lots of people have happy-go-lucky social, friendly dogs and they wanna do that, um, and more power to them I guess. But if training's important to you, that's gotta come first. That's gonna come first. That's what, that's what's going to allow you to then eventually give your dog the freedom that you want, that you envision, right? The visions we see in our head of like our dog running around and being, um, just part of the crew and like mingling with everybody.

And also just wanna take a moment. I think this is appropriate timing to point out that not every dog is that way. Um, I might even say most dogs are not that way.

Not every dog wants to be social. Not every dog is good at being social. Um, so never, never, never feel pressured to do that if you're not comfortable with it. And keep in mind that some people think they know their dogs and they really don't because they know the best version of their dog with them and their family and they don't really understand what's happening in the dog's head when they're interacting with strangers. So I've seen some of the happiest, friendliest <laugh>, you know, the word friendly is just so thrown around. Um, but just the sweetest, I guess is really the word

I should use. Some of the happiest, sweetest dogs, um, kind of grow up and hit maturity. And then the owner says, oh, she tried to bite somebody the other day. Like, I was shocked. And it's like, yeah, because you have a great dog.

But the truth is she's not that interested in strangers. Now she's come into maturity, she's wondering, why are you trying to touch me? Like, what are you doing? Are you a threat? Right? We see it too with a lot of the poodle mixes. Um, and of course any dog, any breed, so I'm not trying to like stereotype, but they do have their tendencies and poodles tend to be a little more on the aloof side a lot of the time, or even like that, um, protective, territorial type side. Um, a lot of times the poodle mixes, once they start to come into maturity, um, and they're fantastic with their family most of the time, right?

But then the strangers, they're just not, and it's not that they're super aggressive or anything like that, they're just not interested, right? They just don't care. Which I think is super common, um, with any dog.

36:00 — Owners may overlook discomfort with strangers until their dog growls or snaps during unwanted…

Um, but people, of course, they're reaching their hands out, they wanna touch the dog, they wanna say hi, and the dog looks like a teddy bear, right? And they got like this curly coat and this cute face and everyone's trying to touch 'em, and the dog's going, what the fuck? I don't know you, right? And then one day, as they come into maturity, they snap and then, oh, it came outta nowhere. Well, it really didn't come outta nowhere, right? People just think they know their dog, but they're actually missing the subtleties of some of the stuff that's happening is some of the discomfort their dog might be experiencing until they actually see a snap and then they're, whoa, whoa.

Or a growl, right? And then they're just, oh my God, totally taken aback by it. But it's normal. So don't assume, um, that your dog is up for that, right? Um, even if you've had that vision in your head and it's what you want, it might not be what your dog wants <laugh>. But I think these events are a wonderful way, um, for us to be able to both include our dog and build on their training. There's wonderful, wonderful opportunities, um, to rehearse, um, being involved and being under control, right? And enjoying the freedom where we can and should allow it and shutting things off and being cool and calm and collected, um, the rest of the time.

And just getting real comfortable with all of those environmentals and all of the noises and all the sights and sounds and all the different types of people and hats and sunglasses and, um, wonderful, wonderful opportunity for your dog. Um, it's just, you know, what you do with it can make all the difference, right? It can be a counterproductive experience, it could be an experience full of conflict, you know, if there's conflict between you and, and some of the other folks that are at the event, um, around the dog. 'Cause a lot of people are opinionated about this stuff.

Um, and the other thing you have to think about is, are there gonna be other dogs around and is it at your house or someone else's house? So those are things I'm gonna go into on another episode on another day, and I hope you'll join me for that one. But I think that is it for today, guys, and I thank you for joining me. I look forward to next time.