Doggie Meet-Up Groups!

Our first hosted Meet-Up at Little Paws Of Hope boarding and daycare I must say “It was just great”  everyone was great especially the pups.

Meet-ups are a great way to socialize our dogs, especially in the winter and especially small dogs who could use extra socialization. Its apparent to me that most dog owners don’t fully understand dog body language or vocal communication and tend to think their dog or another dog is aggressive when really they are just communicating with each other.  After attending quite a few meet-ups and seeing the dogs running around and greeting each other I would hear owners saying “Oh that dog is mean or aggressive” when in actually it is not.

One specific meet-up I attended there was a big Chihuahua who was biting at the other dogs, his owner was the organizer of the meet-up and did nothing to correct her dog she even went on to say “he draws blood sometimes” now that is aggression. Of course I never attended that meet-up again.

Of course education is every thing, most people really don’t know so I certainly don’t fault them.   I do politely try to point out the obvious if someone is interested.  When attending meet-ups the concept is that we want to socialize our dogs, some best practices is to put your dog on the floor not your lap.  Let the dogs get to know one another and if your dog is like Velcro stand up and keep walking around the room (of course you want to keep your dog safe).  If your dog is sitting on your lap and other dogs come over to greet he/she your dog may snap at them because he/she is guarding its resource.  Put your dog down butt first not face first as this can cause nipping, it is best to greet butt first instead of face first, if possible. Even if your dog is not running around and wrestling with other dogs he/she is still socializing by just sharing the space with the other dogs, just try to keep them off your laps.  Most importantly have fun and keep safe.  Feel free to email me with any questions Hope.Garlick@littlepawsofhope.com or just leave a comment.