A GOOD TEST OF A WELL SOCIALIZED PUPPY: WANT TO KNOW IF A PUPPY YOU ARE INTERESTED IN IS WELL SOCIALIZED AND HAS HAD GOOD EXPERIENCES WITH HUMANS? Look deeply into their eyes! Veterinarians are seeing more dogs with phobias and anxiety, likely due to inadequate early socialization. RedTeddy's veterinarians recommend that our puppies meet 50 people before leaving our home, and have lots of free play with other friendly dogs of different size and ages. This helps our puppies become confident, happy and healthy adult dogs. RedTeddy is following New York State guidelines for social distancing, and not allowing visits as of May 2020. We were bringing puppies to stores and parks before Covid 19, and we will resume this practice and visits as soon as our Governor, Andrew Cuomo, says it is safe to do so. It will most likely take well into summer to bring puppies into a store to meet and be handled by lots of people. While we limit visits, we continue to safely socialize on site with staff and our well-known friends and associates.
We get asked all the time, IS THE DOG PARK SAFE FOR MY PUPPY? No. Dog parks are not safe places to exercise or "socialize" any dog under a year old...
According to New York Times 2/6/20 article The Dog Park is Bad, Actuallyby Sassafras Lowrey, dog parks are not good places to bring your puppy, and might not be good for some adult dogs, as well. Dog parks do not miraculously help develop confident, friendly dogs by mixing all different sized, ages and temperaments together willy-nilly. And, your puppy could bring home fleas, intestinal parasites, diseases, fears and bad behaviors that can be very difficult to correct. Ask your vet to recommend a good doggy daycare or dog group, if you feel that your puppy needs canine friendships, or work with a network of friends that you know take adequate care of their dogs, and know their dogs' temperaments. Start slowly, and if the dogs get along, you will have found a doggy best friend without the risks of unknown diseases and unpredictable, possibly aggressive, temperaments.