Last Friday, 12 young participants and their assigned pups graduated from the five-day Dog Socialization Training Camp at Weed Elementary School in Weed, California. The pilot day camp was the product of a collaboration between Karen Topping of Meghan’s House and Rescue Ranch. Drawing on her experience with children and horses, Karen created the program to help reduce returns, increase adoptability, and promote responsible dog ownership.
Sure enough, during the five-day workshop, the children helped transform six insecure, frightened, unsocialized young dogs into confident, receptive, happy pups. All are now eminently adoptable. In fact, two are already spoken for!
What is 5-day Dog Socialization Training?
Teams of two or three children worked with Rescue Ranch dogs for two and a half hours every day, from Aug 7 -11. Their goal was to achieve a major behavioral transformation in just five days.
The theory is that most dogs can be turned around within that timeframe. If last week’s results are any indication, Karen and the Rescue Ranch team are on to something. Especially given the history of the dogs involved.
Take three-and-a-half-month-old Jojo, for example. Found during a pot grow raid, poor Jojo wouldn’t let anyone near. He was so reactive, even the vet couldn’t handle him. Or young Perdita, Pongo, and Pandora (adopted the day before graduation). Rescued from euthanasia for being too scared, they were so shut down, they wouldn’t interact. Rescue Ranch team members carried them in their arms to meet people.
Each dog came with a compelling story, and they all needed help.
Dog Socialization Training Camp success for kids and dogs
On Friday morning, camp organizers, participants, and their family and friends, gathered on a grassy field adjacent to the elementary school. Teams filed into the graduation staging area and began demonstrating the amazing progress they had made.
Previously shy, reactive, unsocialized puppies walked easily on leash, focused on their handlers, and interacted playfully. “Unapproachable” Jojo even allowed two of his three enterprising young handlers to lift him up on his cot while a third crouched underneath. Everyone had fun.
Karen, and her daughter Meghan, handed out certificates at the end of the ceremony.
Afterwards, all of the dogs mingled easily with the crowd. Even so-called “scared siblings” Pongo and Perdita, behaved like normal, well-adjusted pups. They no longer needed to be carried anywhere and appeared eager for their next adventure.
All in all, the camp was a complete success.
Building on success
Organizers plan to expand the Dog Socialization Training program to other schools and venues, including the Rescue Ranch Adoption Center.
According to Karen, her five-day approach works with dogs of any age. It can also be applied to the challenging behaviors that cause adoptions to fail and lead to owner surrenders, such as peeing in the house, poor leash manners, jumping on the couch, door rushing, stranger reactivity, etc. If we can teach these techniques to the general public we’ll reduce owner surrenders, improve pet-owner relationships, and keep more dogs in their homes where they belong.
