Have you got a pet that’s new to the world, or an animal that is a bit wary of certain things in this crazy human world?  Socialisation, habituation and / or desensitisation will help with getting your pet to accept the things in its environment.

Socialisation involves exposing the pet to all the different types of living things that may enter the animals world.  For example, your pet needs to get used to people – not just you and your immediate family, but every category of person you can think of: males and females, babies, toddlers and children of different ages, elderly people, people from different racial cultures, people in wheelchairs, people who use walking sticks or crutches, people with sunglasses on, hats on, or have a beard… the list is endless.

Your pet also needs to be social with other animals.  If you have a cat and are planning on adding a dog to the household, then your cat and new dog will both need to be socialised to each other.  The dog will also need socialisation with other dogs of different breeds, ages and temperaments.  If you have a horse and are planning on entering it into competitions it will need socialisation with other horses so it doesn’t put on an unwanted display when you least expect it.

Perhaps your pet is scared of the car, an umbrella, walking next to a pram, lunges at bicycles, or attacks the vacuum cleaner.  If something is presented into your pet’s environment that it reacts to, then habituation and desensitisation will help.

Your pet should ideally be indifferent to objects, situations and locations that it comes across in its life.  It’s not acceptable for a child to run away from a shopping trolley and hide, shaking, in the car; therefore it’s unacceptable for a dog to growl and lunge at cyclists or claw at the ground pulling on the lead to get away from next door’s lawn mower.  Changing the mindset of your pet is important to making it feel more comfortable in its life, so get Southern Cross Animal Stars to start a desensitisation program and get you and your pet on the right track.

Call Southern Cross Animal Stars on: 0407 554 200

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