Week two has been all about getting Matilda out into the world — the car, car parks, a garden centre cafe, more visitors, and the start of proper traffic work. And Matilda found the pond!!!
It’s also thrown up a couple of good teaching moments, so I’ve woven in a bit of the theory behind what we’re doing as we go.
The Fine Line Between Habituation and Sensitisation
So what are habituation and sensitisation?
Habituation is what we want: repeated, manageable exposure to something until it simply stops being interesting or worrying, and becomes part of the wallpaper of normal life.
Sensitisation is the opposite, and it happens when exposure is too intense — too loud, too close, too sudden — so that instead of switching off to it, the dog becomes more and more reactive to it over time.
The two are separated by a genuinely thin line, and the only way to stay on the right side of it is to watch the dog, not the plan. If Matilda reacts to any environment with yawning, lip-licking, or pressing herself away from something rather than staying loose and curious, that would be my cue to stop immediately, move further away, and start again from a distance she can cope with — turning the volume down, in effect, before slowly turning it back up.
We’ve started proper traffic habituation, which for a collie is genuinely important groundwork — so many collies end up worried about traffic, and that fear can tip over into lunging at vehicles later on if it isn’t handled well early. In an ideal world you’d do this at different times of day and in different weather, since rain and darkness change how scary a car sounds and looks to a dog, but realistically I’ve managed a couple of sessions so far, sitting on the edge of Morrisons car park with the boot open, Matilda in her crate, and Ozzie next to her — he’s not a huge fan of traffic himself, but he’s steady in the car, and having a calm adult dog alongside her makes a real difference. Every time something loud went past, it was paired with a treat for both dogs.
I was ready to shut the boot quickly, if a very loud car, lorry, rattly trailer, motorbike, or anything else came past that would scare the dogs – a severe scare at Matilda’s age could cause lasting trauma. This is why getting dogs out and about while under 4 months old is so tricky – it’s a fine line between experiencing something so that they habituate to it, and experiencing something so scary that they become sensitised. And some collies are so sensitive, that something we don’t even notice as scary can be enough to sensitise them to that trigger.
A good example of sensitisation is Moss, one of my first collies. I didn’t know then what I know now, and read that “socialisation” was taking them out and about to get them used to everything. So I took him to a railway station to watch trains. He was absolutely fine until one of the trains that don’t stop at the station shot suddenly, and very loudly, at high speed. Moss was terrified, and this started an urge to chase trains that lasted into his old age!
When Does the “Socialisation” Window Actually Close?
The socialisation window was generally thought of as the first 3-4 months of a puppy’s life, when puppies are learning about “normal life” outside the home. We used to think that once the socialisation window “closed” at 12 weeks, puppies are more likely to be fearful of novelty.
The classic work on this goes back to Scott and Fuller, and it’s given us the widely quoted socialisation window of roughly three to twelve or fourteen weeks. But more recent reviews are clear that this is a sensitive period, not a critical one — meaning the door doesn’t slam shut on a specific day, it eases closed gradually, and slightly differently for every puppy. Some of the research puts the first fear responses appearing as early as six to eight weeks, with wariness of novelty then building steadily up to somewhere around twelve to fourteen weeks, and there’s also evidence that this timing varies by breed.
The honest, practical takeaway is: the earlier you start, the better, but there’s no cliff edge at twelve weeks where it suddenly stops being worth the effort — so if your puppy is a bit older than that and you feel like you’ve missed the boat, you haven’t. Keep going, just as gently and gradually as you would have done earlier.
Out and About
Matilda’s spent a lot of time in the car this week, mostly because I’ve had sheep work to do. She’s got her own side of a divided crate, always next to one of the other dogs rather than alone in the back, and with the heat we’ve had, she’s actually slept for a lot of it — she’s settling in the car much better than she was. She’s also been getting plenty of breaks: out for sniffs in one field, out again in another, and some good early interaction with the sheep.
Family visits have been mixed. She loves all people and is really friendly, but my brother’s eighteen-month-old is a noisy child, and Matilda was visibly wary of him to start with. By the end of the hour he was here, though, she was far more confident, and it’s given me a useful idea for anyone doing this at home: get the humans in the house to act a bit more like children — sudden noises, jumping about, moving in slightly unpredictable directions — because that kind of rehearsal, from people the puppy already trusts, can help her cope better when real children turn up.
We also sat in a car park at a nearby shopping outlet, boot open behind a tailgate guard, just watching people and cars come and go. Next on the list: an actual supermarket car park with trolleys, since we haven’t tackled those yet, and seeing other vaccinated dogs – not for a mad play where everyone gets over-excited, but a gentle “hello” and then back to relaxing.
When meeting other dogs, Matilda growls, which is unexpected, unusual, and a little worrying. It only happens when she is on my knee or in the pushchair. She is fairly confident meeting the few other dogs she has met when she has been able to be on the ground and running about (only on private land due to her not yet having completed her vaccination course). I always introduce other dogs to her through a fence to make sure that she is not overwhelmed by them and they are not overwhelmed by her. She doesn’t growl at the sheep, and I know she is a little worried about the sheep, so I don’t think she is growling at other dogs through fear or anxiety. I suspect it is resource guarding her pushchair or me, so my plan is to not let her meet other dogs on my knee or in the pushchair, to make sure that she isn’t practising the behaviour. We’ll do a bit of socialisation around dogs that doesn’t involve actually meeting them until she is 100% ready. It’s worrying, but it’s only happened a few times, so I have plenty of time to turn things around.
Pushchair Prep, Done Properly
The pushchair is brilliant for getting a young puppy out into busier environments before she’s fully vaccinated or her joints are ready for longer walks, but only if she’s properly used to it first — otherwise it just becomes one more stressful thing to cope with rather than a safe little viewing box. We placed treats in the pushchair, letting her climb in and out under her own steam, a few very short pushes, then longer ones, then getting her comfortable sitting in there with the sides zipped up while she has a chew.
We started with a short walk up the road and back with the other dogs, and she was very interested in what she could see, but we had no frustration, whining or attempts to escape, which was a good sign that she was ready to go further afield.
Since then, we’ve been to a local cafe, a pub, and the local garden centre twice in her pushchair. I’m still feeling very self-conscious having a puppy in a pushchair, but getting used to it! She has chews and just sits and takes the world in while chewing and relaxing.
A word of caution, though, when giving puppies chews in a push chair – be careful around other dogs. A dog marching over and sticking its nose onto the pushchair mesh, smelling the chew, can be stressful for puppies, and can initiate resource guarding, so anywhere where there are other dogs, I’m making sure there are no chews present and getting her out of the pushchair when they pass.
Handling, Grooming, and the Lead
I need to keep up the daily grooming her breeder started — checking her mouth, ears, and under her tail, and clipping her claws — it’s something I wasn’t very good at to start with, but now we are in a daily routine of a quick brush and nail trim (or pretend nail trim). Consistency is what makes it stick as something normal rather than something to worry about.
I’m also going to get her used to going in the bath. I don’t often bathe my dogs, but it’s handy to be able to do so in case she goes on to love rolling in nasty things – as many collies do!
On the lead, the harness is going on, and I’m simply following her rather than steering her. The whole point at this stage is for her to learn that wearing a lead doesn’t mean being pulled about — it just means a gentle mooch, wherever her nose wants to take her. If she grabs the lead in her mouth, I’m not making an issue of it; that’s completely normal puppy behaviour, and puppies generally lose interest in it faster if you don’t turn it into a game by reacting.
Play Biting
The stand-still-and-ignore approach from day one is clearly paying off — play biting with us is genuinely good. If she does start mouthing at trouser cuffs, slippers, or socks, we stop dead rather than walking on, since moving away while she’s got hold of something is exactly the kind of game a collie finds irresistible. Standing still until she gets bored, then rewarding a couple of seconds of calm with a tiny treat, keeps reinforcing the right choice. Carrying treats and offering one BEFORE she starts to bite feet is even better — a puppy who’s busy taking food from your hand isn’t a puppy who’s trying to bite.
Food, Poos, and the Other Dogs
She’s still a bit picky with food, so alongside her usual diet we’ve been rotating a few different puppy foods from a local pet shop, which seems to be helping her interest at mealtimes. Her poos have been consistently normal throughout, so nothing to worry about there.
Flo’s started inviting her into play, especially around walk time when she’s a bit more excited — a nice sign. Gael’s still keeping her distance – she’s 11 now and isn’t interested in bitey puppy play! Ozzy’s the one bearing the brunt of puppy enthusiasm at the moment; she’s still pestering him more than he’s comfortable with, and he’s not sticking up for himself, so we’re keeping the two of them a bit more separate until that balance shifts.
On the plus side, she’s now happy to come into the orchard with us in the evenings for a wander, which she wasn’t doing in week one. I think all the loomy, dark trees and the badger and fox smells (they love the fallen fruit) were a bit overwhelming.
Preventing resource guarding
Resource guarding is when dogs growl and attempt to bite anyone who approaches while they possess something they perceive as high value.
It can be hereditary, and it can also be caused by breeders that feed lots of puppies from one bowl, where not all the puppies can easily access food and start to squabble and fight to get access to the food bowl. The puppies learn that they have to be fierce or they won’t get to eat.
However, another common cause of resource guarding in dogs is when owners are over-cautious and attempt to physically remove everything from puppies that could potentially hurt them. Even the things that have a really remote chance of causing injury.
So why does this cause resource guarding? There are several reasons:
- Removing items from puppies causes the puppies to think that the item must be REALLY high value if their owner wants it. They therefore start to guard it even more.
- Physically removing items from the puppy’s mouth causes discomfort and is very unpleasant for puppies. They therefore start to run away from owners when they have something they don’t want to give up and they are approached, and this can develop into resource guarding. It can also start to make them fear the approach of owners in other contexts.
- They just don’t want the owner to have the item – they want to keep if for themselves.
So I’m trying to avoid removing anything from Matilda at the moment, unless it is very dangerous for her to chew, or unless it is something very valuable that she could damage.
In the video, Matilda is chewing apples or an apple tree twig, which is not going to be dangerous for Matilda in the short term, so I’m not going to force her to let go, call her away or do anything that directly gives her attention (other than take this video!).
Straight after this video, I wondered off and started doing something else that she would find interesting so that she would leave the apple tree alone and come and play with me instead.
Then later when she wasn’t looking, I cut the apple tree twig off the tree so that she could no longer access the twig or the apples
This doesn’t draw her attention to the item, it doesn’t teach her that it is very high value, and it doesn’t mean that she starts to become fearful or frustrated when I approach.
You can read more about preventing resource guarding in collies here: https://collieconsultant.co.uk/…/11/18/guarding-behaviour/
Starting on Preventing Sound Sensitivity
We’ve begun laying the groundwork for coping with sudden loud noises — helping her recover quickly from bangs, and building a cue that reliably predicts something good is about to happen. Once that association is solid, the same cue can be used in the moment a scary noise happens, so the noise itself starts to predict something good rather than something frightening.
We are also creating random loud noises and making sure that she’s not overwhelmed and recovers quickly, always pairing them with something fun and exciting.
What’s Next
More traffic work, more visits to the supermarket car park and the garden centre, more going out where there are other dogs that she can watch, and keeping the grooming/handling routine consistent rather than occasional.
See the full socialisation checklist here.