We have taken our 5-month-old pup everywhere with us and he was doing great with his socialization. He loves to meet new people and will explore everything at new places, almost never gets startled by anything anymore. Recently he has started to stop on his walks to watch as people or cars go by and will do the same thing if he hears a dog barking behind a fence. We have been using a “with” command to get him to ignore things and continue on his walk but lately this has not been working. Last night at the park there where a couple teenagers yelling and messing around, as they got closer he let out a couple defensive barks and backed up a little. When they got right up to us they stopped to comment on the dog and he was ok and wanted to play. He just seems to be getting more concerned with what’s around him. This type of distraction will make the work we intend to do with him harder if it continues. I am hoping if we just work through it and continue socializing him it will pass over time. I really need him to focus on his work and not get concerned with what is going on around him. Any suggestion or tips on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

I would nto worry to much about this.. he is learning about the world. I would never use compulsion at this age, what I would do is allow him to look for a second (depending on what it is) then use treats and/or my voice to make myself more exciting then whatever he is looking at to redirect his attention to me.

When he looks at you, praise, praise all the while moving along to continue your walk....He will learn from this that looking at strange things is ok but focusing on them is not needed, I should focus on Dad instead at all times, he got the 411!

Hope that helps.