Puppy dreams and what it means for me

So Mikes mom got a puppy. And Mike sent me pictures, but joked it was ours to the point I couldn't tell if he was joking. All this is to say that I almost got my hopes up for a puppy, and started thinking about puppy training and socialization. And this made me realize....

I always say Cashew is undersocialzied. Yet in reality, I am doing very little to socialize her. Much less than I would probably do for a puppy. We talked about bringing her to the park to have people feed her treats (which is still a good idea, but with the weather being cold and gross outside it probably needs to wait for spring when people will be out again), and occasionally bring her to the pet store or my parents house, but that is it. And I realized I should be doing more. It would be pretty easy to take her on walks outside her comfort zone, or even when the weather is bad just try to feed her dinner out down by the lobby where people might hopefully be coming in and out. Anything to get her just seeing and around people more. And why am I not doing that for the dog I currently have but planning it for a new one?

Now I do think that having a confident dog model behavior would probably help Cashew a ton. But as much as a puppy would be adorable, I don't think we are in a situation to get one. But that is no reason to just give up on training or do less just because Cashew is a bit older. Her socialization window might have closed, but that doesn't mean she can't still learn. After upping her anxiety med dose she decided she loved one neighbor, I see no reason why she couldn't learn better social skills in general.

So my new years resolution is to work with the dog I have. To put more effort into making her into the dog I thought we were adopting instead of just occasionally whining when I visit my parents about how she is less friendly than she appeared at the adoption event. Let's see what some training that I thinks seriously about can actually do for her.