The whole point of socialising a new dog or puppy is to ensure that they are happy with new people, dogs, or places. This cannot be achieved by thrusting your young dog into a situation they they cannot or do not know how to handle. For this reason it is a good idea to keep socialisation sessions short - under a minute at a time of face to face contact with a new person or dog is best when puppy is just starting out. This way, you can check that the dog is happy with the session every few minutes, and reward the puppy for tolerating the new person or dog.

It is important to always leave your puppy with an escape route. If they are finding the situation too intense or too frightening they must have a way to remove themselves from that situation. Not allowing the puppy to get away will increase stress and anxiety and create a negative connotation with encountering the same circumstances again.