A fifth of dog walkers admitted they were never or rarely in control of their canine friend while out in public.

Study also finds nearly a fifth of dogs fear people with facial hair

Around 50 per cent of dog walkers are embarrassed by their canine friend's behaviour in public, while one in five admit they are rarely in control.

Research has been carried out in a joint study by the Dogs Trust and The Kennel Club.

They found that 55 per cent of owners said their dog had shown anti-social behaviour – such as barking, growling, or biting – towards other dogs, while out on walks, and just over a third (35 per cent) said their dog had been aggressive towards other people.

Just under a fifth of dogs (18 per cent) were reported as being scared of people with facial hair.

Other common problems included dogs jumping at people (29 per cent), dogs showing anxiety at being left alone (26 per cent), while 13 per cent were fearful of household appliances.

Puppies that are not socialised and introduced to new situations positively in the early months of their life, are most likely to give their owners trouble. They were 25 per cent more likely to show aggression to other dogs, and almost twice as likely to display signs of anti-social behaviour towards people.

Dogs that were poorly socialised as pups were three times more likely to show anxiety around new people, and twice as likely to show anxiety around other dogs and new household noises.

Figures show that 12 per cent of dogs at rehoming charities, were handed in due to easily avoidable behavioural problems (McKeown and Luescher, 1988).

Those who had positive experiences of other dogs, children, people and noises as a puppy, were significantly more likely to be well-mannered and confident adult dogs, the Dogs Trust/ Kennel Club study showed.

To help tackle the problem of poor socialisation, the Kennel Club and Dogs Trust have launched the first ever step-by-step Puppy Socialisation Plan for breeders, rehoming centres and new owners to follow.

The plan lays out steps that will build puppies’ confidence around household appliances and traffic noises, new ground surfaces, people, hats, beards, and children.

The breeder or rescue home will work through the first eight weeks, recording each step through a series of diary entries, photos or videos, and this is then passed onto the new owner to continue.

Carolyn Menteith, a Kennel Club accredited instructor, who developed the plan for the Kennel Club and Dogs Trust, said: “The first four months of a pups’ life are when a puppy is developing his soft skills - in other words his social behaviours and how he responds to new and novel things.

"Failure to expose them to a wide range of different experiences in this early period means that they often struggle to deal with new situations later on.

“A lot of the problems that we see in dogs, from aggression to all the behaviours that arise through fear such as noise phobias and separation issues – as well as poor learning skills and many training problems - can be prevented if they are taught lots of new experiences from the very beginning.”

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club secretary, said: “We must remember that most behavioural problems in dogs, including aggression, noise phobia, separation anxiety, over-reactivity and learning problems, are not down to the dog wanting to be bad but are often because they are fearful, anxious or struggling to know how they should deal with a situation.

"This research overwhelmingly shows that putting in the hard miles at the beginning, when it comes to early socialisation and exposure to new experiences, will reap rewards in terms of a dog’s future behaviour and state of mind.

"We trialled the Puppy Socialisation Plan amongst some of our Kennel Club assured breeders, and both breeders and dog owners who have used it have said that they’ve never had such calm or well-adjusted dogs.

"We urge breeders and puppy owners to use the plan so that dogs are happier and more obedient, which will solve lots of problems in the long run.”

Chief executive of the Dogs Trust,  Clarissa Baldwin, said: “One of the major reasons that dogs are handed in to rehoming charities such as Dogs Trust is behaviour issues – in many cases easily avoided behaviour issues.

"Our specialist training and behaviour staff work hard to help dogs with such problems and most are successfully rehomed as a result.

"The Puppy Socialisation Plan is used across our network of 18 rehoming centres and we encourage new owners to continue the plan once their four-legged family member is home to ensure they remain as happy and well-socialised as possible.

“Dogs are expected to fit into many different family units which could include any combination of adults, children, dogs, cats and much more.

"They will have to accept the often loud and unpredictable sounds of their new homes; they will have to learn to be left alone when we can’t take them out; they need to learn not to herd children, chase the cat, knock over granny, steal the Sunday dinner, or threaten the postman, or anyone else.

"It’s up to us, as their carers, to provide them with the early groundwork in order to cope with all the varieties of life.”

To find out more visit www.thepuppyplan.com

Images by Clive Tagg.