Meeting other dogs

2 weeks ago Callie got spooked by our neighbor's 2 standard poodles (big, surrounded her when we let them sniff) and shortly afterward by our other neighbors' labradoodle puppy...the puppy about her age but 2x her size, and has a 80-pound big sister she plays with, so was too rough with Callie, rolled her on her back before we could stop them. After that Callie was tense and growly whenever she saw another dog, like at my kids' sports games.

I guess it was my fault for thinking she could meet other "nice" dogs with good owners, not realizing how scared she might be of a much bigger dog even if it wasn't a mean dog?

I followed our breeders' advice and limited dog interactions until today's puppy class--and she did so well that I let her meet a few other dogs her size at the pet store. She did great--particularly with a sweet 4 month old pit bull. So I'm relieved. She has a play date with her sister Lola next week too. I should say that every human she meets is an instant best friend.

Anyone else had this experience? Any advice?

Erm i don't know why they said limit dog interactions and to me that is putting you way behind in socialising, and as pups learn the most in their first few months i would stop that right away.

Hi,.. from day one i have made sure my pup was well socialised,... letting other dogs approach floyd and allow him to approach others. He is 7 months now and plays well in our usual group of between 4 and 8 dogs when we walk in the park. On our walks off lead and on we have encountered all sorts of dogs. A couple of times we have come across not so friendly dogs and floyd was barked at, growled and snarled at, and even chased a few times.

I've seen this as part of the learning process of the pup. he needs to learn not all dogs will be friendly when approached. He now has experience in spotting other dogs behavour to see if they are friendly or not.

I dont see why your breeder would advice you to limit your pups interaction !! unless they mean its due to pup not having all his jags yet???

Unless the pup gets badly bitten or seriously chased, panics and is totally freaked out it shouldnt get/have a fear of other dogs. If there are 2 other dogs from same pack /same owners and they come across your dog, they like those poodles will surround it, sniffing it, assessing it, checking them out, its totally normal dog behaviour, and yeah may get boysterous. If your dog is spooked by this and is running in circles to get away then it should get alot more socialising,.. and it may appear to be the aggressor to the other dogs coz its not being submissive to the pack mentality.

Months ago when id be walking floyd in park a lady with a beagle cross would avoid us due to it snarling and having a bark and nip at floyd previously when they were both on leads. They are now the best of friends and play together alone, perhaps due to the beagle cross socialising with our pack one evening.

The more your pup encounters other dogs at this age the better, sure it may have been spooked before, but you gotta show it other dogs are ok to be with, around, and to sniff. A play mate is always a good idea, but make sure the pup knows most dogs are ok and shouldnt be barked or growled at.

After months of getting floyd social with dogs i am at the stage where if im walking off lead then and directly passing another dog in park floyd will be happy to sniff and let any other dog sniff him, then a quick 'come on floyd' as i approach and walk past them will usually end the sniff and its back to walking. Sure sometimes he will be up for running around playing with a 'new' dog friend, thats what the sniffing and body stances will indicate.
When on lead and we approach another dog floyd will tend to pull a little wagging his tail and he will be eager to sniff, sometimes the owner will be a 'normal' and allow their dog to sniff, sometimes they will be like a man who i actually passed today who stepped off the pavement and 5 feet onto the grass with his lasso apso when he seen us approach,.. i laughed and asked, is YOUR dog vicious? lol

Sorry i seem to have wrote an essay and got off topic lol, :
I'd say socialize your dog as often as you can with as many different sizes, obviously keeping away from the non freindlys, you can usually spot them coz as you approach the owner will try and recall it or tighten its leash.



Ian and Floyd

Suki is a little nervous around larger male dogs and can be overly aggressive at first. After a while she is okay. We always try to find people with well socialized dogs. The more often they can socialize with different types of dogs and people the better

i agree with jstaff, the day i brought Lola home she was in at the deep end with a fully grown wiem and a chocolate lab (all lived in the same house, known them both from puppy's) and i always take her when i visit family who have dogs, now most of the time she's more interested in the humans, and only really intereacts with bigger dogs (after being attacked by a jack russel at xmas, she's wary of smaller dogs) but all in all i'm comfortable with her around any dog, and any person.

Hiccup was a bit nervous of other dogs when he was around 9 weeks old as due to work, he had been staying with my boyfriends parents and their bull terrier female so any dog larger that that, he was nervous of.

But the best way to get them over it is to find a large dog that knows how to play with younger dogs (in my case it was a friend's English Pointer) and then gradually increase to include socialisation of both large and small dogs, puppies and adults. There will always be some big dogs that will be too rough (Hiccups learnt to simply hide under chairs if this is the case so they can't get to him) but it is vital that you socialise your puppy with large dogs as well (just try find some calmer ones first!)

Thanks so much for the advice...and Ian I don't think you got off topic! I think our breeder said that because Callie was aggressive with the Labradoodle afterward...very fierce growl and snapping...and only then started growling at random dogs. Maybe she thought not to isolate her but to give her a fresh start at puppy class where the interactions would be better...

But I see what you are all saying, socialize, socialize, socialize, right? Will do.

I think she is doing well with dogs her own age and size now. I like the suggestion about finding a calm big dog, I'll need to do that.

thanks so much everyone

Best of luck. It would also help if you learned to read body language so you will understand what is normal since they can play a little rough.

socialise as much as poss yes but not with any old dog.....she needs to have positive experiences with well mannered dogs

So here's the ending to this post...

Callie started puppy daycare yesterday (I work part-time) and did great! They loved her, said she was wonderful playing with the other dogs...only problem was she didn't want to stop playing for naptime.

I also let her meet a friend's Golden Retriever puppy last evening and they seemed to have a lot of fun sniffing and rolling around.

So hopefully those early bad experiences are forgotten...I'm really relieved.

Glad things are going well