Playing with another Dog

Hello! Hoping I can get some advice. Our 5 month old Staffy pup is too boisterous and playful for my in-laws 10 year old Border Terrier. The Border just cowers in a corner while Eva jumps all over him trying to play. Eva gets extremely excited to see any other dog and doesn't realise yet that not all dogs want to play, bless her! We've tried socialising them both indoors and outdoors in a big garden about 10 times but the Border is now just scared of her. Is it best to keep them away from each other till Eva is older and calmer? We really want them to get on but she's just way too much for him at the moment!

I'd probably keep them separate for now, but do things like walk them together and have them indoors in a controlled way together. I'm thinking of things like taking Eva for a walk first, then keeping her on the lead in the house and doing something nice and quiet with her (cuddles, brain games), so that they can be near each other and get used to each other, but without Eva being able to launch herself.

Walking with other dogs might be a good idea too, as opposed to playing with them, so she learns that there are other ways of interacting.

id suggest puppy classes for more interaction id suggest keeping them seperate for now ...

Thanks for the advice guys! We're going to avoid forcing spending time with eachother for now and will take for a few walks together. She went to puppy socialization classes plus puppy training classes but shes just very excitable haha! Thank you !!

Phantom is really excitable, he loves to play with other dogs. My in laws have a Maltese Yorkie cross who they rescued from a puppy mill who had kept her crates for breeding, no health checks, no toys, Chloe was a very anxious scared little dog. We introduced them gradually, a quick butt sniff one week, a walk together the next.

We had them in the house on Xmas Day and what worked was Chloe being on the sofa too high up for Phantom to get to her and Phantom on the floor, closely supervised. Once Chloe saw that her humans would not allow Phantom to jump all over her; she played with him for half an hour and then retreated to her sofa spot.

Maybe that one dog up on a safe higher level might help?

Local dog owners have been really friendly with Phantom, letting him greet their dogs. We do reward him for being gentle and make sure he can only get into a dogs personal space once the jumpy paw hopping is over. He knows that hello means being calmer than just jumping.

He is a bit of a giddy kipper when it comes to other dogs. We do what we can!

Always found lead walking helps dogs get used to each other here. That way it's controlled and like puppy classes they can see smell each other but the human is in control. 

The old way of letting them sort it out, still does work but find this a much better way for them to get used to each other.

Phantomfamily wrote:

He is a bit of a giddy kipper when it comes to other dogs. We do what we can!

Love that, a giddy kipper. Must remember it for future reference. And what can you do? Nothing, he's a staffie!!!