I understand that you want your dog to be well mannered, Carolyn. And you should expect a dog to be able to walk down the street with you without trying to tear your arm off to get to another dog.

You can accomplish that through good training, not the kind of "socialization" Petsmart offers. Yes, your dog should be able to handle seeing other dogs without losing his mind.

But to be honest with you, if your dog learns that other dogs are a huge ball of supernatural fun, then it will be much harder to teach him to ignore the other dogs, IMO. And you'll also be risking an aggressive incident at a puppy class that could have you walking out of the class with a dog aggressive or fearful dog that you didn't walk in with.

For example, my GSD pup wanted to rumble with other dogs, even at 10 weeks. Not all pups want to cuddle with other dogs and not all owners know how to handle dogs like this---sometimes they think that a Petsmart class will help (no). So just because it's a puppy class, don't think that all the dogs there will be sweet to your pup.

You can train a dog to remain calm around other dogs through the help of your Schutzhund friends, I would imagine (I didn't realize you were doing Schutzhund when I wrote my first post). Just taking him to the club and teaching him to remain calmly at your side while other dogs are present should be a good lesson in and of itself.

Again, just my opinion, but I think all the dog-to-dog socialization a puppy needs is done with the littermates and mother through a good breeder.

But if you *really* want your dog to have some interaction with other dogs (and this is a pet thing, not for working dogs) for whatever reason, then I would stick to dogs you know and trust. Don't worry so much about other puppies or what gender they are. An older, balanced and calm dog is a much better example than another pup, IMO.

But as a final note: Getting your dog to play with other dogs is mostly for the owner's benefit. Your dog will be just fine if his playtime comes from you...better even, IMO.

All opinions have been duly noted. Thanks for your input.