I brought by 5 month old puppy(male) to a training session with 2 other GSD one 8 months(female) and one 9 months(male).
There were no aggression problems and over all they seemed to play well together. The other dogs have at least 30 lbs on my puppy. At one point when it looked like he was getting a bit overwhelmed I pulled him to me and kept the other two dogs away. He stayed on my lap for 20 minutes then wanted to get back into the playtime which I let him do for a few minutes and then I left.
We are also training them to walk, stay etc. They all did pretty well at this and didn't pull to play but paid attention to the commands. Play time was limited to about 20 minutes.
I'm going to be using the "Leerburg basic training" tapes to really train the puppy. I'm doing this so he can socialize and have some training in a very small class.
Am I doing the right thing by letting him play with these larger dogs?
Okay - I'm fairly new at this too, so anyone correct me if I'm off.
From my reading, its always good to socialize your dog in any and all good positive situations. Exposure is a good thing for them. I think that your dogs playing together would qualify.
I would just watch two things:
The dogs getting too "Doggy". That means that they start to form stronger bonds with each other than with you. But since you say that play time is limited to 20 minutes, that might curb this risk. Regular obedience exercises should also help. You don't want them forming their own sub-pack.
The other thing is that you have two males in this mix. I don't know if they are/will be neutered. That's something else to consider. Once the pup comes of age, they might not all play so nice. The early socialization has got to help. Still, I guess you'd have to be keenly aware of any changes. From what I've read, being attacked by an older dog is permanently scarring on a pup. So be careful! And always supervise!
i am thinking your puppy might get more benefit from socializing with other people rather than with other puppies. i would just underscore what david said about excercising caution with the puppy play and he's right about the pup not being focused on you. you may want to re-think this situation.
if there are no dogs in heaven, then when i die i want to go where they went. ---will rogers
I just wasn't thinking about the size of a 8 and 9 month old shepherd when I went to the class. Looking at my puppy I was think 10/15 lbs more at the most.
I'm going with my gut feeling and that is no play time just training and leave.
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