False. Dogs know other dogs when they see or smell them. There is no way your dog will think another dog is prey. On the other hand, he will get quite big and it's important that he grow up to be a well tempered dog. Him bombarding or attacking other dogs must not be allowed to happen so it's still important that he meet dogs of all sizes and learn to be gentle.

My boy, who is rather large, stomped on a Yorkies head with his big, heavy paws by accident in a rambunctious fit. This type of thing should be trained away by much contact and distractions when the dog gets too excited. I don't think your dog is as jumpy as my Labby guy, but still.

As long as he's allowed to meet many dogs in a neutral setting, he should be fine. A puppy class would be great, as long as there is no dominance based training methods. My Nigredo was allowed to meet tons of dogs as a puppy, even very big ones such as greyhounds and malamutes, and he turned out to be a patient and friendly dog.

One more thing. Dogs can sometimes learn to hate a certain type if they were attacked by that type. Gnasher's Ben came to hate male black Labradors because of this and my last male came to hate male pit bulls. If you can, find other dogs that look like the dog that was mean to Myrsky and show him that they are not all bad.

Ah! The Malamute sigh!! Isn't it sweet? Ben does that the most of all the mal crosses I have had. There are a million unspoken words in that sigh! Ben is very vocal ... woo woo woo, he goes, and we struggle to interpret exactly what he wants! It can mean I want to go out, or I want to play ball, all I am just telling you how much I love you and I want my chest rubbed! He will sit on the garden table staring out over the fields and woo woo away - not a full howl, just a vocalisation. I love it!

What!! Your boyfriend is talking nonsense there, Myrsky.

Lots of good advice there for Myrsky! Myrsky, I feel like a surrogate mother here ... do keep telling us how things are progressing. You have a wonderful breed there, if rather a challenge for a first timer, but you are doing so well, listening to advice from different sources but challenging anything you think sounds a bit strange. This is good, one thing to remember is that YOU know YOUR dog better than anyone else ... but as a newcomer to the canine world, you sometimes need help with interpretation! A bit like me with French ... I can scrape by, but I am nowhere near being fluent, and I need the help of a dictionary!

I do not consider myself fluent by any means in canine "speak", but I am learning, and I am always open-minded and prepared to unlearn, or relearn, or just accept that sometimes I am just plain wrong.

Oh, Gnasher. Tactless (but correct) as usual. It's total nonsense, though. Dogs are not stupid, my word.

I had a similar problem finding an obedience class for my two dogs. You could try by doing an online search such as "dog trainers in ...." then adding the name of your nearest town. I also asked at every pet shop I went into, if they knew of any obedience classes in the area. One shop came up with the names of two trainers, the first of which I rejected as she only trained with choke collars. For several months we went to classes with the second one who was extremely good, until she decided to go back to university. The trainer we now go to was recommended by my Schnauzer's breeder.

Don't worry about the language. At home, and when I train my two myself the only language they hear is English, but outside the home and at obedience classes they only hear Hungarian. It doesn't bother them whether they're told "ull" or "marad" or "sit" and "stay" they know exactly what it means whether it's in Hungarian or English.

Ok,.. sounded weird to me anyway,..Myrsky met today a terrier and the finnish hound from last time (he was still a little scared, though he met this dog before) but he was fine after all And thank you for helping me/us. Myrsky is thankful too

Everybody above is completely right about the small dogs, Myrsky<3. It is true that some dogs, Huskies being quite notorious, have a very high prey drive, but smaller dogs are not on the list. Dogs have an instinctive ability to recognise other dogs, no matter how different they might look. Laszlo, our Mal cross, had a very good miniature Yorkie friend, one of the smallest dogs I've ever seen: she literally did not come up past his wrist when standing and would easily have fit in his mouth.

It is important that Myrsky gets to know dogs of all shapes and sizes, so he learns how to temper his play. Dogs will often size each other up before going all out, sometimes by leaning on each other to get an impression of the other's weight and strength, and a bigger, stronger dog will 'pull his punches', as it were, with a smaller one who they might accidentally squish if they're not careful.

Regarding puppy classes, they are wonderful, but like Chlosmum do check out their training methods and reject any you don't like or don't feel comfortable with. Choking, eesh! Any good class will let you sit in as an observer before you sign up. If you don't like what you see, just walk away. Don't let anyone bully you into doing anything with Myrsky that you feel is wrong, no matter how many letters after their name they have. As Gnasher said, YOU know your dog better than anyone else.

Personally I feel that pain has no place in the training of any dog, but the Spitz types respond especially badly to it.

Your vet might have some suggestions, or if you can find some local dog walkers in your area, they may know of one, or be willing to take Myrsky along to play with a nice set of their charges. I used to walk with a marvellous group of dogs and a marvellous dog-walker-- great fun for all!

Good luck to you-- and congratulations. As a first-time dog owner you really are doing everything right by your little guy. He's going to grow up to be a wonderful dog, I know it!

Oh it is sweet... I miss it. Taji is very vocal (no one seems to have told him that Akitas are supposed to be quiet) and will most loquaciously request a carrot!

We go off to France every summer, where we stay in my husband's family home, miles away from anywhere. One of my greatest pleasures there is that we can howl together without restraint. There isn't anyone to bother! Little Dog and Old Dog are both awful singers, but who really cares?

Oh yes, the curly tails! Our half-Mal had a GSD tail. Not only were there many coffee table incidents, but he did have a habit of painting the walls when he came in from a muddy walk.

To me the stiff body posture, the clamped teeth, the eyes with the whites showing, the motionlessness: how can this possibly suggest a comfortable dog? Seriously, if a human were behaving this way, would you think they were calm? I think a lot of people could benefit from reading lots about dogs' body signals, but then stepping back and taking a more instinctive, less analytic look at it. Yes, let that information come through, but really just LOOK at the dog.