So the lady in the Close behind me who has a 14 month old terrier puppy, was right to let this big gsd come bounding over to her the other week, only to see it being ripped to shreds, the whole muscle having been torn away from its ribcage and costing her an £800 bill at the vets, but thankfully, she still had the puppy? She said she wishes she'd been more careful with her socialisation and will not be letting her puppy greet other dogs who are offlead unless they are with the owner and she knows they are totally friendly, I call that sensible. Some dogs just don't "like" puppies, my friend's jrt is like that, whereas my dogs adore little puppies, but you just don't know in a busy dog walking area, so is it really worth taking that risk?

It made total sense!

We've been approached by a handful of off leash dogs with no owners around. I ALWAYS gauge their body language and approaching style and tend to step in front of my dog until I see that the dog is friendly. I've done the body blocking I've shooed off a couple who were less than friendly and I actually booted one really aggressive small dog who was trying desperately to latch onto my dog's legs. One time I body blocked and the dog redirected and bit me (small dog, heavy jeans, nasty bruising but nothing else). But on other occasions I've practically used Dahlia to catch stray dogs. If they approach and their body language says "I'm friendly!" (e.g. they're showing appeasement gestures or playful gestures) I'm happy to let them meet Dahlia while I unhook her leash (and even collar on one occasion) and catch the stray. Mostly we seem to catch pit bulls. For all their supposed DA tendencies they've been, on a whole, the friendliest stray dogs we've met!

Anyway...

I think the whole "wrapping your puppy in cotton" aspect is what is often CAUSING the problem. My coworker did that with her puppy and is now trying to reverse the damage. And I've seen it happen a lot with dogs who are undersocialized. They have short fuses and are scared of things they shouldn't be scared of. They tend to attack out of fear first. I find an undersocialized dog to be a real liability.

again..i agree here.

i live in london...cannot avoid dogs offlead even in the street.
i feel by wrapping them up and not letting them learn 'controlled' lessons is more likely to get you a da dog than an odd mishap is.

I would not disagree with some of the comments made.

No matter what people say there will always be someone who can put a different slant on things.

Maybe the stage (age) and different experiences your pup has had previously has a reflection on how your dog copes with the first aggressive dog it meets.

So first start with dogs you know are friendly and then as they grow in confidence widen the circle. I guess its not an exact science.

And just to add: This is about ALLOWING your puppy/dog to meet other dogs. Not about what happens when one is off leash and goes after yours. This is about making a CHOICE, not having to deal with something that is, ultimately, out of your control.

But that being said, if a dog attacks a well socialized dog there's a better chance of that dog bouncing back well than if a dog attacks an undersocialized one. I was horribly worried that my dog would be DA after getting attacked. But she wasn't.

Of course it's not! But I would be leery of waiting TOO long as there IS a really solid socialization window for puppies and I would be worried about not doing enough during that window of time.

no matter what socialisation that puppy had had, there was no way that situation could have been any different the GSD was obviously looking for trouble, and the pup socialised or not would not have been able to do anything about, nor the owner, as i said i GAUGE other dogs behaviour BEFORE i let mine greet
and as Crysania says this is nothing to do with whether you allow your dog to be sociable or not, its something out of your control!

Boomer has a lot of dog friends. But I have made that decision and all turned out well. There have been a couple of instances where a person thought his dog and mine might get along well, but after looking at his dog and his dogs actions (lips starting to curl, tail movement, hackles standing up) I informed him that it would not be a good idea at all. Because if a fight did start, his dog is going to get messed up pretty bad. And who knows, his dog may get a lucky bite in and take an ear off Boomer, just not going to take those chances. So, no, its not that I don't ever let my dog make new friends. Far from it, I am just very careful about it.

precisely

so you DO let your dog meet strange dos, and DO gauge reactions, just like most dog owners