Socialising Dogs

ThirdMan

Hi. I want to introduce my mam's dogs to my own. She has an 8 year-old Tibetan Spaniel and a 1 year-old Jack Russell. I have a very boisterous Staff-cross. He's 18 months old and has had almost no contact with other dogs (although he did stay with the Spaniel for 10 days when he was 3 months old, but I doubt he remembers it ). I won't be walking them all together, so on-leash stuff doesn't concern me. I just want them to play happily in my garden. What's the best way to go about this? I'm particularly worried about upsetting the Spaniel. Is he a bit too long in the tooth to be dealing with (another) annoying little brat?

VonVix

Ah, there is so much I could type about this, but I'll try to be as general as possible.

At this point it might be a bit much introducing your staffie-cross to these dogs straight away, as if he is not socialised he will not understand the body language of other dogs (e.g. a growl is a warning to leave me alone) or how to greet other dogs properly, your dog not understanding this can put him in danger.

Have you ever walked around a park with your mother and her dogs* and you with your dog all together? If not, introducing your dog to these other two dogs should give you a good indication if your dog is compatible or not with them. If they greet each other first with sniffing + tail wagging it's a good start. If your dog is lunging and/or one of the other dogs is trying to pull away, then chances are they won't be compatible together any time soon. Don't expect them to be able to play together (some dogs don't play with other dogs at all), you want them to be comfortable in each other's company first.

*I'd suggest meeting only one dog at a time, sometimes dogs can bounce off each other in terms of energy. Or if they are anything like mine will try to protect the other dog if they feel like one of them is being threatened.

Chances are this will take more than meeting the other dogs once or twice, it has to be a gradual process as well as a daily activity, with a lot of patience on your part. One of the most important things is to not push any dog into doing something they seem uncomfortable (or over enthusiastic if it's not reciprocated) with, it can cause setbacks with the whole thing and put your dog or your moms dog(s) back into square one.