Today my pup (has all shots, don't worry) met a large rough collie male and a little bichon frise (separately). He was not keen on the collie and his hackles rose and he barked at him before then changing into a playbow and barking at him that way (invite to play = positive). He was NOT used to such fluff. He calmed down after a few minutes but I was surprised at his initial reaction. The bichon phased him far less (typical of my adult dogs actually, they just don't ''see'' small dogs). We also saw a few cockers at a distance and a husky cross, he was happy to stop and just watch these - no hackles etc. Maybe about 8 metres away. He also stopped to watch a football match and was riveted by it LOL but that's of less concern.

With these meetings, when he was being good I fed him treats and praised him as he watched the dogs. When his hackles were risen at the collie I said 'ah ah' in a gentle but firm tone.

I haven't had a puppy in a long time and just want to make sure I am handling these meetings appropriately. Also, isn't it funny how busy you notice your local park is when you have a pup? Before I would never have noticed the people out pushing buggies or playing ball, or the number of cars!

It looks like all is going well, don't sympathise with any fears the pup may have because they will think that you are scared too and will re inforce the fear, praise good reactions and go overboard when a previous bad reaction becomes a good one.

I started socializing a 10 month old from scratch back in Jan., I agree you see much more when you are looking for new and interesting experiences to introduce them to, cars and vehicles of any size were scary[ Bin day we would stand watching the different types of trucks,reversing alarms etc.] I stopped and talked to folk in their gardens,out on the street, workmen, gardeners etc.,ignore the dog and explain to the people what I am doing and why, she gradually would move away from my legs and start sniffing around the ground and move on to any equipment being praised each time she moved farther away from me and when she wasn't looking I would give the person some treats to throw on the ground when she was back facing them, eventually if she seemed happy or went looking for the source of the treats let them give her one from their hand. Walks take so much longer, she was great on the lead and soon learned kerb drill it was the rest that needed work but came around really quickly considering the delay.

Enjoy yourself in your pups new world.

That's great progress Rhodach, thank you. He is actually wonderful on the lead and mad about people, and dogs of the same breed as he is. He needs to meet far more other breeds and we begun that day, the only reaction that concerned me was the hackles and growls to the collie (funny actually, as my adult male reacts the same way to this one dog and no others but he wasn't with us today). I hope/feel I was right in correcting him (voice correction only, just a firm 'ah ah') as I don't want to allow him to react the dogs this way but i also imagine it must have been some sort of fear reaction as he is only a baby after all.

Some dogs take dislike to a certain breed, a certain dog/colour but accept the same colour/pattern in another dog of same breed, who knows.

How you deal with it will vary from breed to breed, 90% of dogs are bigger than mine so I either say their name in a gruff voice which causes them to look at me and breaks their concentration or ignore and walk away.

Maybe those with larger breeds will be along and say what they do.

Moose acts like that all the time being now almost 11 months. We have now started turning her around so the 1st sniff is the bum and not charged at the face,
since this does set the other dog off and the meeting is not as nice as it use to be when she was wee lil.
Moose also carries a ball around which has stopped her from being so vocal when a dog goes by- she may pull a bit but no noise which is nice- also a much quieter
meeting now as I flip her around to allow them to sniff mail so to speak before any face contact. Before I started doing this and the way she charged at the face
would cause on both sides the hackles to go up. She met 2 borders one female one male and the female bit Moose on the face- think to cause Moose was coming into heat so prob gave off some sort of hormone and with the male their the female prob was just protecting what was hers. Thank fully this did not put Moose off with meeting other dogs.
She is a very well socialized dog- gets along with all of them at daycare.
Def is nice to have dogs that like other dogs :-)

> He needs to meet far more other breeds and we begun that day

Socialisation is vital but don't forget that he does need to settle with you, your dogs and your family first.  I'd be a bit cautious of what you expose him to so soon after arrival, no matter how confident he appears.

I'd be inclined to take it slowly and not overwhelm him with lots of other dog contact just yet.  It might also be worth back tracking over the list of things to socialise him with and work on those as well, regardless of what work the breeder may have started in previous months.  Have you got him booked onto a training class or ringcraft yet?  Those are often very good places for him to get comfortable around other dogs on leads

Bin day we would stand watching the different types of trucks,reversing alarms etc.

That reminds me of the first dog I had of my present breed, we lived in an end terrace and I did not want him to bark so tried to take him to meet everyone. Took him out to meet the dustman and the kind chap gave him one of his old gloves, no problem with workmen from that day on as long as they did not put their gloves down. Dear old Fred he loved people and all dogs except Belgiam Shepherds all 4 breeds, have no idea why but he passed it on the those who followed and I still have to watch it even now over 20 years on.

It was a pretty quiet short walk, the field backs on to some houses with gates so the rough collie and bichon were looking out of their gate at him, and the other dogs were a distance away just passing. He is just lazing around for the day now and we start classes in 1.5 weeks and have a 'puppy party' at our vets on Tuesday :)

Today was a helpful day. We went to a local cafe, put down pup's vetbed, chews and kongs and he enjoyed chilling out and got to watch a variety of dogs, people, kids, etc walk by. When we sitting by the beach later on he was a lot less phased by the various breeds that wandered by and was happy enough to greet a large black lab :)

Things are going from strength to strength. We went to a puppy party at our vet's last night and he was quite scared at the start as two extremely loud and large gsd's came in, one handled by a child (so leaping at everyone and being physically dragged away..sigh). After a while he relaxed and he then enjoyed a great playtime with a bernese mountain dog pup, a boxer pup, the two gsd's and a little terrier. Lots of variety :)

Today we visited the woman who will be providing doggie daycare for him when I go back to work, one day a week she minds a jrt so we had to see if they got on together and result - they did! Another great playtime had by all and he is fasssssssssssst asleep on the sofa with me now. Glad he got to meet his doggie daycare lady too, hopefully when he first goes (not for another 4 weeks) he will remember the nice visit and not fret. Thinking of leaving him in for a few hours with her one day prior to going back to cement the idea of it being a nice place, and somewhere he is dropped off to and then collected (ie not left for good!).

Yippee, today he played happily off lead with a springer spaniel and a collie x - very strange mix which was extremely fluffy with wiry hair, didn't look like a collie to me but hey, nice for Henry to get to know such unusual doggies lol.

Sounds like everything is going well-how I envy you!(in a nice way!)well done!

well that side of things is lol...can we get a stack though? no!