Hi, my mum and dad are coming to stay at the weekend which has been planned for many months but they have only just decided to tell me that they are bringing their 2 bitches (westies) with them :rolleyes:.  They have always left them with my brother until now.  They are 2 and 4.  They are arriving about 8 Saturday morning and after lunch we are going out for a couple of hours and then my parents are coming back with the children to babysit for the rest of the day/night so OH and me can go out - yipheeeeeeeeee  our one night of the year to get out and drink to our hearts content !!!! :D :D :D

Misty sleeps in the hall with the doors shut into the lounge and dining room.  Mums dogs I have planned to keep them in the lounge but my problem is how to go about introducing them for the first time.  Obviously with puppy classes and socialising etc we have met other dogs etc but never in our home, would this be any different.  Should I take Misty outside for a walk and meet up with mum and her 2 outside as there will obviously be a size difference as well, especially as Misty is still at the "I want to meet/play/jump with everyone/thing that moves" stage.

Any suggestions more than welcome! :p

What I'd do is take Misty and your mum's dogs for a walk together as soon as they arrive, so they can get to know each other on neutral territory. When they're accepting of each other let them offlead to interact properly - be prepared for the older ones to put the pup (how old is she?) in her place if she gets too bumptious! When you can see they're okay offlead together you can walk them home and let them offlead in the garden before you let them go indoors when they're ready.

Misty is 16 weeks old and twice the size of mums!!! :D

Size isn't everything! ;) Small women can be very determined! :D :D

LOL :D  very true says she who is just over 5ft!!!!

Personally I would go for a walk as suggested, but keep Misty on the lead if you think she will pester the older dogs.  I don't believe it's a good socialisation experience for young puppies to be told off by older dogs, and it is equally not good for older dogs to be driven to show aggression in order to keep the puppy away.  From the perspective of the adult, what happens once is more likely to happen again.  From the perspective of the puppy - aggression is a learned behaviour and the way in which pups are treated by adult dogs does have an impact on their future behaviour.

So, I'd keep the puppy on a lead, or at least on a long line so you can reel her in if she's being obnoxious, or prevent her from getting close to the adult dogs if they want more space. 

I will have to keep Misty on a lead of some sort as we have yet to refine the art of recall!  I have perfected it but she has other ideas!  She did get nipped at by a larger dog not long after we got her so she is still wary of larger dogs around her and tends to keep away but she just get over excited with the smaller ones and trys to jump over them and then cant understand why they won't play with her!  All training goes out the window and she totally ignores me but now that I have invested in the most disgustingly smelliest of all sausages to use as treats she seems to want to do as I say!!! :D :D

I would meet up outside as you say.  Hopefully all wil go well for you all :d

I would echo what others have recommnded and say let them meet outside on neutral territory- thats what we did when we brought our rescue girly home. We took them all to the woods for a walk and after saying hello they were more interested in the walk and the newbie didnt seem so much of a stranger once we got home :)

Good luck

another echo chiming in here - definitely let them meet on neutral territory so they've had a chance to get to know each other on neutral territory. but be prepared for unexpected signs of territoriality from Misty only when Nips first had another dog round here, he wasn't at all bothered about the things i assumed he might be. thus he let Billy (a staffy cross that's at least 3 times his size!) hoover down the crumbs left in his bowl and drink his water without a second glance but wasn't at all happy when Billy sat on his owner's lap in the chair that i normally sit in.