Bringing your pup/young dog into contact with other dogs

[Officially Retired]

First of all i must give big compliments to Jack for his chapter on "schooling your dog" in the indispensable tips that i read. Best and safest way of schooling i have ever heard. I guess the idiots described in it are crawling all over cause it's all i see. Think this is a great example for "anyone who's stupid enough to start of" lol

I am sorry I missed this, but thank you for the topic. My writing that Schooling article was to make sure that "human error" doesn't affect the outcome of a dog. It would literally be staggering to attempt to count all of the good dogs that have been ruined and killed, who could have been fine animals, due to improper/ignorant schooling practice.

Now Jack and some others already told a bit about some great ones who get along fine with other dogs in the house or yard. They seem to be intelligent dogs who know when to be on or off.
Also in the bible and indispensable tips is described, the importance of socialization and building a young dogs confidence in his schooling process.

I think the more a dog understands "where he's at," the more confident and assured of himself he is in general, as well as the easier he is to handle and deal with on your end as well.

Now taking this in mind, what do you all think about contact with other dogs/breeds while walking your pup/young dog outside, which in some area's is unavoidable. First of all do you think it slows em down allot to meet allot of friendly dogs, second do you think it will harm them when other dog's trying to dominate, growl, bark at your pups, regarding their confidence? I know some who will never even let their dogs sniff another dog, and just about the same amount who say they think it's good for your pup or young dog to interact with other dogs, as part of their socialization.
Your opinions?
Gr

When I used to walk in residential areas, I used to carry a pretty thick stick with me to whack other dogs if I was walking a pup. I honestly think that all of the "threat displays," behaviors, etc. are part of a dog's learning process so that he can judge and assess other dogs' intentions correctly, same as we judge other people's intentions by their bearing, their expression, the way they carry themselves, etc.

To help underscore this point, as well as to give a full credence to your thread topic here, I will give you the story of Poncho's other littermate sister Ruby. Ruby was owned by Mr. Nice Guy (Tony D.) of Southern California. He used to take her on daily walks since when she was a puppy. All the neighborhood children used to come out to pet "The Rubester," and she was so tame and smart she could be walked off-leash and never went after any dog, even when she started coming "of age." In fact, when other aggressive dogs would come at her, Ruby would "hide" behind Tony's legs, or "submit" by lowering herself to the ground. She was totally sweet and unaggressive. In fact, Tony would call me as she matured and tell me how "disappointed" he was in Ruby ... as about the only thing she would show aggression to were the local bunny-rabbits in the hills

Tony would tell me how his Eli/Nigerino bitches were "so much better animals" than Ruby, and he was basing all of these opinions on how Ruby "acted" as a young pup, and even as a young, unstarted, untouched animal ... rather than what Ruby could actually do as a performance animal.

Well, when it finally came time for Ruby to be put into her first roll, Tony selected one of his fine, "hot," super-aggressive "proven" Nigerino bitches to lambaste Ruby ... and, when Ruby was faced with this bitch in the box, she could just tell that this bitch was bad news ... and it was RUBY who flew out of the corner and nailed the other bitch (despite having no pit experience whatsoever). Ruby was smart enough to be able to read the other bitch's intentions from across the pit, and where she would hunker-down and "submit" to other dogs in harmless "bluff" street encounters, when she saw the totally-intense, deadly-serious expression of another pit dog staring at her from the corner, Ruby met fire with MORE fire ... and stopped this "proven" bitch in a mere :20 on her first roll, immediately starting-up and taking hold on her first release, without even having to be bit first, and she got on the face and peeled the other bitch's nose/face back to her eyes.

Ruby was everything an idiot-dogman would hate: a sweet, sweet dog who avoided trouble in the neighborhood, who could be turned loose around other dogs, who was NOT "hot" in any way, who never "acted crazy" on the chain, nor gave any indication whatsoever that she was "on fire"

But when you put that bitch in the pit, with something her weight, Ruby could be 100% counted on to shipwreck its ass, and stop it cold for you, which she did with every bitch she was ever put in there with. To me that is the difference between an all-around, well-socialized bulldog and common chain-brain bull$#!^. A truly all-around, well-socialized bulldog is of "The Little Rascals" variety ... it will never harm anyone, it knows what to do, what not to do, and when to do it ... and is an all-around pleasure to own ... as opposed to being a reckless, dangerous liability to own.

Jack

PS: I should also add that, ironically, when bred to the heavy Eli/Nigerino stud Cates' Rambo (brother to Cujo), Ruby produced a fine litter of pups, one of which went back to the owner of Rambo for the stud service. Well the owner of Rambo, Joe Tomayo, sent that pup over to Japan ... and that lil' pup grew up to become the winningest dog in Japan's history Okabe's Gr Ch Jigilu (9x). Another pup went to northeast USA to become GB's Lexus (2xW, 1xL), who lost her Championship bid in 2:40. Ruby was then bred to Ch Commanche and produced OTC Kennels' Ch Tank (4xW) as well as Backstreet Truez' Rocio ROM. That is a Grand Champion and a 2xW from one breeding, and a 4xW Champion and an ROM from another breeding. Not bad for a friendly lil' doggie that could be walked off-leash around the neighborhood