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Originally Posted by MMMM I need some advice. Mickey is 3 months old. I would like to take him to puppy classes, but just yesterday we had a BAD experience with a neighbor's big dog. The owner said it wouldn't hurt Mickey, but it went after him. Mickey wasn't really hurt, but it really scared us both. I'm afraid that big-breed puppies in a class won't even realize he is the same species!!!!! Are there any classes for small breed puppies only? Is it safe to take him to a Petsmart class? Thanks for your help! |
This is an interesting question because I have the same sort of issue with my Badger. I was told by the vet to take him to puppy socialisation from a very early age (10 weeks) but when we got there, it was a bit of a disaster. It was a Petsense class (based in London) but the dogs there weren't puppies from what I could tell. The brochure said no dogs over 14 weeks were permitted but it looked to me like over half of them were grown dogs (a full grown wheaten terrier, a full grown fox terrier, an adolescent border terrier amongst others). Some of the dogs looked to me like they were there for behavioural issues like aggression too. Badger was very intimidated and frightened and the woman running the class gave me a big lecture about how I should be introducing him to at least fifteen dogs a day (?!) - even though he'd only just had his first shot two days before
I did introduce him to a number of dogs after that but in every instance (even though the owners said they were okay), they would lunge and bark at him - frightening him even more. In fact, I would go so far as to say, the puppy socialisation experience he had has given him real reason to be afraid. After a couple of weeks of this, I called a good friend of mine who has been breeding Yorkies for 25 years and she said to just forget the puppy socialisation until he was older. In her experience, Yorkies tend to be a lot more sensitive and they shouldn't be forced into situations they're not ready for. I would go with your own best judgement as to what's best for your baby, but for now I'm limiting Badger to human contact only. He gets on very well with people and children and meets loads of them every day. Even with people, he can sometimes feel a little intimidated and as much as I want him to be a happy, sociable dog, I'm not forcing any issues with him until he's ready. If I can find a puppy playgroup with similar size dogs, then I will take him but I'm not prepared to introduce him to potentially rude and aggressive dogs until he's a little bigger. I may be completely wrong according to the 'experts' but I'm not exposing my little boy to a potentially dangerous situation. In every instance, the owners have been adamant they're dogs are okay with puppies but they've always gone for him so it just proves that no-one can ever really predict what a dog will do in any situation. It's just too much of a risk as far as I'm concerned and he's only tiny anyway. It's not like he's a rottweiler or bull terrier that poses a threat if he's not properly socialised. There is a nice little pug at the vet's office that he seems to like, so I'm finding all sorts of reasons to go in to buy stuff (they have a drop-in-and-visit-us-anytime policy) so he can see her and say 'hi'
Hope that helps but let us know what you decide and how it goes. Good luck
