We have two yorkies. My stepson has recently come to live with us with his pound puppy lab mix. My two adore Marley and they are really good friends. Still, I never leave them in a room together unattended. If we're all upstairs and I need to go downstairs to grab something, I just call Marley and have her come with me. As well as they get along, I just can't risk my dogs life on some strange trigger making her snap. Maybe it's just me but I would never leave mine alone with a dog that has the potential to kill one of them. I do want to reiterate, Marley has never shown any agression towards them whatsoever.

It was very hard for me to come to terms with this with Ringo. We eventually had to quit agility because, by then, we were off leash . . but if the big dogs approached him . . the class was in chaos.

It made me so sad that I could never take him to a dog park, etc. But I've decided that he is just not meant for that. He would not enjoy a dog park; he does not like being around strange dogs; and I do avoid situations where he would be in close contact with large dogs.

But, luckily he gets along with the ONE DOG that I asked him to - Lucy. I feel like he still has a good life even without the dog park; doggie daycare; or agility. But it did make me really sad at first.

It was our agility trainer that figured out he would do well with a small female dog. I'm really grateful for that. Now he and Lucy are best buds.:)

You are a good mom! Sometimes these things just are....and we need to accept them. I am SO sure he is a happy pup. Going to the dog park or doing agility is nice, but not for all. That is something I really have learned in rescue. We do our best to suit the needs of the pup, not the adopter. Some don't do well with other dogs and some do....or some don't like cats. There are so many out there...why try to make a pup be something he is not? Just my take of course. :)

Some dogs just can't be in public with other dogs. The point is that you tried and when it wasn't feasible, you found a solution that did work for Ringo. I always think a dog that doesn't have at least one other dog "friend" is missing a big part of it's potential life.

My grandmother had a dog that wasn't properly socialized. It HATED every other dog out there except for one of the neighbors dogs. So, every chance they got, they would get the two together to run around the yard. It was always so much fun to see this normally morose, grumpy dog turn in to a wiggle butt when her "buddy" came over.

I honestly don't know what happened to Ringo. I took him to puppy class; to agility; and tried to socialize him with other dogs.

I actually think I went TOO far out of my way to let him meet and greet every dog that we encountered when he was a puppy. Some of those dogs were not so friendly and after a few skirmishes - I think Ringo decided the best Defense was a good Offense. I really learned a lesson here. He should not have been allowed to go up to every strange dog - my fault.

One day we had an incident in Agility that I think really scarred him (and me too). At the end of class, all the dogs were allowed to play. One time I looked over and all the dogs (most a lot bigger than he) were surrounding him in a circle; over top of him. Ringo had made himself as low to the ground as possible and you could only see the whites of his eyes. You could tell he was terrified and I was too terrified to step into the circle and 'rescue' him. I called the trainer over and she stepped in and picked him up. After that, playtime was broken into big dogs and then smaller dogs.

I was really afraid they were all going to attack him; that's what it looked like. Maybe he was sending off some bad vibes; I don't know. I know my heart was racing with fear.

Anyhoo, agility was never quite the same after that and I had to really work with him on walks to ignore approaching, large dogs. He's good on a walk now; as long as I stay focused when big dogs approach and keep him at a heel.

I've sheltered Lucy much more; rarely do I allow her to greet a strange dog - unless the owner says that they are friendly and both dogs are sending off play vibes. Then I will.

Anyway, I would caution anyone to not let their dogs get into a situation that they are not ready to handle. I'm pretty sure that's what I did with Ringo.

Thanks for your kind words; I do think Ringo has a happy life now. He loves his long walks, his playtime, Lucy chasing him round and round . . . life is good!