We have a 9 week old puppy pekingese/maltese mix. We work during the day and feel horrible when we leave to work and hes all by himself. We work farily close to work and stop by during our lunch break to visit and feed him and such. The question is how soon is too soon to start letting him play with other dogs. We have good friends that lives a couple blocks away with 2 grown dogs (chit'zu and pekingese). We want all of them to be pals and interact with each other. When the owners of the 2 grown dogs go to work , their doggies are free to roam and play in the yard. When would be a good age to start dropping our pup off in the morning to play with the other 2 during the day. He has already gotten his first set of shots and will be visting the vet again very soon. Should we wait till he gets all his shots ( 4 months). Also the other 2 are perfectly healthy dogs with all updated shots and records.
2006-10-23 07:52:00 · 15 answers · asked by Minh H 2 in Pets ➔ Dogs
YES - IT IS TOO SOON
Wait until he finishes the whole series
Little ones are terribly susceptible. The adults have stronger immune systems and while exposed to an illness,will not show the symptoms. Some illness are airborne (ex: bordatella). Some are in the soil (leptospirosis). Simply not worth the risk.
My vet just got a Bouvier des Flanders puppy. His dogs come to the office with him all day (and have a dog run out the back door.) She wasn't allowed to come until she finished the whole series.
In addition, one that young will not be able to keepp up with the older dogs or sort out his place in the group - possible risk of bullying.
When you do introduce them it should be very gradual an under close supervison at a place where he feels comfortable (his territory/home is best)
Depending upon how they interact, he may or may not be able to spend the day with them. That is a try it and see how it goes. He will neeed his crate at his day place so he has somewhere to go escape and rest and sleep - a pppy's primary activity aside from eating, peeing and.... Waiting till he is 6 months or a year is just silly. I have reguarly introduced young puppies into a household with older dogs.
2006-10-23 08:03:37 · answer #1 · answered by ann a 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The best thing to do is to have supervised visits to the other dogs home several times a week. Do this for a couple of weeks, eventually leaving him out to play with the other dogs with you only watching from a window or glass door. Do this for about a week. This will show how they all react to one another without a human around, but yet if there is a scuffel you can control it. The pup does need interaction with other dogs asap. After you feel comfortable enough to leave the little guy, then all is well.
2006-10-23 08:32:30 · answer #2 · answered by Jenna 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
As long as everyone's had their shots, go for it now! It's best to socialize at a young age. Just supervise the first couple of visits to make sure there's no sign of aggresion from any of the pups.
You also want to make sure that the elders are gentle with your baby. They sometimes play a little rough and an injury can occur. But with the supervision like I said, you can stop that right away.
Good luck!
2006-10-23 07:55:20 · answer #3 · answered by Melissa D 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As soon as possible! The earlier you socialize your dogs, the better. I'm assuming since you said you've started your shots that your puppy has had its parvo shot. Make sure of that before taking him around other dogs. He should be supervised when playing to make sure he is behaving appropriately and that he isn't being picked on. Make sure he is displaying the appropriate submissed behaviors. Good luck!
2006-10-23 07:55:55 · answer #4 · answered by Stephanie H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As long as the other dogs are current with their vaccines I would start socializing your pup as soon as possible. You will have to monitor them at first to ensure all goes well. If they can meet for the first time on neutral ground it can make things go smoother. When your pup is young is the best time to have her/him interact with other people (adults & children), other animals (dogs, cats, etc), and different situations (city traffic/bike riders/strollers) so take your dog for walks on a regular basis. I hope this helps and enjoy your new best friend.
2006-10-23 08:04:55 · answer #5 · answered by DogMan 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Start as soon as the puppy has had shots and been fixed (if that's what you're doing). Early socialization is key with dogs. We started taking mine to the park to play in the evenings and nights after she healed from being spade. We introduced her slowly. She hid between my legs at first and then chose one or two specific dogs and clung to them, following them around. Taking her two to three times a week got her to loosen up and before we knew it she was running around playing with everyone!
2006-10-23 08:03:09 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would be best to wait until he has all of his shots. also, make sure he is strong enough to rough around with two other dogs. At 9 weeks, he hasn't really gotten to that point yet. When you can play with him with toys and do the tug of war thing, then it is usually safe to say he's ready.
2006-10-23 07:58:33 · answer #7 · answered by Lauren B 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if your frienbds dogs are up to date with there jabs then he is fine to visit them in your home but do not let him near other dogs or ther mess untill he has had both his jabs!!
there is a very high risk of parvo at the mo whihc is a killer!!
contact your vet about these jabs!
explain its a pup and he needs his first jab then two weeks later he will need another and then 2 weeks afdter that he is ok to mingle wiv other dogs...but make sure ur friends dogs are upto date wiv theres!!
2006-10-23 07:56:32 · answer #8 · answered by g_lou 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd wait until your puppy got all his shots, but when he does, since the other dogs have all of their shots, I'd say go for it. I just recently got a puppy and we introduced him to our other dogs almost right away. We never leave them alone together, though, because they are so much bigger (our puppy's a teacup yorkie and the other two are border collies). But I think that if you trust your neighbor's dogs, then your puppy should do just fine!
2006-10-23 08:28:49 · answer #9 · answered by yoyo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As soon as your pup has all of his shots, and the vet gives him a clean bill of health. You don't want to go before the shots though, you risk him catching diseases from other animals in the area. Other than that as soon as you want!!
2006-10-23 08:08:10 · answer #10 · answered by Sleepy Head! ;) 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋