New Puppy Socialization

[Anonymous]

I'm getting a small breed dog (Maltese) in a week and I've been reading books on dog training. My dog is small and won't be as smart as many large breeds, but is a calm breed. I've always had well trained dogs, but it's been about 15 years since I had a puppy.

I keep reading about the importance of socialization with other dogs and I'm wary of this. One next door neighbor has 2 wild doodles that jump on my kids and the other neighbor has a lovely German Shepherd, but she's on an invisible fence and she guards her property line very fiercely. We see my parents every other day and their medium sized dog is... not well trained either. He jumps and chews. Jumping is really the issue because he knocks my kids down and also scratches badly at the same time. Other than that, he's a sweet, kind, well mannered dog. Mostly jumps when you arrive at the door.

My dog would learn bad habits from these dogs, right? Should I make sure to keep my puppy away until she's older and trained? I honestly don't know any nice dogs to introduce my dog to.

[Anonymous]

Ask your vet when it’s safe to introduce your puppy to any other dogs. It’s not always safe before your puppy has had all of their shots.

A puppy kindergarten training class is a great way to do this.

[Anonymous]

Socialization is not about just dogs, that's about various environments as well - loud noises, people, machinery, large objects etc - just take your dog with you almost everywhere (they doesn't have to touch the ground)
For meeting new dogs - puppy kindergarten is the safest way, sign up as soon as possible

[Anonymous]

A dog who has been properly socialized and trained to humans will be able to encounter other well-trained dogs just fine. The dog already knows how to dog. "socialization" is teaching the dog how its human handler expects him to behave. If you train your dog first, it won't matter if/when it encounters a poorly-trained dog. Your dog will look to you for guidance, and follow commands. To do that, you "socialize" the dog by training it in a variety of environments, as PP said. Some of those situations will have other dogs; puppy kindergarten and/or basic obedience classes are a good dynamic for this. But most of a dog's "socialization" is teaching it how to be social with humans, not other canines. They all speak dog fluently.