This is something that recently has become more of a problem in Asia, because it can prove to be a bit difficult to accomplish seeing as how here in Thailand, many of the dogs on the street are semi-feral and probably not something you want to introduce your puppy to. In the early part of a dog's life though, you really SHOULD find a way to socialize your dog with a wide variety of creatures, both human and dog in nature, because this will shape the way that your dog behaves for the rest of their lives.
Dogs that are left to the "wild" will normally learn how to socialize on their own because chances are, they are going to have a lot of sisters and brothers. Designer dogs on the other hand, especially small breeds, these days seem to be removed from their siblings as young as is possible and then many of the families that take on these dogs do something that is actually not great for the dog's development: They will isolate that dog away from other dogs for its early years because the owners are afraid the dogs will get hurt - which is completely reasonable thing to do even thought is is really misguided.
While there is a real danger that an adult dog could rip your puppy in two quite easily, dogs generally speaking are not so vicious. For the most part adult dogs are quite curious about puppies and other are actually afraid of them because they don't follow the rules of normal adult dogs.
Just because an adult dog nips at a smaller dog doesn't mean that it is actually going to hurt it, that is just how they let other dogs know who the boss is and puppies sometimes can only learn by this sort of aggression.
Also, this is a good time to socialize your dog with other people as well: Fight your need to be the "only person in that dog's life" because ultimately, this is not a good idea. The dog is going to have you be the number one anyway, but by getting your dog around other dogs when it is young, you won't need to worry about it getting hurt, or hurting other dogs later in life.
I know this first-hand because one of my dogs was not socialized as a pup. It lived in a yard isolated from other animals and most people until it was around 3 years old. It is extremely difficult to get this dog to be around anyone except me and it took a while, but she now accepts that there are 2 other dogs in the yard and house with her. It was a tough road though as she would hide away from the other 2 dogs for quite some time at the start and would either act very frightened or would fight if the other dogs tried to play with her or even get near her. She is not an aggressive dog either, she was just raised wrong.
Dogs that are young should not be isolated like this and it is absolutely crucial that you socialize a dog with other dogs at a ripe young age, especially before they turn 4 months old. You should then keep them socialized with other dogs at least until they are 1 year old.
This will help a lot in ensuring that they are friendly towards other dogs, people, and especially children as they get older. If you waited too long it can still be fixed, but you will have to be much more careful because a dog that is over 1 year old is already capable of hurting other dogs and people.
In the western world there are groups that form social days for puppies but I have never heard of such a thing happening here in Thailand. If anything I think a lot of people intentionally isolate their dogs away from other dogs out of fear that the dogs will hurt their puppy. This is a rational fear but perhaps you could find a friend of yours that has a dog or two, and carefully expose them to those trusted dogs some afternoon.
If this process is skipped or intentionally avoided out of fear, there is a very good chance that the dog will tend to see all other dogs as a threat and this is not necessarily a good thing if you ever want to be able to take your dog out on walks or to meet someone that has other dogs.
It can be a frightening experience when your dog is small and helpless but here is one thing to remember that I have out of nearly a decade of experience of handling thousands of dogs of all ages and sizes: outside of very very rare situations, dogs are not actually interested in hurting other dogs (or anything else for that matter) they just don't know what it is. If you are there with them and assuring them constantly that everything is safe and ok, their natural curiosity will take over and while it may take a bit of time, they will learn to want to know the other dogs or humans around them.
If you wait too long you could end up with one of those dogs that doesn't want to be around anyone or anything other than you and this is not really a great idea.
You'll need to stop being so overprotective though because dogs, when getting to know one another, will follow one another around and it can look almost like stalking prey. most of the time though, they are not going to do anything and if they do hurt the other dog and the dog yelps, chances are the other dog will stop because all dogs know this sound of "stop that! That hurts!" because they themsleves have made this sound before and it is a universal sign in the dog world that one dog is submitting to the other.
In the early stages of a dog's life this is crucial. Older dogs can be socialized as well but just like the old saying goes "it is tough to teach an old dog new tricks" and in some cases, it might even be impossible.
There are ways to get it done including bringing your own dog by the Krabi Animal Welfare center kennel for a day of play and socializing with other dogs. We don't officially have these events yet, but we were thinking of starting it. We have near 100 dogs that are very well-versed at meeting newcomers, but this can be a bit of an overwhelming experience for a new dog to have 100 curious faces all pursuing it at the same time.
The best thing to do is to have a friend that already has a dog that has been socialized and take your pet over with you for a visit. Make this happen when your puppy is young, as this will be the easiest time to make it happen in their entire lives.
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.
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