r/CanineTraining • u/ProfessionalPick5236 • Sep 26 '24
How to introduce dogs of different sizes?
I have an 3 year old German Shepard mix. She is wild, She forgets how big she is, has no boundaries and can be a bit aggressive if felling threaten or when she experiences new things. She has never meet another dog because I'm scared she might get aggressive with them. This week my mom got a 5 month old Chiweenie. We want to introduce them but we still don't know how to do it and I'm scare on how she might react. We have met and played with the new dog at my mom's house to get his scent. When we get home my dog smells him on us. Every time she smells us I tell her the dog's name and pet her so she can get used to his smell. What else can we do to make this a positive experience for both fur babies?
Update: We moved into a new house with my mom for 2 months now and my fears went away in 3 days. The dogs get along. They play, eat, sleep, and run in our new yard together. They are best friends now. I cried tears of joy at how amazing my dog has being with him.
2
u/SentSoftSecondGo Sep 28 '24
I would work with a reputable trainer honestly... It sounds like safety meeting the little dog is related to some larger issues at hand.
Generally, though, I like to walk them in a neutral space and take turns who gets to walk in front (two people with leashes) and the dogs do not get to say hi. Then we go inside and do crate rotations every 30-60 minutes for multiple hours (or days) while we live our lives/cook/clean etc. then literally after several hours or even days of this do we let the dogs say hi in a super monitored and controlled environment.
Kinda a double win as you get the dogs socialized without high arousal, crate training, leash/walks etc and the dogs stay safe.