Introducing Malamute Puppy To New Playmates

[ellejaytee]

We have a 7.5 month old alaskan malamute, and a colleague of mine has suggested a play date for him and her 6 year old large male labradoodle. I think this is a great idea as our puppy does need friendly playmates. My partner is scared that our puppy will hurt the labradoodle, and I am a little afraid of that too - not that our mal is aggressive at all towards dogs (he was terrified of the puppies at puppy school) but he's a big (30kg) clown who doesn't know his own size! But I think now is a good time for him to be meeting other dogs. He has played with our trainer's fully grown German shepherd and there were no issues. They even drank from the same water bowl at the same time! I guess I'm just afraid...his reaction to other dogs now he's older is excited and curious. He got ran at by an off lead Maltese, and his tail was wagging and he was having a good old sniff!

I know he's 'old' to be socialising at this point, but all the dogs we know are tiny, and because of our mal's size and tendency to play rough, we haven't introduced them. I guess I'm just wondering if this will all be okay?

[Dogsfevr]

Depends on the temp of the other dog & what there idea of a playdate is & the control they have over there dog .

Just because your dog is big doesn't mean he can't learn manners to interact with little dogs & behave ,it doesn't mean he has to play but manners around little dogs is just as important .

Sounds like you need to join an obedience club so your pup can learn to interact whilst you are being taught

[BC Crazy]

Yes, great post showdog

[raineth]

He doesn't need to play with other dogs, he just needs to be able to behave around them :)

I probably wouldn't go for a play date with your friend's labradoodle, but instead go for an onlead walk together. This way the dogs can get to know each other in a much less exciting (and potentially problematic) way.

[persephone]

He doesn't need to play with other dogs, he just needs to be able to behave around them :)

I probably wouldn't go for a play date with your friend's labradoodle, but instead go for an onlead walk together. This way the dogs can get to know each other in a much less exciting (and potentially problematic) way.

This sounds good advice . Both on lead ..and a good long walk . That lets them smell/hear and watch each other ..but they need to be walking - so no chance for being silly :)

[BC Crazy]

Yes, just so no one gets accidently injured. Things can quickly get out of hand sometimes & ends up a "free for all".

Supervised, on leads outing. Teaching controlled interaction. Learning manners :)

[Tassie]

He doesn't need to play with other dogs, he just needs to be able to behave around them :)

I probably wouldn't go for a play date with your friend's labradoodle, but instead go for an onlead walk together. This way the dogs can get to know each other in a much less exciting (and potentially problematic) way.

This. The most important thing for life in general is to be able to walk pleasantly and politely in the vicinity of other dogs - and ideally in the company of other dogs - while still paying attnetion to the handler.

[Yonjuro]

In addition to the excellent advice above...

One of the best things I did when socialising my Husky was to take him along to an open day run by the WA Sled dog association. Ronin was around 6 months and very boisterous. We took lots of treats to get him to sit and drop and settle around the other huskies and mallies. He was quickly put in his place with a couple of "settle down kiddo" growls from the older dogs and it was great and calm. It was helpful to have a bunch of people around with lots of experience with these breeds so they could assist and read the dogs well, as I'm sure you are aware that these breeds can have rough and noisy interactions that other dogs and owners can find quite confronting.

So if it is at all possible, it might be worth looking into breed clubs for get-togethers so you can test the waters with the same breed before seeing how you go with the labradoodle. In my limited experience I have found Ronin to be far better with confident dogs, so if the labradoodle in confident it might be okay, but if it is a submissive dog you might have issues with your mally displaying adolescent bullying behaviour.

I will say again that my experience with this is limited and I have a trainer that I discussed this with before I embarked on various socialisation settings. There are so many variables that it is hard to get or give advice over the net, but there are many trainers here to help and possibly disagree with what I did, so take a trainers advice before mine any day :)