I hear on this thread how important it is to other dog socialize. Cricket is other dog aggressive. I don't want to try socializing her with Oreo because is so big, and still a puppy. I am working with keeping him from jumping up on me when I go to feed him or when I go out to play, and I'm having some success. Its taking awhile, but much faster than I thought it would. I'm afraid that because she is so hyper sometimes that he would take that as playtime and hurt her. We have no dog parks close to the house. What if I just took her to the fence to see him? I notice that's when she starts growling at him. We have a lot of ppl that let their dogs run free in the neighborhood, and I'm worried because of her aggression that she will try to attack. Please help me. Lol!

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Do you know anyone who has other smaller dogs you could set up 'play dates' with?

How old is Cricket? I rescued an older dog (3 years when I got him) who has aggression towards other dogs, but only from afar. Once I actually bring him up to the other dog, he's fine, and usually falls in love. Gracie is 1 1/2, and she is the same way...If she sees another dog in the distance, she's ferocious, but once she meets them up close, she's fine. Neither are the best socialized dogs in the world, but at least we've gotten to a point to where we aren't ready to pull our hair out everytime we take them outside. Of course, both were older when I got them - Gracie was 5 months, and she learned alot of bad habits from Pedro. His aggression was so instilled in him from years of abuse that we've really had our hands full working the kinks out. He's not perfect, but he's so much better than he was.

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Hi, It is a challenge to balance socialization and safety. I have two adult dobermans in the house. The puppy usually starts the play and I have to step in to slow it down (I calmly separate). They are working out a relationship slowly. The female wants to play and tolerates the puppy jumping and biting her face for awhile before getting feisty. The male just growls and leaves the room. What I have seen that helps is taking them outside in the fenced yard together. When they have more room, everyone feels more comfortable. There is a lot of sniffing, imitating their potty behavior, and just enjoying being a group walking along. I always have to be there to stop anything that gets wild, but I'm feeling pretty good about how they are interacting. I'll always crate Barney if I can't supervise.

I would try to introduce them slowly, safely, with supervision, and let them figure out a relationship. Maybe get help from someone who can help with the big dog. Every dog will be different, but in general dogs like dog friends if they can work out how to interact peacefully. Reward both of them generously when they are being calm and nice with each other. Avoid getting stressed yourself - they will pick up on that and get stressed too. Good luck. You seem like a very caring mom to your pup.

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Here are pictures of Barney: Flickr: Crochet Bouquet's Photostream

I think I needed her just as much as she needed me. I love her greatly and don't want her to be hurt. She is 5 yrs old, and I'm not sure if she's ever been around other dogs. At least not in a socializing way. For the first 2 yrs of her life she was sheltered, pampered, catered to, and babied. The last three were rough because no one payed attention to her except a two yr old, and not in a good way. She was skin and bones when I brought her home. Now we are working a happy medium where she has her pamper and love time, but she also has her time to be a dog. I really don't know if its too late to socialize her or not to other dogs, but I will try.

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It is never too late to socialize her . Just keep trying, take her to meet dogs that you know are friendly, and she will warm up eventually.

Lion acts "aggressive" from afar, but I correct his behavior and then he will happily walk by other dogs. He is not properly socialized either. I took him to puppy classes and I thought that was plenty of socialization, but I was wrong. I still work on him meeting new dogs in the hopes that he will become more social.

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Thanks LS!