dogo puppy socialization

[llong3316]

I have a 4.5 month dogo and I am wondering if I'm taking the right steps to socialize. First I want to make clear that Im not a big fan of dog parks but I took him to get used to being around other dogs and the older dogs kind of had him rattled so I took him out of the gated area. It's also next to a busy street which is perfect because of the loud noises so in short this is what I am doing. For the loud looses I take him for a walk on the street and check his body language if he seems relaxed then we will pop a squat and watch the cars go by. As far as the dogs we walk outside of the park and of course the other dogs come to the gate either aggressive or not aggressive so I let him walk closer to the gate to get closer to the dogs without any attacks..am I going about this the right way?

 

[bigwhitedog]

my boy is 10 months old. has never been to a dog park and is friendly with dogs. i wouldn't do take him to a dog park at all...even on the outside. a lot of those dogs are just out of control and having one barking at your dog from the other side of the fence probably wont help. they also have a tendency to charge towards the fence. best bet is to find another dog... on a single ... one on one basis that you can become familiar with. i live in a building with a lot of dogs and there happen to be a couple puppies around the same age. so we took them out together and lets them play in a secluded area of a park. we would always keep them on a leash so if they got out of hand it is easier to catch them. but for the most part... there were no issues. i would also recommend a puppy obedience class. when we took our boy, he was about 3.5 months old but he already had most commands. the great part is... the class was all puppies and gave him a chance to really socialize.