Can a pup taught..

[Powertothepetal]

To ignore other dogs mature into a polite adult?

Pup is 12 weeks old, I have an older dog and many dogs do not like her.
I pretty much never allow her to meet other dogs due to the large number that take offence to her and because of the large number that take offence she isn’t very friendly herself and will usually growl at any dogs that approach her.

The puppy has met a few dogs (like two or three) but I’ll be honest, I don’t want him meeting other dogs.

I feel pretty traumatised from the (many) bad experiences over the years with my older dog and I quite simply don’t trust other dogs anymore.

I had a dog aggressively go for my older one just a few days ago and today narrowly avoided yet another aggressive encounter.
Today has just cemented it for me really.
The last straw as it were.
I really don’t want my puppy meeting strange dogs.

But I also don’t want him maturing into a truly aggressive dog from lack of socialisation (my girl isn’t truly aggressive, she growls but it goes no further and she only growls if they approach her).

Anyone who has seen my other posts will know the pup is a nervous little boy.
He is really good at walking past the dogs outside school now to get his biscuits and has been pretty good walking past dogs on lead (copying my girl probably) though sometimes stops like he wants to interact with them.

Today, on the way to the woods (where we later met yet another aggressive dog) there was a spaniel behind us (the same type and colour that tried to attack my girl a few days ago) and his behaviour was noticeably different, stopping and looking back at it then racing ahead (not in a happy puppy way, like he was speeding forward out of fear).
I don’t want him to be scared of other dogs, nor aggressive to other dogs, but I really would like him to completely ignore others and walk past.

Is this possible?
For him to be confident and non aggressive while only interacting with my older dog?

You can get a dog to walk past other dogs without interaction with training. My girl is shy but very friendly and doesn't trust all dogs as she was attacked when she was a pup. We took her straight back out and before allowing her near other dogs I would ask the owners if it was OK for her to sniff near them and I'd watch body language to make sure both dogs were happy with each other. Id also warn other walkers she has been attacked so they are aware and I'd always watch her and if she was uncomfortable I wouldn't force it. There are times dogs would growl when we walked past or dogs I wasn't comfortable with her interacting with so I'd then walk her past and gave the command leave and walk on. I did this with each walk and eventually she got the hang of when I say leave she knows to walk past but if I say OK she can have a sniff and play but these are with dogs she is used to. Your pup is 12 weeks old and there's plenty of time to get her used to other dogs. Not every dog will like her. My girl is shy but friendly and she's also been growled at, nipped by dogs off leads and most of the time she runs behind me bless her. Can you not ask other dog walkers if it's OK to allow your dog to go over to them to get her used to certain dogs? If you really don't want her interacting with other dogs then you need to train her to focus on you only and train her to leave or walk on followed by praise.

Thank you so much @PollyRoullson for your advice.

As it stands, the puppy walks past any dogs outside the school gates and sits with my older dog for a biscuit before leaving.
He does this automatically now without me encouraging him.

He did choose to go over to a another border collie (who was perfectly friendly) there once but has since chosen to walk past it each time we’ve seen it.

On walks he will often stop and look and has on occasion looked like he’d like to go and say hello but I’ve usually encouraged him to follow me and older dog and walk on.
On the rare occasions I’ve given him the choice he has chosen not to interact with the other dog, bar one time when he met a big Labrador and the collie he wanted to say hello to.
Both the border collie he met and the Labrador were young dogs, they looked 5 - 6 months old.

He tends to stop and look at the other dog for a few seconds then carries on walking.
The exception was the spaniel yesterday who he seemed scared of and he stopped, looked and ran ahead then stopped, looked and ran again.
That spaniel was a different dog but the same type and colour as another spaniel who has aggressively lunged at my other dog a few days before when we were walking home.

He’s also had some practice sitting and eating biscuits off lead as a leashed dog walked past.

He is a nervous little puppy, he’s fantastic now at both sitting and walking past loud crowds of children on the school run, isn’t phased by bikes, scooters etc now but he gets scared if anyone tries to stoop down and touch him and doesn’t seem to want to interact with other dogs unless they are puppies like him.
Which is how I’d like to keep it because as I’ve said, I feel utterly traumatised with what has happened with my older dog.

@Glitterybug

This isn't normal. Dogs need to play, they are social animals.

Dogs do not need to play with other dogs . Our dog is generally more of a people person , he much prefers to say hello to the human than their dog and frankly any walk where every other dog ignores him to let him trundle about with his tennis ball is better than one where another dog tries to get him to play - he doesn’t do playing with dogs .

Is this your chi puppy that is 11 weeks or so old? I would be very wary of letting such a tiny creature be approached, off the lead, by strange dogs. It only takes a second for a large dog to inflict serious or fatal injuries on something so tiny and so fragile. I would imagine that he weighs less than a kilo and is around the size of a guinea pig. A dog can approach looking friendly but actually isn't, and you won't know until it's too late. I have had small breed dogs all my life, and, having had a dog attacked, I am very, very wary. My current tiny now weighs 2 kilos at nearly six months, but at 11 weeks he was under 1 kilo and definitely snack sized. Be careful. (Also to say, we live rurally, and I am still a bit wary of the buzzards we get here - when the dog is in the garden. It is not unusual for people to have small pets snatched by raptors from their gardens).

Is this your chi puppy that is 11 weeks or so old?
He is indeed, 12 weeks now.

It only takes a second for a large dog to inflict serious or fatal injuries on something so tiny and so fragile
Quite.
It’s bad enough with my other dog who is 15kg but I am acutely aware that my little chihuahua boy would truly stand no chance at all against another dog

I would imagine that he weighs less than a kilo and is around the size of a guinea pig
His parents were over the breed standard weight so he is a little sturdier at 1.5kg now but still tiny, I’m expecting him to mature around the 7kg mark if he follows his parents.

7lbs adult weight I meant, not 7kg!

@PowertothePetal I didnt realise this was a small chi puppy. Yes, your instincts are even more right (if that is a thing!)

You are correct bigger dogs can cause injury to a small dog even in happy play.

Also ignore anyone who says you should not pick up your puppy if she is worried by dogs around you. I train my smaller dogs (not as small as yours) to stand on my feet if they want to be picked up and every time they do I pick them up.

This will not cause stress to the dog it will confirm to them that they are safe with you and they will have more confidence.

I train my smaller dogs (not as small as yours) to stand on my feet if they want to be picked up and every time they do I pick them up
This sounds great!
How would I go about doing this please?