Play Date for Charlie - Long Post

I took Charlie to a play date with a friend's new puppy. The visit had multiple goals. Start teaching the puppy targeting, working Charlie around MASSIVE distractions (the puppy), keeping the puppy social, and keeping Charlie puppy social. I had visions of Charlie getting weird and spending his time in the car, and was prepared for all contingencies - I even left his leash on him in case I needed to catch him.

I couldn't have asked for a better response from my boy. He was AMAZING! Listened well, behaved well, performed on cue every time (until the end when his poor brain was getting fried), and was very polite in general. The puppy was another story. While he had good people skills and a nice soft mouth; much to the shock of both humans, the puppy was scared of Charlie! I really wasn't prepared for that. My friend told me that the breeder said that the puppy spent most of his time under the coffee table, and was raised only with adult dogs - only puppy in the litter. In addition, anytime Charlie even moved in the puppy's direction, we'd here a loud YIPE!

So, I worked Charlie on some basic obedience behaviors and tricks to calm him down a bit. Then, I got Charlie into a good solid down, while I fed the puppy near Charlie. To my surprise, Charlie stayed calm and let all sorts of things happen around him. I'm so proud of my boy. The puppy did start some targeting, so we ended that on a fun note.

We spent the rest of the hour and a half working on socializing the puppy to a friendly/calm dog (Yep - my Charlie stayed friendly and calm). Note: we took lots of breaks for both dogs with separated play time. The puppy ALWAYS had a safe place in which to "hide" if stressed. We took it really slow with lots of rewards for the pup and Charlie. In no order, other that what comes to mind, we did the following: I worked on shaping a heal with Charlie with the leash dragging. The puppy chased and pounced on the leash while Charlie kept working (YIPPEE!). Win, win here. Charlie worked under a HUGE distraction while the puppy got to play and have fun while following the big dog around. We played some basic recall stuff with the pup while Charlie chilled out in a down again (with random treats in place), as well as feeding the pup and Charlie nose to nose. We worked on puppy zen when I realized that mom wasn't treating the pup. I sat with Charlie, giving him random rewards for relaxation behaviors while not feeding the pup under any circumstances. When the puppy went to mom, lots of treats. By the time I left, the puppy would play bow and bark as long as Charlie was laying down. He'd run if Charlie got up, so I kept Charlie in a down, while the pup got to practice his play behaviors without any other social pressure. I feel like we had a lot of successes with both dog and pup today. We'll be doing this again, soon! Can anyone really believe that my crazy monster is now working on socializing a pup. I'm all but in shock!