Do your dogs have opportunities to play with other dogs? If you have more than one, they may well play with each other, unless you have a situation like ours. Lola is 5, LarryDog is 15. He is past much in the way of play. So yesterday we had a play date for Lola. We have a large fenced yard, so we invited a lively dog we know, who is good with other dogs, to come over with her person.

Because LarryDog has some history of being a bit rough with other dogs, at first I left him closed in the small dog yard by the back porch. Lola and her new friend Latte had the main fenced area. They politely sniffed each other, did a bunch of play bows, and then did get into some nice play. It was quite warm and the sun was bright so I wasn’t surprised when Read the rest of this entry

Recently we took Lola, now 9 months old, up the street to visit a family of three female dogs.

Socializing puppies is a very important part of their growing-up process! This was good for Lola and also for the two litter-mates about her age that she would meet.

Lola’s hackles raised as we went in the gate and the three others were all in her face. But that tense moment passed and we let her off leash.

Unfortunately, something bit Lola and took her total attention for a few minutes.

Then my friend Susan brought Sam and Mindy to Lola:

That was fine, so the 8-year-old Schnauzer, Julie, joined the party:

The three other dogs played together while Lola watched from afar:

Lola began to get into it, being sure they knew she was no threat:

And finally got to romping!

We’ve been back several times, and now they are all great friends.