# Introducing pomeranian to young golden



## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

I have a male toy poodle (6 years old) and a 14-month old male golden retriever. In our case the poodle was here first, and was able to put the puppy in his place. Fortunately our golden has a very soft personality and took the poodle's corrections well. They've settled into a routine where the poodle is clearly the "boss".

We had a female golden retriever and an old female labrador when we got the poodle. The labrador wasn't a problem (she was too old to play), but it took a while for the golden to learn how to play with the poodle safely. She was four or five years old when the poodle joined us, so she was much calmer than our current golden.

A golden retriever could easily kill a tiny pup, simply by trying to play with it (e.g. crushing its bones by stepping on it). Really, the only solution at the beginning, when the pup is so small, is to keep them apart. It literally takes half a second for an accident to happen. In a couple of months, when your pup is bigger and more mobile, and your golden is used to the pup's presence, you could try supervised play sessions. It will be important for your golden to learn to play gently with the pup. With our dogs, I'm starting to see signs of our golden retriever adjusting his movements to avoid hurting the poodle - but it has taken a year to get to that point. There was a phase, when the golden was between about 7 and 10 months old, where we just couldn't let them play together at all without very close supervision because the golden was so bouncy-crazy-excitable. 

In the long run, though, it's important for the smaller dog to learn how to stay safe. For example, our poodle will often jump up onto a chair or bed if he feels unsafe. When out on walks, he will come and walk alongside or just behind me. This only comes with practice: short, supervised play sessions or off-leash walks. However, even now, I don't let our dogs play chase-type games in enclosed spaces. Our poodle's only injury came from just such a game: he was crushed against a baseboard heater when the golden slipped on our hardwood floor. Indoors, they're allowed to play bitey-face games and to wrestle, but not to chase one another. I'm hoping they will need less supervision over time.

Small dogs are so fragile - their bones are literally like matchsticks and they can easily be injured. You're better to err on the side of caution.

I would not do this again by choice. The toy poodle is my daughter's agility dog. If we eventually bring another dog into the household, it will be a larger breed.


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