Puppy training classes rant!

marlot

Another option might be finding a local dog walker who walks dogs in small 'packs'. My dog walker often uses my dog to 'adopt' a new puppy, and introduce them to the pack (never more than 5 or so dogs, but the precise make up changes each day).

My dog was a rescue at 2 years old, a German Shepherd who had not been socialised, and who had massive issues. She had to wear a muzzle for four months, and bit the vet the first time we went there. It took loads of socialisation to turn her into the placid middle-aged dog she is now,

marlot

Just another thought - most places have a park somewhere where owners get together and the dogs have a friendly get together. There is a park near us where there are typically 20 dogs at 5pm.. From 12-week old puppies to huge Bearnese. The other owners will be able to advise which dogs are particularly gentle and good with puppies. Its often the dogs you might not suspect - in our case a GSD and a rottie!

Fosterdog

Don't get too worried if there is barking, growling and biting in their play, dogs can handle surprisingly rough play and your pup will yelp if being hurt and most older dogs will respond well to a yelp from a pup and back off.

When my in laws got their dog as a pup almost 18 months ago my two looked like they were playing roughly but were being incredibly gentle, the pup would yelp occasionally but they would stop playing instantly. It then went the other way as the pup got older and bigger (he's a lab) and he got too boisterous for them. My girl would just walk away if he got too much and my boy would give a warning growl, the pup understood the growl to mean he had gone too far and he would calm down for a bit.

Here are a few clips of dogs playing rough so you can see it is normal and they are not hurting each other, the mouth around the throat is perfectly normal in doggy play.

My two shepherds are like this with the in laws lab also joining in sometimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00LeqWQQqXc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Uwefhhh1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXxAA8PnRsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oxt6PaQBic