My 4 year-old French Bulldog spends a lot of time alone while I’m at work, so my aunt and I, she has a 4 year-old German Shepherd, thought it would be a good idea to have them spend the day together so they can play. Both dogs are male and neutered.
My Frenchie tends to growl and bark at most dogs in general, although he’s very affectionate with humans. During their interactions so far, he hasn’t tried to bite, but he does get very excited, he tries to sniff the Shepherd and jump on him repeatedly. He’s extremely high-energy, so I’ve been trying to tire him out with longer walks before they see each other, hoping he won’t overwhelm the other dog as much.
We’ve been doing the introductions at my aunt’s house (the German Shepherd’s home), since that’s where they would eventually spend time together during the day. We haven’t tried introducing them in neutral territory yet, and their interactions have been short, always supervised, and I keep my Frenchie on a leash while respecting their pace.
The issue is that my Frenchie seems to intimidate the German Shepherd (which is almost funny, since he’s three times his size). The Shepherd keeps his distance, avoids eye contact, and will even leave the room. I’m not sure if he’s actually scared or just trying to avoid conflict.
Has anyone successfully socialized these two breeds, especially with this kind of personality mismatch? Is this realistically workable, or are we forcing something that may not be a good fit?
submitted by /u/Plus_Delay_2843
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