Vegeta does great with people. He'll run up, lay on his back and freak out until and during them petting him (by freak out I mean lick and wiggle and wag his tail, clearly enjoy it). With dogs however, it's a different story. He's not aggressive, he doesn't growl or get defensive, but he's rough, a lot rougher than any of the puppies he has met. He didn't have much exposure with his litter mates as they were taken away from him at 6 weeks. My question is, when did you start introducing your pups to other dogs. Did you do puppy classes? If you didn't what did you do to help with them playing a little nicer as a pup.

Personally we introduced Nanook to some friends dogs but that was ONLY because I knew that they were fully vaccinated and had NEVER been boarded. I know there's puppy classes (here at least) that focus specifically on socialization for puppies and require min of 2 sets of vacs. Not sure about there though. I'd, as soon as his fully vaccinated, start introducing him to as many dogs as possible (sooner if you know the history of the dogs and lack of disease). Just my $.02 though.

with Maya i introduce them to my friends dogs that were fully vaccinated the day i bought her home.

After he had his first vet visit and cleared his poop test, we introduced Qannik to other puppies at 10 weeks (puppy kindergarten). We were told the benefits of socialization prior to his shots outweighed the risks of him getting sick. We were lucky....and he is great with other dogs. It took a little while for him to learn how to play nice, but that will come in time for your puppy too.

You should probably get him involved in some type of puppy class or just a puppy play group. Being that young taken away from the breeders, it would probably be beneficial to get into a puppy class.

The rescue we got Crispin from keeps the puppies in a pack until they reach 3 months(ish) so that they get well socialized to puppies, but he's still been rough for smaller dogs (his pack was GSD mixes).

We went to puppy classes and go to a puppy playgroup. It's been good for keeping him from playing too aggressive (with non-shepherds, he's still as rough as ever with GSDs and spitz-type dogs his size). If you can find a good puppy playgroup that checks vaccinations it's much better than trying the dog park out. For us the puppies are even separated by size so the smaller guys don't have to worry about rough bigger guys.

Once Danzig was vaccinated, we took him to puup classes. It helped socialize and actually listen to us. Best $100 I've ever spent. He had problems with other dogs and even strangers before his classes.