The other night, Melissa brought her new puppy, Zuki, over for a play-date with Lucy and Virgil. Cuteness obviously ensued, but I was extremely nervous at first: my dogs are small and pretty passive, but they’re easily four times Zuki’s size. Also, Virgil’s a puppy and Lucy’s…well…not the smartest kid on the block. Who’s to say they wouldn’t think Zuki was a mouse or rabbit and try to kill her? Last summer, I saw a pet rabbit be killed by two large dogs in the park – it died in my hands after its owner pulled it away from the dogs and I chased it down – and it was an unbelievably traumatizing experience that’s stuck with me ever since.

So. I did some research on the topic of introducing a very small dog to larger ones, and it turns out there’s little danger if you don’t have naturally aggressive dogs; the first thing that they’ll do is try to establish dominance, and once that’s done with the problem is more or less solved (Zuki, of course, quickly emerged as the top dog in this situation).

Some tips for introducing a bitty thing to less bitty things:

1. Don’t keep them on leashes; that takes away their sense that they can flee if things go awry and makes them more aggressive. If you insist on leashes, make sure not to project an air of tension; keep things as relaxed as possible.

2. Make sure that the person who has the most control over the bigger dog is present.

3. Consider introducing them on neutral territory so that neither animal feels protective of their environment.

4. Make sure that the littler dog has a safe place to retreat to should the bigger one become overly enthusiastic.

Sources: ASPCA, MetaFilter, Catster.