Socialization question for my littermates

[arutch]

My friend who is like a brother sometimes has parties and it's close family nothing crazy but everyone always brings their dogs beagles, labs, hounds, katahoolas ect. I know socializing is important but if I go to these and bring a pup should I bring one or both pups?

[CDN_Cocker]

First of all wait until your boys have all their shots before doing that. Then go for it if you feel like spending your time watching them. I rarely take mine anywhere like that because I don't like focusing my attention on the dog when I should be visiting the person I went to see. If I am going for a short visit he'll sit in the car but unless the intention is to get dogs together, I leave him at home. At parties people will be trying to feed your dogs stuff they shouldn't have and who knows what else.

[mountaindogs]

I always start letting my puppies meet other dogs after the second vaccination by a vet. For me I choose socialization over disease RISK but I try to minimize risk as much as is in my power doing so. I try to keep it to dogs I know and trust the health of and in places people are watching and managing their dogs well. If your friends just let the dog go play and drink and don't pay attention... then I would probably avoid it. If they stay pretty attentive to the dogs and keep them well managed I might risk it. Especially if the dogs are well mannered to new and smaller dogs and happy playful dogs.

as to 1 or both:
If you are going by yourself, definatly only 1. You can not fairly manage 2 and keep watch on them both constantly to help them avoid trouble with the other dogs, trouble with the yard/house/trouble with food snatching... etc. Remember you are a leader and you are helping your puppy (s) learn about and yet be safe in the world. You don't want to let something very scary happen to them if you can help it so you watch and stay attentive. If you have a helper, girl friend, or friend... you could try both and each take one on. Still one puppy is a lot sometimes and I personally do not trust my OWN family to really watch a puppy on their own. They like to get talking and quit watching... :roll: so that would depend very much on the level of help you have and the level of fun you hope to have.
They will learn to handle situations with boldness in the long run if they have outings alone. Together they will lean on eath other for confidence and one puppy will often spend much time following, slowly sliding into a more passive role. Some outings together are fine but too many could be less than idea.

All puppy raising, all dog raising, all family, all life... is made up of balences. Some of this, some of that. Manageing the situation, the dog, the risk in front of you. Personally I take the road of know the risks, know the goals and be a leader. The best leader you be. Don't put too much cred in "absolutly never" advice and the same disdain for "always" advice.