Probably the phrase I hate the most is “it’s better than nothing”. This seems to be the case with what we now know as “COVID dogs”, the dogs bought or adopted during the craziest year in history. When human contact is limited, so is dog to dog and dog to person contact. This isolation is bad for us and for dogs. Primary socialization time for a dog is 9-14 weeks. After that, they become less and less open to new experiences and develop many of the issues we see every day. It seems with everything going on many dogs have been limited to other dogs belonging to other family members and neighbors. Here is the deal, it’s like kids, when mine were little we didn’t let them spend time with other kids who acted like savages. It wasn’t the kid’s fault. It was the fault of the parents who chose not to correct them. Just like kids, dogs pick up bad habits far quicker than good ones. Also, the same is the awkwardness that comes from wanting to and not being able to correct bad behavior. The younger the dog, the more impressionable they are. I cannot tell you how many times a young dog is traumatized by an older dog going after them whether they are actually physically injured or not. If you don’t think a dog is stable, don’t take your dog around them. Always trust your intuition.