Once they are old enough to entertain visitors, they become very popular.
Every Saturday the schutzhund club members come up to the house to play with puppies after training, and our friends and the new puppy owners line up to visit. In any visit, we oversee the interactions and make certain that the pups are not handled inappropriately. It is the responsibility of the owner to make certain that their pups are protected from well meaning, but potentially harmful interactions.
The pups meet our Siamese cats, Kia and Toyota. Toyota prefers to take "high cover" and move from chair to couch as he watches curiously. Kia, the female, allows the pups to jump on her and then cries for me to help! They also are introduced to safe adult dogs. Again, it is critical that they only meet dogs that the owner personally knows to be stable and accepting of puppies. If you have not seen it with your own eyes, don't use your pup as the experiment! And NEVER, NEVER take your puppy to a dog park or other group play with dogs you do not know. I can't tell you how many times I have heard a dog owner say "oh, he's fine" only to be followed up with "he never did THAT before!"
