Introduction tips for home dog and guest dogs for meet and greets?

Rover's insurance doesn't cover meet & greets, only after booking. Many times owners don't bring proof of vaccinations with them for the meet & greet. For safety reasons, I keep my dog and guest dogs separated from the meet & greet dog(s) and owner. The guest dogs and my dog are in the bedroom that has a patio door so when showing my backyard and greenbelt, the potential owner and dog(s) can see my dog and guest dogs on the other side of the patio door. If the potential owner books, I do a slow introduction with the new dog and my dog and then gradually with any guest dogs. That way the new dog isn't overwhelmed by all the dogs at one time. Then I take them all for a walk for some bonding time. Only one time the owner was insistent that they wanted to make sure their small pup got along with my dog and wanted to watch the introduction. All was fine and the owner booked. "Most of the time" I am pretty good at knowing if the dog(s) and owner are Both a good fit. Safety for all pets is my #1 priority.

I agree with Elizabeth. I don't even do meet/greets unless the owner wants it. (Even then, it's just for them to meet me, the place their dog will stay. I don't do doggy intros at that time.).

I feel like face-to-face intros set the dog up for failure. It triggers more tension than my gradual intro when the dog is dropped off. The owner's presence (and especially holding the leash) can cause reactions. I think such meetings do more harm than good.

I do something similar to E. I put my dog (and any guests) in a crate when a new dog is dropped off. I walk the new dog around the backyard on-leash, then inside the house on leash. I'll put the new dog behind a kitchen gate, and bring mine out (on leash) to get some of the new dog's smells left around the house. A brief greeting at the gate. Then my dog goes out back to smell what the new dog left behind. The new dog comes to the house side of the kitchen gate. My dog comes to the kitchen side of the gate.

Everyone drags leashes during this period. I "rotate" across the gate every 20 minutes. It usually takes a 1-2 hours before I let them mingle. It depends on the energy. We'll sit at the gate and socialize a little. (One dog who didn't get along with dogs took 24 hours. But, it was well worth it. She got along very well after that training and her owner was very, very pleased to see that their dog could get along. I gave the owner instructions about how to establish more leadership, enforce expected boundaries toward other dogs. He says they've made great progress. In that dog's case, a meet-greet could have made it impossible to integrate her. It could have triggered a reaction that would have been harder to overcome.).

I think it's all about projecting that you're the leader, you sort things out, the dogs don't have that status. It can be nerve-wracking. But, it's all attitude. You can't let them sense that you're nervous. You have to project being "above it all" and simply enforce the boundaries. (Or, that's what works best for me. If I "hope" dogs get along, I think they sense a weakness and will have more struggle to assert something between themselves.).