diff --git a/go/vt/wrangler/schema.go b/go/vt/wrangler/schema.go
index c743a303dd1..46374e7918b 100644
--- a/go/vt/wrangler/schema.go
+++ b/go/vt/wrangler/schema.go
@@ -323,6 +323,12 @@ func (wr *Wrangler) CopySchemaShard(ctx context.Context, sourceTabletAlias *topo
 		return fmt.Errorf("GetSchema(%v, %v, %v, %v) failed: %v", sourceTabletAlias, tables, excludeTables, includeViews, err)
 	}
 	createSQL := tmutils.SchemaDefinitionToSQLStrings(sourceSd)
+
+	// We're not clever enough to create tables in an order that's fk friendly,
+	// so we disable fk checks for the remainder of the (non-pooled) db connection
+	// using a session variable.
+	createSQL = append([]string{"set foreign_key_checks = 0"}, createSQL...)
+
 	destTabletInfo, err := wr.ts.GetTablet(ctx, destShardInfo.MasterAlias)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("GetTablet(%v) failed: %v", destShardInfo.MasterAlias, err)
@@ -434,6 +440,8 @@ func (wr *Wrangler) applySQLShard(ctx context.Context, tabletInfo *topo.TabletIn
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 30*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 	// Need to make sure that we enable binlog, since we're only applying the statement on masters.
+	// Do not set "usePool" to true. The SQL statements may change session settings, like
+	// disabling foreign key checks.
 	_, err = wr.tmc.ExecuteFetchAsDba(ctx, tabletInfo.Tablet, false, []byte(filledChange), 0, false, reloadSchema)
 	return err
 }
diff --git a/go/vt/wrangler/testlib/copy_schema_shard_test.go b/go/vt/wrangler/testlib/copy_schema_shard_test.go
index 024a44be75b..65a52531299 100644
--- a/go/vt/wrangler/testlib/copy_schema_shard_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/wrangler/testlib/copy_schema_shard_test.go
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ func copySchema(t *testing.T, useShardAsSource bool) {
 	sourceRdonly.FakeMysqlDaemon.Schema = schema
 
 	changeToDb := "USE vt_ks"
+	disableFkChecksSession := "set foreign_key_checks = 0"
 	createDb := "CREATE DATABASE `vt_ks` /*!40100 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 */"
 	createTable := "CREATE TABLE `vt_ks`.`table1` (\n" +
 		"  `id` bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,\n" +
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ func copySchema(t *testing.T, useShardAsSource bool) {
 
 	// The destination table is asked to create the new schema.
 	destinationMasterDb.AddQuery(changeToDb, &sqltypes.Result{})
+	destinationMasterDb.AddQuery(disableFkChecksSession, &sqltypes.Result{})
 	destinationMasterDb.AddQuery(createDb, &sqltypes.Result{})
 	destinationMasterDb.AddQuery(createTable, &sqltypes.Result{})
 	destinationMasterDb.AddQuery(createTableView, &sqltypes.Result{})