My one year old cocker is friendly and happy to meet other dogs but he lies down belly up as soon as another dog approaches him. Most times this has suddenly turned into an attack of growling and biting by the other dog ( with the other dog on top of mine and my dog squealing) I'm worried about meeting other dogs now as if seems a regular occurrence. I socialised my pup with other dogs and he doesn't seem bothered by the attacks. Help.
Is your boy neutered? Has he always been submissive like this? Since I can't see what's happening I can only guess but he may be going through puberty and in male dogs testosterone can spike to SEVEN times what it will be at adulthood. The behaviour from your pup and the other dogs (any dog but probably other intact males more so) at this time is not out of the norm at all and should end in some months as the testosterone levels drop back down. Here is a much better writing on this phenomenon. http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/dog-communication The whole article is good but the part that pertains here is Puppy License to Misbehave. If you google testosterone in male pups you'll find several items on this and one I found says 11 months is when the level is highest, if so your boy is just about ripe for this. We experienced this but were lucky to be able to avoid other dogs unhappy with a male puppy. For his part my own dog seemed to have no idea what was going on. It ended when he was about 18 months, except for some neutered males that never like any intact male. You may run into that as well, later, but for now this is a guess. Welcome to the board. Sorry it's this worry for your little guy that brings you here.
Thank you for your reply. I think you may be right as he is still intact. The article explained it well. I will probably need to avoid meeting other dogs for a while. Not easy! I have used the site for training tips and follow Pippa Mattinsons books and websites. Many thanks
I think I said wrongly what we did. WE avoided the ones who would hurt Oban. Most just growled, lunged and snapped at him to stay away from them. We were lucky to walk in large areas where each dog could have his own space and avoiding meant simply a few feet further away. I always tend to think Mother Nature knows what she's doing so this reaction from other dogs probably has some training aspect the pup needs to learn, if he's going to socialize with other dogs. The trick is finding other dogs who won't hurt him but will tell him he's not the King of the World, which he probably isn't acting like anyway. An older bitch who has had pups is often great for this. Myself, I wouldn't avoid ALL other dogs, just the ones who would hurt. I know, that can be a hard thing to ascertain. For us this was two Huge Weimeraners. They were both rescue dogs with unknown history and both were neutered. The owner was very good and warned me, and the dogs themselves warned with ferocious sounding loud barks and rushes but no contact. Oban got the rush from each and never went near either of them again. Later, when one died, the one remaining became quite friendly and we two owners stood with mouths agape as they played.
Thanks I am being careful not to let him wander over to unknown dogs but they are predominantly 'unknowns' as we are new to the area and there are lots of people with dogs about. Their dogs come over to mine so it's a difficult one without getting paranoid. I am planning on neutering my dog but was waiting until over 1 year. Thanks useful info
My girl isn't submissive but has been attacked a few times unprovoked. I really worked on positive interactions with dogs. With unfamiliar dogs I would check with the owner before they said hi, then say 'go on' for her to say hello. After literally a few seconds I would say 'come on then' in a really chipper voice and off she would come. It stopped any negatives from starting. Neutering won't help stop this happening as far as I am aware. Neutering will stop sexualised behaviour which it doesn't sound like your boy has. Harley is my first ever dog and is a female so I'm not the most knowledgeable person on here, it's just things I have picked up from conversations on the forum over the past few years.
Thanks for your help. I too try to keep the meetings happy and brief but they turn nasty pretty quickly if any sniffing occurs. My boy immediately lies back and shows his underbelly. This seems to be the attack sign? Think it's best to walk on swiftly rather than risk a full on altercation. My nerves are a bit shot at!
It might be worth seeing if there are any training classes local to you? We done an adolescent class and it was really informative around dogs greeting each other and what signs to look for if a dog is worried and what to do. It also helped teach me to interact more with her when around other dogs so her attention was on me, not on what was approaching.
