Waned to know if this is common among puppies. Vanilla is now nearly 8months, but when she meets small dogs she is always glued to the ground. It is only with the small breeds, large breeds she either sits with ears pinned back until she is sure or goes straight in to sniff. This is both on lead and off, makes no difference. Anyone got any advise on how to deal with this? Or is this something that will get better over time...
When you say "glued to ground", do you mean she's lying there waiting till they are near her? Snowie also did that. I understood that he was trying to make himself look small and unthreatening. Others interpret it as getting into stalk behaviour! Although he is not a stalker, he was always so excited to meet a new dog when he was a puppy. I notice that, as an adult, he does lie down if he sees a dog approaching that he is unsure of, usually turns out they're older dogs -- so I interpret this as a sign of respect.
No not waiting until they are near as such. It is when they meet she the just seems to hit the ground. Sometimes it is as she approaches for maybe the last meter or less.. She is very exited in meeting dogs, but she can also just leave them at times...
I've watched Coco playing with other dogs before training class, and with smaller ones and puppies he does get down low, with the bigger ones he'll play as rough as they like, and play chase with them.
I don't have a problem when playing with smaller dogs, she is very gentle. Just seems when meeting certain small breeds she lays down and they start snapping/growling. Just wanted to see if anybody knew why. I put it down to small dog syndrome . I am sure someone with a little dog will say otherwise
My previous lab Ebony had a bad experience with a Jack Russell the first time I took her for an off - lead run , ( the Jack Russell chased her around growling , snapping and barking ) .Unfortunately this stuck with her for life and it resulted in her hitting the deck every time she saw a smaller dog , the only thing I could ever do was wait it out until she was ready to move again .
Thanks that might be the case. I used to take her to day care once a week once all vaccines completed. Fridays used to be puppy, gentle and small dogs. I remember everytime she went to the gate to go in she would hit the floor and all the dogs would want to sniff and barked like crazy. We used to stay for about 20min., then gradually increased to about an hour. She loved playing with the other labs. We don't go anymore as I thought she was to stressed in the end...
If you think she's stressed, can you find another doggy day care? Snowie LOVED day care, was never stressed by it. The entry was very well managed, dogs didn't storm the gate, all dogs were separated into separate pens by size, character, age, and matched accordingly. Crates were provided for dogs who needed to escape, quiet areas were provided. Not all day cares are the same and some day care managers don't have a clue about how to handle dogs while others are very professional. Snowie only went once a week as I had provisions for his care the other days I had to work, but for the day he attended he was there from 8am till 6pm.
She does not go anymore as she did not like it. I picked up her signs after about the 2nd visit, tried a couple more times, plus started to not like the people running it after we started training school for various reasons. They kept on saying it was normal, maybe for the first couple of time yes but not constant. Thanks for the replies and guidance
