Hello, I have a Lab puppy who is 6 months old. She is very sweet and very quick to learn. She was the most mellow one out of the litter but she is not particularly afraid of things. We walk her often and train her using treats. I am a little concerned because when we take her to the dog park or when she meets other dogs, she frequently offers her belly and rolls so that other dogs whose owners tell me are friendly tend to get rough with her. When she was 5 months old, I took her to a friend's house to play with a 2 yr old golden retriever that I was told was friendly. At one point the golden retriever got annoyed with her and bit her on the muzzle leaving a gash. That was the first dog she played with and I am afraid that situation affected her even though she kept playing with the dog before we left. Is there anything I can do to build her confidence? She does love other dogs and wants to play with them. My fear is that her overly submissive behavior will get her in trouble at some point. I would be very grateful to any suggestions.
Usually it's quite the opposite, submissive dogs do not tend to get into trouble. HOWEVER, if she is not comfortable with off lead dogs running up to her, then try to avoid putting her in this situation. You might be better taking her places where dogs are on leads so she can have some more gentle nose/bum sniff introductions until she's feeling a bit more confident.
Agree with 5labs. Avoid dog parks. You can't control potential bullies. And your dog is trying to signal that she wants to avoid conflict. Although I can't be certain, as I have not observed your dog, I believe she has been mentally scarred by that attack. And now views other dogs as something to be fearful of. If I were you, I would enrol in a force free dog class in which all the dogs are under effective control. Tell the instructor about your dog's experiences so far. Ask the instructor to explain LAT to you. You may need to work on the LAT protocol BEFORE you take your dog into a class with other dogs. You do not want to keep stressing your dog out by exposing her to other dogs. If not possible to enrol in a class due to pandemic, hire a dog behaviourist to show you how to employ LAT technique.
