Just wondering if anyone can tell me what this behavious means.  Two dogs in the woods, the first I hear of them is a whineing, my two prick their ears and look all around excitedly.  The two dogs are in the trees - backs up, tails up, still whineing, on approaching mine they are very stiff legged Fagan who likes to stay out of trouble disappeared then dogs both then ran at Alf barking but didnt attack him (no owners around of course !!) Alf came straight to me when I called him so they must have been giving off bad vibes as he can be a real sod for coming back!!  A bit later on we see them again and they chased Fagan down the path attacking his back end - owners around this time so I shouted to call the dogs off of mine.  I didnt even get an apology but then maybe she couldnt see from how far away she was that her dogs were actually biting him.  To be fair they were collie/lurcher types and I know the nipping/chasing thing is what they do. It was just a bit worrying if it really attacked him because I had my little one with me strapped to my front so I wouldnt have been able to dive in.

Really just wanted to know what the whineing/back up/tail up/stiff legged thing means.  The people used to only have just the one dog and that has always done it now they have this other one and its doing exactly the same.

Hi Claire, I'm not a behaviourist by any stretch of the imagination, but I have an American Cocker that does this sort of thing when we meet other dogs. I would say that in her case it's a fear response, because she's rather nervous and has been known to lash out before the other dog has a chance to do it to her. I keep her on lead at all times now because she's just so unpredictable............well actually she's so predictable...........she's a nightmare.

So I think these dogs are probably nervous/agressive. In the case of the second dog, probably a learned behaviour from the first.

Dawn R.

I know the feeling, we had an Afghan who was like that, was an absolute nightmare with other dogs and some people but only on lead - let him off the lead and he was fine (unfortunately being an Afghan there werent many places we could let him off !!)

She only put the older dog on the lead and the younger one followed so obviously the older one is the instigator - and they must know this.  I think the boys know now that they arent nice dogs so dont think I have to worry about them approaching them!!

I'd interpreted this not as a fear response but the opposite--an aggressive response from a dominant dog, or in this case a pack. We regularly meet a saluki greyhound cross who goes into a sphinx crouch on approach by other dogs, then rises as they get anywhere near and will bowl any dog like a rabbit if he gets close. I have a very friendly WSS who once went running up to this dog to say hello and play and seconds later was screaming for help as he was rolled by the other dog--who to be honest did look very frightening and if I hadn't owned a saluki myself 40 I would have been terrified. Now my WSS is careful to hide away when this dog is in view.

So you dont think the whining was the 2 dogs flirting and showing off with each other? Then chasing the other dog away as it was a male outsider?

Please can I tag onto this post as I've just read something that made my ears prick up?

When a dog crouches down as another dog approaches is this a bad thing?

My boxer has done this since he was a pup, He's now 18 months. As a dog approaches us he crouches and then as the dog gets close he goes to them and says hello. If they are on a lead then I call him back and put him on a lead too. He's never aggressive and I'd always interpreted the crouching bit as him playing. He does bounce as he goes to say hello but is wagging his tail at the same time.

I think of him as being submissive as he always backs down if another dog tries to dominate him.

Am I reading this all wrong?

Rosie

I have met many dogs that have done this crouched flat down behaviour when seeing a dog coming towards them from a distance, many times my bitch Tinkerbell has done this... I have never seen any aggression after this behaviour has taken place the other dog has come up about 3 foot away from my crouched dog and stood still and turned to the side then mine pops up and greets the other dog. This is a good way for an off lead dog to meet rather than a dog flying towards another with tail up barking, whining going ballistic any day in my book :-)

No, I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all--it isn't aggression.It is just a way of watching to see what happens next. In the case of this saluki cross he was minding his own business--it was my WSS that annoyed him flying up to play in classic spaniel style and then got a drubbing for his trouble as my WSS should have been a little more respectful of a much bigger, dominant dog .

quite often though a dog will crouch and then run up at top speed to knock mine over

oh good, I'm glad I don't have to worry about the crouching thing where my boy is concerned. 

Not that he'll stop anyway, after all, he is a stubborn Boxer!

Both my dogs will lie down sometimes when a strange dog comes into view. I always see it as them checking out the situation, kind of evaluating whether they are friendly or not. I remember them both being pinned to the spot once in a field by a Shepherd/Collie mix who was running rings around them. They were not sitting together, but the other (aggressive!) dog would not let them move. I can't tell you how mad I was when the owner eventually popped up and said "they don't want to play" !!!!!!!

BTW they are both Golden Retrievers, so not a small breed!

Oh, and they often have a "stand off" whereby they will both lie down at some distance from each other, then jump up and have a mad zoomie attack running around. They do this all the time with each other.

My male (the more playful of my two) will sometimes drop down, then get up and take a few paces before dropping down again, and repeat this a few times, when meeting a strange dog. He will then rush up to play (obviously if the other dog is making the right moves towards him).