hello everyone- ive had our dog for 4 months-  she's now 7 and half months old.
up till when we adopted her she had nil socialisation- nothing, no walks,training-nothing.

we got her and slowly settled her into routine, and started to socialise- first with families dogs-big labs,, she was very timid at first but now gets on fine- apart from when they become to boisterous or over interested in her- she then lies on her back in submissive mode. she also has just got out of a habit of licking dogs mouths- which is also submission- this has stopped now mainly. by the way- she is a different dog with similar sized dogs- she is freindly,confident etc.

anyway- in park today- a freindly mal x lab x gsd approached us- tail waggy and smily faced! he started sniffing Flo- she instantly went into submissive mode so i started playing with the dog to show Flo he was fun/nice, but everytime he took too much interest in her she cried and snapped at him- until he left her alone, i ignored that behaviour and when she jumped to me for comfort i pushed her off and said- 'come on' and walked away.

mum said that Flo knows that she's small and can get hurt by large dogs- Flo is also disabled- v bad lame leg, so is this just warning bahaviours/ nervous/or what?!

i think if the dog had said hello without too much fuss and sniffing she wouldve been ok- i think he just liked her a bit too much!

any ideas! should i worry? ta x

I wish my boys had the sense to realise how much smaller they are than most dogs in the park!! As long as it's not nasty snapping, and she doesn't start 'going for' dogs to drive them away before they can scare her, it doesn't sound too serious. Not making a fuss of her panicking is the right thing to do though, if you make a fuss you'll be teaching her that there is something to be scared of. Gently pushing her off and continuing the walk as if nothing has happened sounds about right to me - though I'm no expert, so if I'm wrong I'm sure the others will be on soon with better advice! :-)

I'd be more inclined to listen to 'Flo's needs and support her so she knows you are on her side and she can rely on you to ask dogs she's not comfortable with to leave.  As you've learnt today, pushing her to socialise with a dog she's concerned about teaches her she has to increase her level of defensive dog language :(

thanks both of you- digger, do you think i should of just walked away with flo once i'd recognised she wasnt comfortable with that dog? i wanted to make this large dog experience fun and positive- but she obviously wasnt happy :(

Yes, probably - no point trying to force her to play if she's scared. If she's happier with small dogs, stick with playing with them. But again, take her away in a calm, low key way so she doesn't feel that you are also worried, or that her snapping is making the other dog go away or something. :-)

ta- ive never owned a small dog before and i think they have a totally different mentality to larger dogs, i suppose im adjusting to it!

Small dogs do not have a totally different mentality than large dogs - they have exactly the same mentality.   However, every dog of any breed or any mix has a unique personality - and that's what you need to keep in mind.

Your dog has special needs and needs to be treated with special care - and you're doing exactly that, so you have one lucky dog that's had a very rough start in life.

I think I'd have asked the other dogs owner to call them away......  If you try to walk away you run the risk of the off lead dog following you, and your dog feeling as if they are being persude :(

Good point - see, I said I'm no expert!

well he did call him away- but he kept running back towards us- i just stopped walking when i noticed the dog returning as i didnt want flo to think we were running away!
she's doing well- considering her history and health- she s got the op on thurs, she'll get even less walks after that (having head of femur removed), oh well, we shall take it step by step-literally!
she'll be going to hydrotherapy once initially recovered from op- should be good physio ;)