My 14 month old golden retriever (ellie) is very submissive towards other dogs. When we first brought her home at 8 weeks she was scared of other dogs, but through socialisation, puppy parties and classes from the word go she now has a fairly relaxed attitude towards them. On a walk she may ignore them of go up for a sniff, no problem. She has never shown any sign of aggression. However when she meets most other dogs she is visibly cringing, peeing, head down, often rolling straight onto her back. This isn't really a problem, as when she gets to no them she is fine, but it struck me as odd tonight. I took her and my other dog (Who is not a dog fan herself - could ellie have learnt this behaviour off her?) to my friends house as she is looking after her sister's dog. (Also GR, whom she has met before) This dog is about a year and a half, but differs from my two as she is very confident and playful. Elllie cringed on meeting her and when Jess (my friends dog) tried to play (play bow e.t.c.) ellie just sat there avoiding eye contact. She looked very uncomfortable almost as if she didn't know what to do. She used to play with my other dog but they haven't for a long time, and i din't think i have seen ellie actually play with another dog for a while either. She sees dogs a lot as she goes to weekly training sessions, and is fine (although she always pees and cringes after pulling to say hello.) but i don't want it to become a problem when she matures. Should i worry or is this normal for a dog of her age? She is a lovely girl, but she does have a very sensitive nature in general.

I have a similar situation with my GSP (who we also had from 8 weeks), as a puppy he would cry out when he met strange dogs (we have two other dogs at home and he is fine with them, plays etc), we spent a lot of time at puppy classes with him (he did not want to play with the other puppies but he liked the people!)

He is better but I think that he will never be 100% confident, I do now beleive its a personality thing - my other two dogs are very confident around other dogs (my terrier can be a pain in the bum!) - I dont think that she will have learnt this behaviour.  We also make every effort to walk him on his own but he still cries out like he is being attacked...even when he meets very friendly dogs, he does this really annoying thing if he is on the lead of whizzing round when he meets another dog - like he is in a panic. Like Ellie he also pulls to say hello at first...

Well this is not very helpful but I have on a friends recommendation bought him some bach flower remedy for nervous dogs, lacking in confidence - I have not tried it yet but will let you know if there is an amazing difference!

He also has a sensitive nature which makes me think that some dogs are like this while other are overly dominant....