Hi everyone, we have 5 year old oes bitch and are concerned with her behaviour whilst she is being walked. She will walk to heel nearly all the time until a dog appears, particularly small dogs, and then she starts to yelp and jump around on the lead. We are not sure if she is scared of the dogs or is simply is excited and wants to play. She is not aggressive and seems to be able to get on with my sisters springer spaniel bitch, and cocker pup, it only appears to be when she is being walked. Has anybody experienced this before and anybody help us?

Was she socialised as a puppy with other dogs?  The only thing is you need to e more sure of her reactions when she sees another dog while she's out ecause without eing there to see here it's so hard to say what she's doing.

Sorry my  after a isn't working on my laptop.

Warm regards Susan

Its hard to tell without seeing it, but my first reaction would be that she was excited and wants to say hello, which may themn becoming frustration. How long have you had her and what is she like when she meets the other dogs on and off lead?

we had her for about 18months, she had a sister that we had aswell which unfortunately died about 6 months back of lymphoma. We got her and her sister off a family who had a yorkshire terrier, and both owners had gone back to work, so they couldnt keep 3 dogs. She was quite friendly when we got her however shyed away when her sister came in the room, going to sit on her own in another room.
She doesnt seem to that bad with dogs off lead (mind you the only dogs we have done with this are family dogs), and seems to be ok off lead.

What does she look like - are her hackles (the hair on her shoulders) sticking up, is she showing teeth, are her ears back, etc?  These sort of things will give an indication of how she's feeling, whether it's playful or fearful, or if she's just not sure.  As an example - my bitch and my brother's bitch both have mad moments on leash; depending on the situation, both throw themselves at the end of the lead, leaping around, very vocal and so on.  My bitch does it out of sheer joy at seeing one of her several "boyfriends" - her tail goes ten-to-the-dozen, hackels down, ears held back (can be a happy as well as aggressive/fearful sign), bouncing around and making high-pitched yelpy-wimpery noises.  My brother's bitch does it at basically any dog when she's on leash, and it's out of fear (being trapped on a leash) - her hackles are up, ears pricked (as much as greyhound-type folded ears can be!!), sometimes she shows teeth, her tail wags slowly, she also throws herself toward the other dog, and she makes an awful baying sound.  Same type of action, but different basis, and it's evident from her body language and vocalisations.

i will have to have at a look at her behaviour in more detail, but we definately think it is down to a lack of social skills, and so she is excited to meet other dogs.