Behavior around other dogs

[Anne123]

I was scrolling between last years photos and came across a photo of Finn. One photo is a shot of Finn where he met another dog. He has often played with him, but he has still the odd encounter....As you can see on the photo Finn stands still, tail upright, more upright as he usually does. Shortly after this pose he starts to bark loudly and ran towards the other dog, even though he knows him..Is this being afraid but I am the boss, or just want to play...? Do you recognize this?

 

[kateincornwall]

I see this as a desire to meet , greet and play ! x Lovely photo x

 

[snowbunny]

Standing up straight with a tail up, a bit stiff is quite normal. He's assessing the threat level. If he decides none, he can either disengage or initiate play. If he is unsure or thinks there is a threat, he can move towards it to see if that helps make the choice, he can move towards it to try to scare it away, or he can retreat. Other options would be showing signs of not being interested (sniffing the ground, weeing etc) or continuing to freeze.

The running forwards barking sounds like he's uncertain and trying to stop the direct approach, which can be quite intimidating. I'm quite often surprised at how close my dogs need to be before they recognise a dog they know. Even yesterday, Shadow went on alert and then bolted towards a "strange" dog, two terraces below - about the same distance as in this photo. It was Ginny, in full sight.

So I'd say not necessarily fear, but likely a bit of uncertainty, trying to figure out whether there is a threat.

 

[Naya]

Harley does this a lot, 90% of the time she will then start wagging her tail and her body relaxes. The other times she will go into defensive mode with barking or snarling. I agree with @snowbunny that this is the ‘assessing’ pose. I can usually tell quickly as to what Harley will do, so make sure I’m close and pop her on lead if needed.

 

[Charlie]

Hope I'm not hijacking this post but it seems like a good place to ask my question on behaviour.

I was walking Hattie in the forest today when I met a man with 4 dogs, 2 little terriers and 2 fox red labs. The labs kept trying to mount Hattie to her horror. She did tell them off several times but they wouldn't leave her alone. They even started humping each other. They were neutered. Is this normal behaviour? The owner was so nice but clearly frustrated by their behaviour. Thanks xx

 

[snowbunny]

Yes, humping is often just a sign of over-arousal that doesn’t have to be sexual in nature. Just pure excitement or even stress can cause jumping behaviour.

 

[Charlie]

OK good to know.Thanks Fiona x

 

[M.F.]

So interesting to learn more about the stiff tail-up posture. Snowie does it more as an adult and initially I was concerned that he was becoming less friendly. As a puppy he was everyone’s friend. I have noticed that when he’s assessing—as it seems to me—that his tail hangs down, not stiff up. The stiff tail up is if he suspects a threat, I think. And usually the other dog does similar and then they tiptoe around each other veeeery slowly, and when the other dog has gone, Snowie does high kicks in the sand.

 

[edzbird]

I was walking Hattie in the forest today when I met a man with 4 dogs, 2 little terriers and 2 fox red labs. The labs kept trying to mount Hattie to her horror. She did tell them off several times but they wouldn't leave her alone. They even started humping each other. They were neutered. Is this normal behaviour? The owner was so nice but clearly frustrated by their behaviour.

Meg humps Coco when they are playing rough-wrestling. Coco doesn't like it, he doesn't tell her off but usually just sits down and she will give up then. Sometimes I have to remove her. They carry on wrestling after that. I put it down to over-arousal.