# Dog crouches like a lion!



## Alfiepoo (May 19, 2014)

Hi all,

Been a while since last log on, hope everyone is well.

Just wondered if anyone had ever had a crouching dog when approaching other dogs? Alfie's been doing it a couple of months now and I'm not sure why! When he sees another dog he lays on the floor, ready to pounce like a lion eyeing up his dinner  he is never aggressive with another dog, quite the opposite he only wants to play. He's 11 months now and is FULL of energy all the time! 

Just wanted to know if anyone knows why he might do this and if it's something I should be concerned about. I am seeing my dog trainer at the weekend so will ask her too.

Thanks guys


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## Phoolf (Jun 13, 2012)

Believe this is termed stalking. You'll see this behaviour an awful lot in border collies so no doubt someone will be along to tell you all about it. Kes occasionally tries to stalk but I personally find the behaviour quite intimidating and undesirable so I will get her up and won't allow it.

As far as I know it's nothing to be concerned about, but I personally dislike other dogs trying to 'stalk' mine as if they pounce mine are likely to react.


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## Phoolf (Jun 13, 2012)

Dogs that stalk other dogs | Pets4Homes


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## Alfiepoo (May 19, 2014)

Thanks for this, it's really helpful to read some info. 

I should mention he's a small dog, a maltese x toy poodle and he's 11 months old. He's only ever on the lead (recall training never went well with him!) so I have control of him.

When the other dog comes closer, Alfie pounces towards them and wants to engage in play/sniffing/chasing and his tail is wagging. I don't believe it's an aggressive stance, but what do I know!


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## Phoolf (Jun 13, 2012)

Alfiepoo said:


> Thanks for this, it's really helpful to read some info.
> 
> I should mention he's a small dog, a maltese x toy poodle and he's 11 months old. He's only ever on the lead (recall training never went well with him!) so I have control of him.
> 
> When the other dog comes closer, Alfie pounces towards them and wants to engage in play/sniffing/chasing and his tail is wagging. I don't believe it's an aggressive stance, but what do I know!


I believe I've read before that it can be a display of uncertainty to begin with so they stalk/crouch down to assess the othr dog before they initiate play. I may be wrong though  This is also why I don't like the behaviour as I don't desire other dogs or my own dogs to pick playmates or launch themselves at each other to play. But then I have quite large dogs so there's a lot I don't encourage that other people could chose to.


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## Dogloverlou (Dec 8, 2013)

Phoolf said:


> I believe I've read before that it can be a display of uncertainty to begin with so they stalk/crouch down to assess the othr dog before they initiate play. I may be wrong though


That's exactly what I was told by a trainer recently.

As it's a behaviour that can be seen as intimidating/off putting to other dogs though it's not always the best greeting tactic of an already uncertain dog as there is no guarantee the 'offended' dog will not show it's displeasure at being 'jumped'. Cash was awful for it when we was seeing dogs daily. But since moving and hardly seeing any these days I haven't noticed him do it in some months.


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Phoolf said:


> I believe I've read before that it can be a display of uncertainty to begin with so they stalk/crouch down to assess the othr dog before they initiate play. I may be wrong though  This is also why I don't like the behaviour as I don't desire other dogs or my own dogs to pick playmates or launch themselves at each other to play. But then I have quite large dogs so there's a lot I don't encourage that other people could chose to.


Jack sometimes does it, and like you I discourage it because it does look intimidating to other owners. I don't like it when other peoples' dogs to it to us - especially if they are loose 

He is on a flexi or lead anyway out in the open so I don't want him to initiate play with other dogs, especially if they are loose as he ends up frustrated and we could end up in a tangle.

He does it off lead when he is playing with his friend in the garden - although Jack is such a woos that when she starts to play and then chase him he gets all scared and runs back to me!


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## Phoolf (Jun 13, 2012)

Dogloverlou said:


> That's exactly what I was told by a trainer recently.
> 
> As it's a behaviour that can be seen as intimidating/off putting to other dogs though it's not always the best greeting tactic of an already uncertain dog as there is no guarantee the 'offended' dog will not show it's displeasure at being 'jumped'. Cash was awful for it when we was seeing dogs daily. But since moving and hardly seeing any these days I haven't noticed him do it in some months.


Kes used to be a lot worse for it but I just stopped allowed it and would pull her up by her harnss (quick - call PETA!). Having a 40kg dog yank your arm off without a seconds notice is no fun so she doesn't bother trying anymore. She can sit and stay when dogs go past, not initiate play (god I'm so mean). If I see a dog stalking as we approach I go even further out of my way than normal because I find it so off putting and know that it'll get my dogs back up that they're being stalked.


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## Dogloverlou (Dec 8, 2013)

Phoolf said:


> Kes used to be a lot worse for it but I just stopped allowed it and would pull her up by her harnss (quick - call PETA!). Having a 40kg dog yank your arm off without a seconds notice is no fun so she doesn't bother trying anymore. She can sit and stay when dogs go past, not initiate play (god I'm so mean). If I see a dog stalking as we approach I go even further out of my way than normal because I find it so off putting and know that it'll get my dogs back up that they're being stalked.


Pulling Cash up resulted in him reacting at ihs worst  I often had to wait until the other dog had passed ( with Cash on lead might I add ). But thankfully the dogs we have seen out and about since moving he hasn't shown the same behaviour, so like you said, I'm hoping it was a quick phase behaviour due to his immaturity and insecurity that has now hopefully passed


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## Alfiepoo (May 19, 2014)

Lurcherlad said:


> He is on a flexi or lead anyway out in the open so I don't want him to initiate play with other dogs, especially if they are loose as he ends up frustrated and we could end up in a tangle.


This is the bane of my life! Alfie is always on his flexi lead and I'm really respectful to other dogs/owners because Alfie is crazy and wants to play with anything that moves, I know not every dog wants to and not every owner wants them to. But they don't give a stuff about me, they let their dog bound over to him without so much as calling them back. It really frustrates me!


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Alfiepoo said:


> This is the bane of my life! Alfie is always on his flexi lead and I'm really respectful to other dogs/owners because Alfie is crazy and wants to play with anything that moves, I know not every dog wants to and not every owner wants them to. But they don't give a stuff about me, they let their dog bound over to him without so much as calling them back. It really frustrates me!


Especially when the other dog keeps running up and then running away, and Jack is spinning like a top yanking me all over the place:

Other owner laughs and says "ha ha, my dog realises your dog can't catch him - he's having a right old game!".

Me: "Yeah - not much fun for me or my dog though is it mate - can you put it on a lead?"


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Depends if the crouching down is followed by pounce/play. A good proportion of dogs - mainly young ones - lie down when they see another dog approaching. I take that as good manners, letting the other dog know they mean no harm. They usually get up, have a sniff, move on. How a pounce/play would be received depends on the other dog and whether or not they want to join a game.


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## Alfiepoo (May 19, 2014)

Lurcherlad said:


> Especially when the other dog keeps running up and then running away, and Jack is spinning like a top yanking me all over the place:
> 
> Other owner laughs and says "ha ha, my dog realises your dog can't catch him - he's having a right old game!".
> 
> Me: "Yeah - not much fun for me or my dog though is it mate - can you put it on a lead?"


There's 3 staffys at my park that are really aggressive with eachother, but are all walked together by 2 owners that are friends. None of them on a lead. They came bounding over to Alfie the other day (I'm not sure who was more scared, me or Alfie!) I had him on a really short lead as I didn't know how they would be with him, they were really over whelming for him and then started snarling at him. The owner eventually came over and said 'oh he wants to play!' I was like are you actually kidding me?! Someone people are so thoughless.


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## Alfiepoo (May 19, 2014)

Burrowzig said:


> Depends if the crouching down is followed by pounce/play. A good proportion of dogs - mainly young ones - lie down when they see another dog approaching. I take that as good manners, letting the other dog know they mean no harm. They usually get up, have a sniff, move on. How a pounce/play would be received depends on the other dog and whether or not they want to join a game.


Absolutely it's only ever followed by him wanting to play, he hasn't got an aggressive bone in him!


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## Amelia66 (Feb 15, 2011)

My Toy poodle puppy does the same, but its not really a stalk more a lie down and wait. I only ever see this in the garden when my older dog has run ahead [shes much faster] and pup is waiting for her to come back.


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## Westie Mum (Feb 5, 2015)

Miss Poppy is a stalker .... But only with our own dogs. 

It's a huge game, I watch her in the garden stalking Oscar who then attempts to stalk her back but he gives in to easy lol, lots of chasing round the garden furniture then follows!


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## Sparkle22 (Oct 26, 2013)

My dog (border collie) stalks and crouches down to other dogs.
However, this is nerves, not because she is a collie.

She used to approach other dogs fine, then she had some traumatic experiences and is now scared of other dogs but still wants to play with them.


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## Dogless (Feb 26, 2010)

Kilo can be a stalker - he will either do it when uncertain of another dog or person, when he is being predatory or in play; there are subtle differences between the stalks bar the play one where his body language is loose and happy. Rudi will ambush Kilo only in play and will not display the behaviour with other dogs.

I absolutely do not allow stalking of other dogs (or people!!!) bar each other in play. I do allow Kilo to lie down as dogs approach without any stalking behaviour (well, did before his attack - now a dog approaching is too much for him so I am talking about past behaviour when other dogs weren't a big drama) as he will lie down and look away which is him displaying displacement behaviour "I am not really here / I am no threat". Crucially he will not stand up immediately when they get to him, he allows them to sniff. 

I hate it when folk allow their dogs to stalk mine too or me when I am out running alone. It is intimidating.


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## Buzzard (Aug 10, 2012)

Red does this sometimes. It is only when another dog is walking towards us on a footpath. I usually stop as soon as he starts going down now. I make him sit instead and we wait for the dog to pass and he gets a nice treat.


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## Vicki (Jul 28, 2009)

None of my dogs have ever done that, but I would absolutely discourage it if any dog of mine did. Since I dislike the behaviour I probably discourage it from the very first signs without even thinking about it.

I hate to meet dogs who crouch down and I walk as far away from them as possible. Someone wrote that it was polite behaviour, but I don't agree. I think it's very impolite to crouch and stare at other dogs, and judging from how most dogs react to other dogs crouching, staring and pouncing I'd say that dogs too find it impolite. 

The only time I think it's okay for dogs to crouch, stare and pounce is when they are playing with other dogs off lead (of course with consent from the other dogs owner and with dogs that are suitable for my dog to play with).


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## Gemmaa (Jul 19, 2009)

Freddie does it, but he does it with the intention of attacking, so it's now strictly forbidden.


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## silvi (Jul 31, 2014)

Sophie goes into a crouch when she see's another dog coming towards her, particularly little ones like her.
It would be a little nicer if she was being friendly, but she isn't. Her ears also turn inside out, so she's definitely in hunting mode!

The daft thing is that she is such an anxious dog - scared of her own shadow sometimes. And she runs away from other dogs when confronted. So I guess this might be her way of 'getting in there first', but it's not serving her well!

The only way I can stop her going into 'stalk mode' is to bring her to a halt and stand between her and the other dog, to get her attention away from it. If she's not too far gone I can get her to sit, but there's no guarantee that she won't start barking at the other dog as it passes by.

It's a bit of a nightmare actually, especially when she does it to bigger dogs 

But we're still working on it.....


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