# Dog aggressive to submissive dogs?!



## Sparkle22 (Oct 26, 2013)

I will start by saying that my dog is a little nervous of dogs herself, which is why I am surprised at her behaviour. 
She is friendly but approaches fairly submissively and freaks out if someone barks at or runs at her. 
Today, a little cockapoo approached her and immediately rolled onto its back, at first, my dog was fine.
Then I heard a growl, I wasn't sure who had done it and asked the other owner and she just said oh it's fine! 
So I watched them more closely and watched mine then air snap!!!

She recently also air snapped at a gsd, I assumed she was resource guarding its ball but then that dog was clearly also quite submissive...

I am pretty disappointed at this, she has always been okay with other dogs. Especially big, confident ones. 
Her favourite one is a huge Rottweiler cross. 

Why would she be aggressive to this little dog? 
I can't see how he was being offensive in any way


----------



## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

It submissive/fearful behaviour frightened her, so she snapped, dogs who feel vulnerable often react to others who are also vulnerable.


----------



## labradrk (Dec 10, 2012)

One of my dogs is exactly same so I could have written that myself!


----------



## El Cid (Apr 19, 2014)

My 5 month old is very submisive, but will growl to protect food, and water today.
But do most dogs do this? Someone has said that border collies are agressive, but that maybe just her experience.


----------



## Old Shep (Oct 17, 2010)

Me too. Mine seems to single out nervous/shy/unsure dogs. It's awful! He's not good with puppies either. 

It makes me feel terrible if he has a go at a dog like that. Even older dogs, if here a bit ,infirm.

OMG. My dog is horrible!


----------



## Sparkle22 (Oct 26, 2013)

Jenny Olley said:


> It submissive/fearful behaviour frightened her, so she snapped, dogs who feel vulnerable often react to others who are also vulnerable.


Interesting..

It's not bullying is it? 
I would hate to have a bully dog, I would like her to be friendly to everyone.


----------



## Sparkle22 (Oct 26, 2013)

El Cid said:


> My 5 month old is very submisive, but will growl to protect food, and water today.
> But do most dogs do this? Someone has said that border collies are agressive, but that maybe just her experience.


I have heard this about collies also, but I don't really believe it.
my border collie has always been exceptionally friendly with people and dogs. 
Except this little cockapoo and gsd.


----------



## wannabe dogowner (Feb 24, 2013)

Seems a very logical approach for a nervous dog to take imo.

A second nervous dog is, in her eyes, unpredictable. She doesn't even necessarily know why it is acting the way it is and that SHE is the 'threat' which is making it nervous! Either way, nervous dogs are prone to snap, lunge or otherwise make sudden, scary moves.......she is just scared by the vibes it is giving off.


----------



## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Sparkle22 said:


> Interesting..
> 
> It's not bullying is it?
> I would hate to have a bully dog, I would like her to be friendly to everyone.


Depends. Some dogs seem to get a kick out of bullying others. Others get worried by overly fearful/submissive behaviour from other dogs and so attack them out of fear. And some dogs just give out kick me vibes that seem to make them a target for other dogs.

Liking everyone is an unrealistic expectation imo, she can certainly learn to ignore other dogs though. And most of the adult collies I've met would rather be left alone than meet and greet every dog they come across anyway. How old is she now?


----------



## El Cid (Apr 19, 2014)

Sarah1983 said:


> And most of the adult collies I've met would rather be left alone than meet and greet every dog they come across anyway. How old is she now?


It has struck me recently how my BC has gone from playing with the other dogs, she will still play, but now if I throw a ball she will play fetch.
Fetching a ball is number one priority. She still loves to play, but we havnt been down as much, lately.


----------



## Sparkle22 (Oct 26, 2013)

Sarah1983 said:


> Depends. Some dogs seem to get a kick out of bullying others. Others get worried by overly fearful/submissive behaviour from other dogs and so attack them out of fear. And some dogs just give out kick me vibes that seem to make them a target for other dogs.
> 
> Liking everyone is an unrealistic expectation imo, she can certainly learn to ignore other dogs though. And most of the adult collies I've met would rather be left alone than meet and greet every dog they come across anyway. How old is she now?


She seemed okay at first, it was a very teeny growl. If I had known it was her who did it I would have removed her immediately. She was alright again for a bit after the growl then air snapped - seemingly no provocation.

When they first met, the cockapoo immediately rolled and she (my dog) stuck her nose into his winky! :scared: so I didn't tell her off as such, but I did tell her not to be so rude in an embarrassed tone and shoved her head away. 
Did I maybe accidently trigger it by not letting her sniff him...?

I guess, she really likes to say hello to other dogs. But that's it. She literally runs up, approaches quite submissively, sits with them for a second then trots off.

She will be two at Christmas.


----------



## Sparkle22 (Oct 26, 2013)

El Cid said:


> It has struck me recently how my BC has gone from playing with the other dogs, she will still play, but now if I throw a ball she will play fetch.
> Fetching a ball is number one priority. She still loves to play, but we havnt been down as much, lately.


Mine likes fetch too and will carry a ball on a walk sometimes.


----------



## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

El Cid said:


> *My 5 month old is very submisive, but will growl to protect food, and water today.*
> But do most dogs do this? Someone has said that border collies are agressive, but that maybe just her experience.


That is (or sounds like) resource guarding and something I would get a handle on before it becomes a learned behaviour and harder to "fix"

As for the comment about all BC's being aggressive...that is ridiculous...ALL dogs are capable of showing aggression, there is not a single breed that you could label all with an aggressive tag.


----------



## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

Sparkle22 said:


> Interesting..
> 
> It's not bullying is it?
> I would hate to have a bully dog, I would like her to be friendly to everyone.


It is a vulnerable/fearful dog trying to survive, doing what she/he can to remove the perceived threat.


----------



## Jazmine (Feb 1, 2009)

This doesn't sound entirely dissimilar to Mira. 

Mira is very specific about the type of dogs she wants to interact with. Generally, if they are confident, but calm, she is happy.

You would think as she can be quite nervous around new dogs herself, she would be fine with dogs that are also nervous. This isn't the case. She doesn't mind if a dog rolls over in front of her, but if it starts to get a bit jittery or whiney, she will growl and air snap. I have kind of put it down to her not liking the unpredictable behaviour of such a dog. 

As a result I have become quite good at spotting which dogs she will and won't like, just by keeping an eye on body language. If I think she won't like a particular dog, we keep her away. That way she's happier, and we avoid a potentially unpleasant experience. Win win. 

As for wanting your dog to be friendly to everyone, that may be an unrealistic expectation. Dogs have likes and dislikes when it comes to choosing potentially playmates, just like we do.


----------



## Old Shep (Oct 17, 2010)

wannabe dogowner said:


> Seems a very logical approach for a nervous dog to take imo.
> 
> A second nervous dog is, in her eyes, unpredictable. She doesn't even necessarily know why it is acting the way it is and that SHE is the 'threat' which is making it nervous! Either way, nervous dogs are prone to snap, lunge or otherwise make sudden, scary moves.......she is just scared by the vibes it is giving off.


This makes sense.


----------



## Guest (Jul 1, 2014)

My dog is similar too. Generally she prefers to ignore other dogs, but she's perfectly happy greeting calm dogs of any size provided they are just walking and sniffing.

She really doesn't like it when dogs do something else though - run at her, sniff too long or too enthusiastically, display submissive behaviour towards her, or bounce around. For this reason she generally doesn't like puppies. She will growl on occasion but generally she just shows she's unhappy. 

Quite frankly, I don't blame her - I wouldn't like any of those behaviours either if I were a dog. It just means that I monitor the behaviour of a dog that approaches her and if I see that things are going to go pear-shaped, I just move her along quickly.

I don't like everyone I meet, so I don't expect my dog to like every other dog.


----------

