my dog has started laying down on walks when we come across other leashed dogs… why?

[de]

Can anyone explain why he’s doing this?

For context, he’s always been pretty bad on the leash. I adopted him at 3 years old almost two months ago and we’ve made some progress. After a few weeks together he became possessive of me and reactive to other dogs and growls / barks / lunges at other dogs within a certain distance. I’m not sure whether he’s a frustrated greeter or resource guarding or both. He’s been okay around other dogs when he’s not on leash.

We live in a city and other dogs are hard to avoid sometimes, but we usually cross the street to avoid head on interactions or u turn completely. We’re working on LAT / LAM. When other dogs are unavoidable, and too close I end up dragging him away while he barks and goes crazy. Lately though he’s been quick to just lay down, which would be fine except he’s harder to move away from the other dog, and when the dog does approach he barks and jumps up.

Im wondering if he’s either:
A. Play bowing because he’s a frustrated greeter and wants very badly to play
B. Laying down because he wants to be around the dog and it’s harder for me to drag him away when he’s like that, or
C. Being submissive because he’s scared.

It doesn’t strike me as A because it’s not really a bow - his whole body is on the ground as if he were lying down for a treat. (we don’t know that command yet though).

 

[mcpugh]

@de My dog used to do this before he was full blown reactive. Our trainer said that it means that he is nervous and is communicating to the other dog that he’s not a threat but also to not approach. The problem is that even if the other dog gets this, their owner will probably keep walking towards your dog, and eventually will cause him to lunge and snap. We started crossing the street and practicing u-turns when my dog went through this stage. We also avoided any blind spots where we could be surprised, and any places where there’s no easy exit. I’m honestly not sure what we’d do if we lived in a city where triggers were unavoidable, though. My dog would only lay down if we were in an area where we were too close. Now we’ve gotten better at judging his threshold so luckily he doesn’t do this anymore.

 

[veroch]

@mcpugh Our dog did this as well before she became full blown reactive. In hindsight (now that I know much more about dog body language) our dog was nervous and trying to tell the other dog to not approach. This didn't work because of us humans so then when the other dog got close she would lunge at them. A month or so later she was skipping the lying down phase and going straight to barking and lunging fiercely... I'd try hard to move your dog or prevent other dogs from approaching when they lie down.

 

[de]

@veroch It’s interesting because he’s been the opposite. He started with barking and lunging at other dogs and only now has started laying down. He still barks and lunges though, he just waits until they’re even closer.

 

[jermichael]

@de Probably knows that when he lies down it's a lot harder for you to move him away.

 

[janetq]

@de Probably doing what is called “pancaking”, which is fear. It is the dog equivalent of curling up in the fetal position when a human is so overwhelmed.

My dog has fear reactivity and did this a lot when there were too many noises on the street. Sometimes with other dogs. Increased medication has gotten her off the ground but now she lowers her head and moves slowly to check out the situation and make a determination how to respond.

Agreed on counter conditioning and avoiding as much as possible. Building a wall for your dog is helpful too. My trainer taught us the “behind” command. My pup knows to go behind me legs and sit. I can use this for predictable triggers like a big truck coming down the street or someone walking their dog who is NOT picking up any of the cues to give us space.

I hope your pup can improve on this!

 

[de]

@janetq We’ll start working on that one, it sounds useful. Sometimes I get frustrated because I always put myself between him and other dogs to try to defuse the situation and he tries to get out in front of me again. I thought that meant he was a frustrated greeter but maybe it’s just his possessiveness over me.

 

[roberthill1964]

@de I agree with what most people have said about it generally being a nervous behaviour. I have had a dog that did it when overly excited to see certain dogs, especially small dogs, and would calmly greet them once they were close enough and was not reactive whatsoever. The wait was what he couldn't handle. The body language and such can give a lot of extra info we generally do not have on here. I would say your dog is B - wants to stay near the dogs, but is likely also nervous and wants to inappropriately interact with them. I would try to find something with a high enough value that you don't have to drag him. I know it isn't always possible though. I only have one dog that will do anything for a ball. Everyone else isn't super food or toy motivated.

 

[de]

@roberthill1964 I haven’t tried his ball because it just didn’t occur to me to bring a ball while he was leashed. But he does love that thing, even brings it to bed most nights… I’ll have to try it. Thank you!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@de Aww I feel your pain. We are working thru this right now.

My dog wants to play with everyone. He gets himself so worked up. He wants to run up to ebery dog an say hi. When hes not allowed he just dips.to the ground an expects to wait there staring at that dog til they come upto him. Hes so strong too lol.

I advise a harness with a front clip an top.

I advise carry on what you are doing basically but if you HAVE to pass another dog.. maybe work on trying to distract your dog instead? So encourage them to snuffle for treats in the ground.

 

[johnuaapple1]

@de What a trainer told me is that this is what dogs do to protect their vital organs when they are nervous. She told me to get in between my dog and the trigger and provide treats for counter conditioning and as distraction. My dog usually does this when a jogger is coming by and once they get close she will lunge at them. She is also done this to a person that was walking around calling out for a lost dog.

I think in your case it's the same thing but maybe a different cause? Your dog is preparing to attack the other dog just like mine is preparing to attack the joggers.

You'll see this in herding dogs when they are doing their work. They get very low to the ground to avoid wounds to their underbelly from a kick from one of the animals that they are herding.

 

[de]

@johnuaapple1 Normally at the point he’s laying down, even treats won’t catch his attention. He’s extremely food motivated usually. It’s frustrating because he used to (and sometimes still does) have issues with joggers and bikers, but we got to a point where I can treat him and get him to focus on me before he can react. I’m so proud of that progress, even though it’s not a perfect success, but it’s just so much harder to get his attention when other dogs are the issue.

 

[johnuaapple1]

@de That's awesome! This has only happened twice for me so far and I'm hoping as we bond further and she developes trust that I will keep her safe the behavior will resolve on its own but if I had a dog like yours that loves their ball I might try throwing it in the opposite direction of the trigger. I'd like to try and get y dog more interested in balls because she showed me on her own that she knew how to play fetch but lately when I take her out for that purpose specifically she would rather sniff around and look at ppl walking or other dogs in the distance. Not sure if your dog gets distracted during fetch as well but if you know of a way to get a dog to love a ball please let me know!

 

[robertm2000]

@de I’m curious if people could take a look at these two videos of my dog’s behaviour as an off-leash dog approaches her.

I always assumed that she was trying to make herself look non-threatening so that the other dog will feel comfortable approaching her so that they can play but now that I’m reading these comments, I’m filled with doubt and wonder if I’ve been misinterpreting this behaviour the entire time.

Example 1

Example 2

FWIW, I never allow on-leash interactions so it’s the rare times (once a month max) we go to off-leash forests (large, spread out areas where we try to avoid people for the most part) that this situation occurs. I assumed that she’s just overly excited to meet new dogs because she rarely gets the chance to play with other dogs.

 

[fangorn]

@robertm2000 I’m by no means an expert but my dog and my parents dog do the exact same when they’re leashed. They’re both very dog friendly (mine can be people reactive though). We’ve had training for both - different trainers - and were told they were doing it to show that they weren’t threatening and because they’re stubborn and know we will struggle to move them if they lie down.

I guess it can be different for each dog. Some dogs wag their tails when happy, others when nervous/reactive, so their behaviour can be hard to read.

Your dog is beautiful btw

 

[de]

@robertm2000 This looks a lot like what my dog does, the difference being that he waits until the other dog is close and then starts to bark and lunge. I would say though that your dog’s body language looks less tense overall that my dog’s when he’s like this.

 

[tsw613]

@de Addressing reactivity in a city is really difficult. I feel your pain! We lived in a small, basement apartment on a busy street not far from downtown for a while. Our 60 pound pup was triggered by everything (I still have night mares about trying to get him to pee at midnight and encountering a raccoon right outside the front door). I don’t know what your situation is, but things really improved for us when we stopped walking around the block and on the street. We had access to a car, invested in a soft crate to dampen the vehicle reactivity, and exclusively went to parks large enough to escape other dogs. It helped a lot. Removing triggers helped us turn a really big corner, and he’s improved tenfold.

 

[de]

@tsw613 I don’t have a car. We are definitely getting better at learning which routes are “safe” though - either free of blind spots, which gives us enough time and distance to escape when a dog is near but not near enough for him to freak out, or low traffic in general.

When you say that he improved, do you mean all around, like even with being triggered at home? Or have the improvements come just in the area of dealing with other dogs?

 

[tsw613]

@de All the above. But it took a really holistic management-approach. We play music quietly 24/7 now (we invested in an Alexa Echo and smart TV to make it convenient) and have completely prevented him from looking outside. He goes into his crate immediately if he starts reacting to an outdoor sound (we don’t wait). He’s on gabapentin for anxiety, and we only go places where we’re confident he’ll be successful for exercise. From that place of calm, we’ve been able to reintroduce and confront triggers in controlled settings (such as by practicing ‘look at that’ and ‘engage/disengage’ in areas we know there are other dogs during a designated ‘training session’). His threshold used to be a football field. Now, if he’s in the right headspace, he can walk past another pup across the street.

 

[de]

@tsw613 Wow, that is truly impressive.