Can a dog be too passive?

[IrianofWay]

Regarding other dogs. He's incredibly gentle. Never loses his temper or snaps (except at flies). Tolerates lots of 'love' from DS2, puts up with the cats cuddling up to him. Is mildly spooked by things like prams, tree stumps, anglers fishing poles ..... no rhyme nor reason. All that is OK. Problem is he is scared of some dogs. Not all dogs just certain ones that freak him out for no apparent reason. Sometimes it seems to prompt an aggressive reaction in the other dog that really worries me.

Do we have a problem?

How does he behave when he meets a dog that frightens him?

And what do you mean by aggressive reaction from the other dog?

He runs away assuming he is not on a lead.

The aggressive reaction comes when we approach the other dog, my dog either pulls back on the lead or tries to walk around the other dog in a huge circle, and the other dog snarls or barks. It seems to come after we have approached not as we are approaching - so I assume it's a reaction to his fear.

From your description your dog is employing good strategies to deal with his discomfort around some dogs. Avoiding them or aiming for making an appropriate pass around them (wide circle).

Would the dogs that bark or snarl typically be on lead or off? Some dogs will be discomfited by a nervous dog and react. Some overly friendly dogs can also get frustrated at the lack of greeting and try shouting at your dog instead.

How old is he? I would be wanting to try and help him be more comfortable passing dogs that frighten him. There have been some threads recently with good links on.

Also, how could are you at reading his signals and body language? You need to do a really honest assessment of his interactions with your DS2. Tolerating inappropriate handling doesn't mean it's not causing him stress. Stress stacks up, so if you can generally reduce his stress levels you are setting him up to cope better with stressful experiences meeting other dogs.

Thanks spicypear. I do wonder about ds and we do call a halt to the more bouncy behaviour. More often than not he seems to be quite enthusiastic although I don't speak dog.

He's 4. We had him at about 12 m from a rescue.

Dog is mostly off lead as we walk (and run) off road as much as possible. The angry dogs do tend to be the leashed ones. I don't want to try to make him socialise with dogs that frighten him.