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Is This Usual Behaviour?


sallyandtex
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Hello! Happy New Year! :thumbsup:

Sally, now 2 years Kelpie (desexed), is still a rather submissive dog. She licks, and rolls on her back for other dogs unless they are younger.

Recently, I have observed that as she approaches another female, she will mainly give the dog a WIDE berth after observing their body language (or even if they look like they don't want to play)

With males though, she will walk up and roll over legs apart :laugh: so they can have a good sniff.

Then she will play. Dogs that she already knows (males), she will play pretty rough with. It is only the other females that she knows REALLY well (her BFF Ruby 1 y.o BC X lab bigger in size now than her) she will play rough with.

Is this just coincidence or a real behavioural thing???? :confused:

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i don't know but I suspect it is normal.

My kelpie is a very submissive dog, though a complete joy, highly intelligent, incredibly loyal etc.

Mine is pretty friendly with all dogs and does keep a wide berth from some more than others but I never noticed if this was more females or males.

Alot of people think females are less likely to get along so i think your keplie's behaviour is consistent with that.

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i don't know but I suspect it is normal.

My kelpie is a very submissive dog, though a complete joy, highly intelligent, incredibly loyal etc.

Mine is pretty friendly with all dogs and does keep a wide berth from some more than others but I never noticed if this was more females or males.

Alot of people think females are less likely to get along so i think your keplie's behaviour is consistent with that.

Oh thanks for the reply!

Alot of other kelpies i have seen are really loyal to their human owners and don't care that much for other dogs, but Sally LOVES other dogs SO much (almost as much as us :laugh: ) and tries really hard for approval. I am always learning about dog behaviour and find it fascinating.

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Hello! Happy New Year! :thumbsup:

Sally, now 2 years Kelpie (desexed), is still a rather submissive dog. She licks, and rolls on her back for other dogs unless they are younger.

Recently, I have observed that as she approaches another female, she will mainly give the dog a WIDE berth after observing their body language (or even if they look like they don't want to play)

With males though, she will walk up and roll over legs apart :laugh: so they can have a good sniff.

Then she will play. Dogs that she already knows (males), she will play pretty rough with. It is only the other females that she knows REALLY well (her BFF Ruby 1 y.o BC X lab bigger in size now than her) she will play rough with.

Is this just coincidence or a real behavioural thing???? :confused:

I think its within "normal" behaviour.

My labrador also does the same thing, including the spreading of the legs for male dogs. She's nearly 2 and is still very submissive to older or more dominant dogs no matter the size.

She doesn't rarely plays with any dogs that she doesn't already know, but yet she plays so roughly with her "friends".

Some dogs are just naturally more submissive than others. I am glad that Mindy is submissive, I would much rather her be overly submissive than the other end of the spectrum.

ETA= Mindy has 2 best friends that are kelpies, both females. Lovely dogs and great playmates for mindy as they love to chase her and she loves to be chased :)

Edited by aussielover
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