Social strategies

Darby has perfected what I like to call 'The submisive dive'.

He aproaches the strange dog at speed and at about 10 feet away jumps horizontally at their feet, twisting sideways in midair and landing with his touching pole fully displayed in the other dog's face..

He's quite tallented and can even manage a tuck and roll when there's more than one dog to flash his matchstick to each one.
 
Phebe*DD said:
I hope this isn't a temporary thing. I'm going to start marking and rewarding the behavior whenever I can.
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Be careful to observe the behaviour, a lot of herding dogs are stalking that way... lol Toffee does this when he is herding Scotty the poodle... is not at all the same as Darby's true submissive dive, lol, which is a submissive gesture.. Make sure her laying down is not the same as stalking sheep
 
Toffee's Mom said:
Be careful to observe the behaviour, a lot of herding dogs are stalking that way... lol Toffee does this when he is herding Scotty the poodle... is not at all the same as Darby's true submissive dive, lol, which is a submissive gesture.. Make sure her laying down is not the same as stalking sheep
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OH, That's a good thought. BC are the worse for this. A friend has a rescue BC who does that and flattens himself to the floor and stares at strange dogs. The rest of his body language tells you he is not submissive as he is very tense. Very high prey drive that one.
 
Toffee's Mom said:
Be careful to observe the behaviour, a lot of herding dogs are stalking that way... lol Toffee does this when he is herding Scotty the poodle... is not at all the same as Darby's true submissive dive, lol, which is a submissive gesture.. Make sure her laying down is not the same as stalking sheep
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Good point. I don't think she's stalking. She's in a semi-relaxed sphinx-like pose (head and ears erect). When I think of stalking with her, it's that fixed look in her eye with lowered head and flattened ears that she gets when we're playing an intense game of fetch with the ball.

I hope I'm reading her correctly.
 
I find mine tend to drop their front lower than their back and their head is tilted forward when they do a herding-style drop. When Deska does his leave me alone or I dont want to play pose he is perfectly still and his head is erect.
 
Phebe*DD said:
Good point. I don't think she's stalking. She's in a semi-relaxed sphinx-like pose (head and ears erect). When I think of stalking with her, it's that fixed look in her eye with lowered head and flattened ears that she gets when we're playing an intense game of fetch with the ball.

I hope I'm reading her correctly.
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Yep, sounds like you are reading that right to me. I meant the the fixed look, lowered head, like the Border Collie afore mentioned... that is what Toffee is like, just before pouncing and being extra obnoxious ;)
 
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