If you saw my dog lying down fixated on a "criminal" you would not say he was displaying a calming signal.

One of the reasons I do not like this book............

You need to observe HOW he is lying down, is he relaxed, is his mouth open or shut, is his head low or high, is he on his side or in the sphinx position, are his muscles tense or relaxed?

I know it doesn't make sense but then Cain's signals in general are very mixed up so I think it's quite possible for him to be displaying some sort of calming signal alongside something more confrontational, as he's worried, doesn't want the other dog to get mad but wants to show he's willing to defend himself if needs be.

He looks like the picture in the book, head up, mouth closed, belly down in a sphinx. However his muscles are definately tense, his eyes fixed and his ears are on alert.

Don't think I'll ever underastand this behaviour

Sounds a typical case of dog "in conflict" to me........

Like Tupac, Syd my male Dobermann does this to his special friends ( his most special friend is a dog aggressive staffie but for some reason they just click )and he does it to Rio one of my female Dobies too, in his case he looks exactly as if he's stalking prey and as the other dog gets close enough he leaps onto the back of their neck and playfighting ensues. He has no issues, is very confident and laid back, he's always done it.

Thanks. Do you mean his feelings are conflicted as in he doesn't know what to do? Or he's planning to cause a conflict with the other dog?

Thanks Trouble, I'm convinced that there is a desire to play hidden under it all (I know jumping on backs and scruff grabbing is GSD play behaviour....which is not always appreciated by other dogs!) but he is worried and just can't get it right.

The dog is in conflict