Thankyou everyone for all your comments will be taking them all on board and its nice to know he's normal and i'm doing ok with him

Definitely think I worry too much about how other people perceive us when out walking.

Your Boxer is perfectly normal, you should be delighted he lies down submissively to greet other dogs! If you try to change his behaviour you will only confuse him, he is doing the correct thing. The other dog will know hes no threat & happy days all round

He is also normal if another dog tries to take his toy to tell them off - he is non aggressive, just lets them know to leave him alone

I think you have a lovely very well adjusted dog. Enjoy him.

My cocker spaniel does it too,especially when she sees a dog in the distance. i dont see it as a problem but more of a "i dont pose a threat" signal so other dogs can approach and meet... alot of the dogs in my area are wary

Hi just a couple of questions regarding my 3 year old Boxer Oscar that I wondered if someone could offer suggestions to? He is a rescue and I got him when he was 1.

Firstly when out, usually on street walks, if another dog approaches he will either drop his head down low and almost stalk until we meet the dog or will drop down onto his stomach and refuse to move until the other dog has either passed or come up and said hello. He's quite happy to say hello and loves to play with any dog that wants to but just seems to wait for them to make the first move. This doesn't really happen when off lead as he is quite happy with his toy. He has always been like this even with dogs he knows well or ones he has met 5 minutes previously. I just wondered if this behaviour is worrying and how I should stop this?

This leads onto my second question; if off lead and playing with his frisbee he's quite happy to say hello and have a bit of a play with other dogs and then go back to playing with me; however sometimes the other dogs won't leave him alone and will continue trying to play with him or attempt to steal his toy at which point he will have a bit of a grumble and chase them off, he is never what I would call aggressive and has never started a fight it's almost as if he is saying leave me alone.

I always make sure I only throw his frisbee when there are no near dogs however there are some that make a beeline across the field or will follow us as we move off. Again should I be concerned about him doing this and if so how should I solve this?

Many thanks for reading this long post and any ideas would be gratefully received.

Hi Beth

I've no experience of dogs behaving this way so won't comment, what I would comment on though is dogs that won't leave him alone. In my experience they are the dogs to watch. I am convinced that it was the ones that wouldn't leave my dog alone when he was enacting avoidance body-language that contributed to his aggression problems. Not caused it but contributed to it. The dogs that won't back off are often the rough players and I think their play and persistence overwhelmed my boy.

I know it is difficult but I would avoid that situation happening it does put your dog in a difficult position. Get him to sit next to you, put the toy away and wait for the dog to leave or be retrieved by the owner.

Sandy