dog play

[Apamaria]

Hi guys! Today I had a pleasant surprise when out in the forest walking with YG. An off leash dog all of a sudden appeared behind us and started following. i panicked a bit, and tried to shoo the poor dog away, but she was being very friendly and got into the play stance a few meters away. During me trying to shoo the dog away for her own safety (which was breaking my heart as she really was very friendly!) YG was going pretty crazy lungeing and barking and growling, me trying to get him to calm down.
Eventually the owner of the she dog appeared and put her dog on leash. This is the point where I asked if it was female, and yes she was. We talked a while, the owner was very friendly and not at all scared of YG's frantic antics :) so I got the courage to let YG closer to sniff.
And lo and behold! They would have played for ever! YG even let the owner pet and scratch him, whinch was a teeny bit worrying but it went well also (he just looked at me like he was pretty miserable about being petted, but I think it was good that he held eyecontact with me all the time and did not utter a single growl!)
So all of YG's agression is not aggression at all, it is frustration as I suspected! And quite obviously he is ready for play dating with females. This is excellent!
It's weird how many times the breakthroughs come just by accident. I might never have let YG near any other dog at all, if this off-leash girl hadn't made contact. True: it could have gone badly. But I'm glad it went well. Obviously it's the males that really piss YG off. It was something that I had noticed before, the intensity of YG's reactions vary. I did suspect it was a female/male thing but this kinda proved it.
Now we are ready to make some friends, with serious caution of course. :D

[sparklemom]

That's great! And a perfect way to find out. You were cautious, the other owner was cautious and everything went perfectly!

[Beckysmom]

congratulations to both you and young guy!

[Judi W]

If you want to know what your dog is saying to the other dogs, watch the other dog. It will speak dog very well. If the other dog shows anxiety, fear or hostility you can assume the message wasn't well-received. If the other dog offers friendship as in this case, you can assume there was a congenial message.

Each might be different so you still need to work on his doggy manners.