why is my staff so submissive to other dogs.

hi im new to this so i hope im in the right place.my staff is 1 year old male who we have had since 9 weeks, we saw him with his mother and litter mates and he was one of the bigger more confident pups which is why his behaviour around other dogs is odd.he is confident around people and children and is obedient and has been easy to train by myself.he has been socialised with other dogs from day 1 and has never had a bad meeting with another dog.the problem is when we meet other dogs when walking he will cower down tail between legs and roll over on his back, he will stay there for a minute and then slowly get more confident and then start to play and run around with the other dog.the problem is the other day a boxer dog seemed to take full advantage of this and went for him, this is the first time a dog has turned on him but i dont want it happen again as i think it could make him even more submissive or get hurt.while im glad he's not aggressive i dont under stand why he is so submissive even to smaller younger dogs.he will also allow himself to be dominated by smaller younger dogs. any advice greatly appreciated thanks nick.

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I'm not sure, and if I'm wrong someone should correct me, but I think it's uncommon for a dog to go after a dog while it's submissive. Generally, dogs are submissive to avoid that kind of confrontation and fighting, so I wouldn't worry about it happening again. I reckon it's better for your dog to be submissive than over-dominant where it can possibly lead to some tension or fighting. I'm not sure why he's submissive to dogs, but maybe that's just his nature, whereas with people...well, I think dogs are aware that humans are not dogs, so maybe his confident level changes depending on who he's interacting with.

I'd say he's being polite! He's saying to the other dog !"Look, I'm no threat to you - be nice to me & we'll play!"

I think it's probably far easier to have a dog like this than to have a bolshy, super-confident, in-your-face dog like mine!

I agree, though, it is unusual for a dog to attack a submissive dog. Just unlucky that he came across an agrgessive dobe.

Hi and welcome from us and Suki

thanks for your replys,i am glad he's not aggressive he is a great dog, i think i might look at some training classes to try and build his confidence around dogs, i guess he is still young and learning.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Far better to have a submissive dog and build up his confidence than have it the other way around. Probably the dog that had a go had misread the situation somehow and got confused by his action.