Hi There all. Just new to the board, but have been viewing since me and my girlfriend go our first male GSD who is now 8 months old.

We were both concerned about his behaviour which took place on our short walk to the vets and when we were there.

It's about his 3rd visit which in the past has never been an issue, but last night when we went our dog showed strange signs of anxiety. He is a very confident dog and never shy's away from other people or dogs.

On our walk to the vets he was pulling very hard as if in excitement, but each time I stopped to stop him pulling and correct him he lay down in a submissive way and as the slack came on the lead he would bolt forward. As we passed other people walking there dogs he would try charging at them sounding off in an aggressive way which he has never done before. Even when we got outside the vets which is not a long walk he would not calm down so I thought it best to wait outside till we were called. This frenzy of excitement carried on outside until we were called in.
When inside the vest was checking him over but unusually he lay flat on his belly in a submissive way and urinated. This was really odd as he has never shown signs of nerves before or a lack in confidence especially around people or at the vets.


Does this sound like unusual behaviour to anyone else

Has anything unpleasant happened at the vet's in the other visits?

He could be going through fright and flight, his hormones could be kicking in, they do the most unbelievable things,
you actually wonder if something has spooked them,if he has had no other negative experiences recently, then I would ignore the behaviour, try not react just let him have the
moment and keep doing everything you normally would,
no patting, no comforting, nothing, no voice encouragement,
just completely ignore, give a little rescue remedy in his water if he is really going schitzoid, it is herbal,
and perfectly safe, Bach flower remedy's is the brand
I have used for mutiple things sucessfully.

Our young (6 1/2 month old) GSD did something very much like this recently. My husband had been out working her and decided to stop by the emergency clinic just to say Hi, and get a weight on her. There was another dog in the waiting room that was a little anxious, but she didn't spend any time there; just went straight to the back. He said she was cowering at everybody and actually did a tiny submissive pee when he told her to step up on the scales! Very strange. She hasn't spent lots of time there, but she has been at least once a month or so since 8 weeks, just for de-sensitization/socialization purposes. She's never had anything 'done" to her there. Anyway, we stopped in again a couple of weeks later, and she was perfectly normal. Confidently walked up and got on the scale as always, etc. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Who knows what got into her before. Maybe hormonal? Maybe she picked up on the anxiety of the dog in the waiting room? No clue. Hopefully your dog just got a bee in his bonnet, too, and will be fine next time.

Cheers for all your replies. Nice to hear that this is not so unusual.

In response to Mike. He has never had any bad experiences at the vets or the walk there.

I did the same walk last night to see what reaction I would get and everything seems ok. Must have been having one of those crazy days.