Drooling dog!

[pipsie71]

Hi, I need to ask a question on behalf of my friend. She has a 5 year old male llasa apso and a 3 year old male llasa cross. When Jack, the 5 year old, meets any other dog, he drools and drools and drools! He doesn't appear to be nervous in his stance, tail is up etc, and there's no aggression there. She just wondered if any of you knew why he did this? Many thanks, Pip

[FredsMom]

It may not be nervousness, just over excitement. My friends dog drools a lot when he is at a dog park because he gets so excited.

Im not 100% sure how to fix this (Becky is great with training and may have a good solution).

What does your friend do when another dog is around? Does she get "excited" and greet it? Does she let the other dog get really hyped and play? I would suggest working slowly with the drooler. When a new dog is around, get the droolmaster to sit and be calm. Don't allow it to play with other dogs if its TOO excited.

[katiem]

I would agree tat its probably just excitement, and if its not bothering anyone then there really is no reason to fix it. Now if Jack was exhibiting other behaviors with the drooling it could be a problem, but it sounds like he's just a happy, excited boy! My dog Dan does it too, especially when he sees his dog friends, or a person he really likes!

[pipsie71]

Thanks for the replies you two, I'll tell her what you said. It doesn't really cause any problems other than her having to mop up the drool, and Tilly got a bit wet today when she met him! To answer your question, yes, my friend does greet dog visitors quite vocally etc, so he may be getting excited from that. He doesn't run around and play with them though, just follows and drools, but occasionally shows what I presume is dominance by putting his paw on the dog's back. He did this with Tilly today. But no aggression. Do you think this could become more of a problem? Pip

[FredsMom]

No, doesnt sound like it. Fred does that too. Puts his paw on new dogs and its never turned into anything more than play.

[katiem]

My kids do that when playing too, it can be a sign of dominance, but I probably wouldn't worry if it does not escalate above play.