[Melina]

Riley, my Sheltie Mix, has always been a submissive dog. She came from some sort of abused background, the Shelter told me, when I adopted her. I worked with her a lot, and she gained a huge amount of confidence, though she is still on the submissive side.

When I first got Koda, they got along well. Riley has a history of being somewhat scared of larger dogs, but she took to him fairly well. They wouldn't play all the time, but she would run around the backyard with him, they would play tug-of-war with rope toys. She would even, at times, run after him and try to initiate play by jumping up and biting at his neck. She didn't seem at all frightened of him.

Lately, however, Koda has wanted to play with her and she's been extremely afraid of him. This has been going on for weeks now and it's baffling me. They'll be in the yard, Koda will start barking and doing play bows, lightly biting at her neck to get her to play, and she just cowers. She rolls over submissively, or runs and tries to hide behind something. She is very afraid of him now and I don't understand where it's coming from or why.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why she would suddenly be scared of him like this? I've kept my eye on them together at all times, Koda has never been rough with her. She's never had any wounds to indicate that he has hurt her, either. Koda's very gentle with her. I really don't get where this is coming from... :help:

 

[Melina]

Does anyone have any idea? She's making herself as small as possible, hiding, rolling over and seemingly playing dead anytime Koda tries to initiate play (He starts letting out little barks, lightly biting at her neck, play bows), and it's really starting to worry me. I don't get where this is coming from all of a sudden. She used to run with him in the yard, chase after him, jump up and try to bite his neck, etc. It's bothering me that she's so scared of him now, and for seemingly no reason that I can think of...

 

[Mike K]

Sounds like Koda may have accidently hurt Riely?