Waddling like a duck

Today we were out in a neighborhood park with our 4 month old pup who is afraid is other dogs. Two women came by with a couple of gorgeous, sweet, large dogs. We're trying to desensitize her, so while my husband held her a few meters away we chatted with the women, I petted the dogs, and she was fairly curious. After a few minutes, though, the tail went between the legs and she hid behind my husband.

After they walked off, she was waddling like a duck, sort of as if she had to move her bowels while she was walking. She wasn't in any discomfort, just walking really oddly. I wet behind her and "squared" her and she was just fine.

My husband's theory is that she was weak in the knees from fear. I've read more about cavaliers than my husband so my first thought was falling down syndrome, but that seems a little over the top. Anybody encountered something like this before?

I would tend to agree with your husbands theory, that she was just scared, I have a dog with EF and the gait resembles a bunny hoping, hope she gets a bit more confidence round other dogs soon.

Our Heidi does exactly the same. She is terrified of large dogs, she wants to have a look and seems inetersted but then down goes the tail and her knees bend and off she waddles!
We are going to take her to puppy classes (even though she's 1) to try to get her over her fear she is so small that most of the puppies will still be atleast twice her size!
I think its them acting submissive if they dont usually walk like that then I wouldnt worry

Oh, thank you. Lynne, I'm sorry to hear about your dog--I hope that it doesn't cause her too much discomfort.

We tried to enroll in puppy class just to get her socialized with other dogs but we live in a small town in a rural area and the dog club isn't holding a class this fall. She's much better now with small dogs than she was before, if they're not yappy, but this was a new one for us.

We've decided to just keep taking her out to where there are dogs and see how it develops. It seems to me that if she sees us interacting with other dogs she'll believe us when we tell her that there's nothing to worry about. She's also freezes when she sees the next door neighbor's cat (the sweetest cat in the world) and she barks at hedgehogs (but fortunately she's never gone to meet one up close and personal).

Amber`s fine most of the time, luckily the episodes are not too frequent, but can be distressing to see, your pup is still very young she has lots of time to mature and gain confidence, you are doing the right things by letting her watch you pet other dogs,

Can I suggest a visit to the local school? I always take my puppies there from a very young age, they get to see and hear so much from children and mum's chatting and shouting (there is a LOT of that! :lol: ) to meeting other dogs, I just find a great place to start socialising a puppy,you don't have to go through the gates, just wait outside, you will be mobbed I guarantee!! I took Morgan down last Friday and we were mobbed, in fact we bought the playground to a standstill as his litter brother Taylor and his Mum Lynne were there as well. You might want to approach the head of the school for permission to go inside the school.

I also take my puppies in to visit the pre-school children and reception class children too, a lot of them cannot have a pet as their parents have full time jobs, but they really enjoy meeting the puppies and it is so good for the puppies too!

Just an idea is all!!

Thanks for the idea, Cathryn. She's very comfortable around people and we know a couple of families with young children, who all came around when we first got Asta--good socialisation for her and good for the kids as well--she seems to know to not jump on children. Even so, I like the idea of taking by the school when it lets out--I can imagine that there are dogs there as well, and if we walk by she can just see them hanging out.