'Submission' in Dogs

[marmite]

marmite, have you ever actually been bitten when trying to rub your dogs tummy If not, I suspect you understand what your dog's telling you, but it comes so naturally that you don't realise because you don't have to think about it and analyse it

 

Books can only offer you the text book answers, every dog is different and you learn to read your own dog, which I'm sure you already do.

 

Fortunatly my dog is very friendly towards me, so no i havnt

The reason i ask is because ive just been reading around and theres subtle things such as 'fearful' agression. Its like a whole new language reading dogs and its nice to just learn about them and what they are trying to tell you. They are after all 'Mans best friend'

[Strix]

The head placement thing dogs do is the same as rabbits though. The dominant one will have his chin resting on the head of the submissive one. If a rabbit headbutts your hand while you are stroking his head it means he is trying to establish control over you. In this scenario you should put your hand over his head and push it gently but firmly to the floor and hold it for a few seconds to remind him your the boss not him.

 

If you let a rabbit believe he is the alpha creature then you set yourself up for all types of behavioural problems so this has to be established early and asserted regularly.

Brude will rarely allow a stranger to stroke his head - something most people find confusing

 

they are however permitted to scratch his chin - but this is accompanied by a stern 'no' from me, so he knows he isn't winning

 

It's bloody difficult owning this dog

[Lotti]

sooz I know what you mean! I play with Takara on all fours and she puts her head under my chin and turns it to the side telling me how much she loves me

Once though, she put her paw over the back of my neck while we were playing, this is a dog trying to gain control so I quickly rolled her over (NOT the alpha roll - a play roll) and as she stood up again, I put my hand over her back. She's not done it since

 

Marmite, when we got Eddy he was nervous aggressive with other dogs. It's vital to read his body language because he is incredibly subtle. He had lived a life on a farm for 11 years. He'd lived with another dog so we were told he was good with other dogs. However, although he's fine with Takara, living on a farm it was always his territory, he didn't get socialised with other dogs much because he had the farm to run about on, and was used to life with one dog.

He had to guard that farm from foxes and other dogs so as soon as we took him to a park, a big green area, very much like a field on a farm and suddenly there was all these dogs coming onto his 'farm' he wasn't happy.

 

He couldn't work out why he'd lost his mum of 11 years, been taken to the other end of the country, living with strange people and a bossy 12 month old bitch and after all that why he wasn't allowed to guard his new territory!!

 

He was nervous about what other dogs would do because he didn't understand what he was supposed to do.

It took a lot of work but he's a lot better now. He's built his confidence up a lot.

 

The hardest thing with a nervous aggressive dog is they have to know that the aggression isn't allowed, but you can't tell them off because they're nervous already! You have to build their confidence and reassure them without reassuring them that's the correct way to behave!

 

I agree with you, I find it all very fascinating and it's a great language to learn! At the end of the day, our dogs struggle through life trying to understand us and we still force them to learn our language, despite us being the 'more intelligent' species! Surely we should take an interest in learning what they're telling us!