Submissive Dogs

[Bubitty]

Corvus's thread made me think!

Bitty is an extremely submissive little dog. She is the most agreeable and lovable little thing. Would not dare to challenge anyone or anything.

What I have noticed is how Bitty manages to completely OWN Bubby! What Bitty wants, Bitty gets, albeit in the most friendly happy way. To the point where if Bitty has finished her dinner bone, she will walk past Bubby, roll on her back, wriggle and Bubby would give her his bone and wander off.

Bitty gets to play whenever she wants and I think Bubby has told her "Enough" maybe three times in her entire life. What I have noticed is if Bubby is not doing what she wants, she will let out this wailing cry and pace around crying until he gives into whatever it is she wants (usually its a game).

What would you classify as a submissive dog? Observing Bitty makes me think that she has it quite good, despite being the more lowly ranked pack member! Makes me wonder why a dog would want to compete for something in an assertive manner when it seems to be so easy to get what you want by being submissive.

[W Sibs]

Bitty and Bubby relationship sounds like Charlie and Emmy!!. Only Charlie tells Emmy off more than 3 times!!

But Emmy has this cute high pitch bark she does to Charlie when he wants something he has because there are times where she can't go up to Charlie and take it from him, cause the look he gives her. When she does this, I call it her 'little sister trick' on Charlie. Charlie ALWAYS gives in to her. She can get him to do anything and everything she wants. Charlie loves his little sister though and she is very protective of him. He squeals and she drops everything to go over to make sure he is ok.

Emmy is a follower and happy to follow. It will stress her out if she has to lead...

She is bottom of the pack but she is confident there.. she knows her place, she knows the rules, she has her pack and she is happy

[sallyandtex]

Corvus's thread made me think!

Bitty is an extremely submissive little dog. She is the most agreeable and lovable little thing. Would not dare to challenge anyone or anything.

What I have noticed is how Bitty manages to completely OWN Bubby! What Bitty wants, Bitty gets, albeit in the most friendly happy way. To the point where if Bitty has finished her dinner bone, she will walk past Bubby, roll on her back, wriggle and Bubby would give her his bone and wander off.

Bitty gets to play whenever she wants and I think Bubby has told her "Enough" maybe three times in her entire life. What I have noticed is if Bubby is not doing what she wants, she will let out this wailing cry and pace around crying until he gives into whatever it is she wants (usually its a game).

What would you classify as a submissive dog? Observing Bitty makes me think that she has it quite good, despite being the more lowly ranked pack member! Makes me wonder why a dog would want to compete for something in an assertive manner when it seems to be so easy to get what you want by being submissive.

Sounds SMART to me. Using her feminine charms!

I am told Sally(18 months) is submissive all the time with other dogs, yet she senses any her age or younger she will challenge them to a wrestle or run!

[corvus]

If dominance is defined as gaining priority access to a desired resource, then Bitty is dominant! Patricia McConnell often spoke about her Border Collie Pip, who would grovel her way up to any member of the pack and flop around in front of them on the ground screaming submission until the dog got fed up with her and let her have whatever it was she wanted. This worked even on the Pyr, Tulip. She made the point that just because Pip got what she wanted without aggression or posturing or threats but through submissive behaviour didn't mean she was necessarily submissive. After all, she got her desired resource.

I define a submissive dog as one that gives access to a desired resource to another dog (or human, or cat, or whatever). It seems unlikely that a dog would ALWAYS be the submissive one in an interaction, but I guess it could happen. But that's why I describe behaviours as dominant or submissive rather than dogs.