Too Dominant - What Does It Mean If Your Dog Won't Submit?

[jacqui835]

Having just read the too submissive thread, it made me wonder about my own dog. He has never submitted to another dog in his whole life - and he spends a lot of time with other dogs.

That said, he doesn't fight - and even if another dog is very obviously trying to start something, he will not fight or submit. He will just jump around so the other dog can't put his head over his back, or mount him or anything like that. And normally that's as far as it goes - the other dog seems to realise it would be quite a challenge to dominate him and they both just walk off and get on with it - sometimes they even seem to become friends (often in the case where it's another entire male).

One thing I have learned though is that if he returns to me and the other dog follows, I need to intervene then and there. He will not walk away if he's at my feet - he will stand his ground. It's like he comes to me as if to say, this dog is going to attack me, can you do something about it? If not, I will have to defend us both. This has happened twice when I was too slow and not paying enough attention. The good thing though is that if we can remove the other dog, my dog is not at all interested in trying to pursue or continue the fight, and will just walk past the other dog without seeming to notice him from then on (normally the owner puts their dog on a lead at this stage).

This doesn't happen often - strangely it is almost always a desexed male that will be offended by his presence for some reason.

What does it mean though that my dog will not submit to other dogs? Is he too dominant? And should I be trying to make him submit to other dogs?

[corvus]

What does it mean though that my dog will not submit to other dogs? Is he too dominant? And should I be trying to make him submit to other dogs?

Well, it's not as simple as a dog submitting or not submitting IMO. My younger dog is pretty fiery, but he always tries to tell dogs politely first to stop doing something. He averts his eyes, turns away from them, puts his head and tail down and so on. To me it doesn't say "I submit" at all. It says "I'm not enjoying this". If the dog is polite and attentive, they will respect that and stop, regardless of where they think they might stand socially. If they are rude or inattentive and keep doing it, he tries to aggressively drive them off. He doesn't always do that. I suspect he doesn't do it to dogs he think will beat him up. He's not that big. I've seen him do it to an almost full grown Great Dane pup (successfully), but not to an adult Ridgeback in a similar situation. My point is, he changes his behaviour depending on the dog and how he reads the situation.

My other dog always defaults to submissive signals, but he's very confident about it. He knows what he expects it to do. He expects it to get him out of trouble, normally trouble that he has got into by sticking his nose in where it's not wanted. I've seen him confronted with a dog it's not going to work on and he just avoids. I've also seen him defuse tense situations between other dogs quite confidently without submissive signals. He just gets in between them and diverts one, usually with play. He is brilliant to watch.

So in summary, I think it comes down to strategies they have learnt more than their personality. If your dog doesn't use submissive signals, chances are he has another strategy that works just as well for him, like walking away. My dogs will both try walking away first. A lot of dogs do. I have seen a dog try to posture over them both and they just shrug it off and walk away. Works like a charm.

[Greytmate]

The dog that avoids or averts gaze is submitting. Some signals are just very subtle.

It isn't always just as simple as dominate or submit, there are other messages as well.