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Originally Posted by Maxxx  Ok, so what is the answer then? Some people on here say it's affection, some say it's dominance. From all that I've read on here, it's pretty much split 50/50. I've been wondering this myself since I know Rotties are known to lean on legs and sit on feet, but Max doesn't do this to me. He'll sit on hubby's foot now and then, but of he's around me, he's sitting nicely. I always thought this was because he's been trained to sit on my left or in front of me due to OB. If it is truly dominance, then I want to tell my hubby to not allow him to do that going forward. Or does this leaning thing really depend on the dog? ie. if a soft dog does it, it's affection but if a more dominant dog does it, it's dominance? I'm very interested in what the experts have to say on this as well! |
When one is looking at a dog's behavior, one should take a LOT more into account than one specific behavior. The level of respect that a dog has for it's owner/family (the true level of respect, not the level of respect the owner WANTS the dog to possess!) should really be looked at. Does the dog respond to commands immediately or does it take 2 or 10 times to get the dog to respond? And that's just the beginning of really looking at the relationship. Body language, environmental factors, these all come into play.
This leaning/standing on feet is a subtly dominant behavior. It does not mean the dog is going to bite the owner/family at any time without warning. As I stated earlier in this thread, the majority of dogs are what we know as "middle of the road" in temperament. With dogs who have weaker or stronger temperaments, we must manage them more carefully to prevent issues from popping up.
If you combine this behavior with other dominant behaviors (i.e. sitting on children, pushing owner off bed or couch, non compliance to
known commands (I stress "known" because many people think their dogs are trained but in reality they are not), dominant behavior with food or other high value items, etc... then one should definitely look into tightening up the ship and being more consistent with the animal. It's really inconsistent treatment of dogs that confuses them and gives them the idea their may be room for a canine leader in the household.
A simple push back suffices with a leaning dog and then back to business. The lean/standing on feet in and of itself is the dog claiming ownership of whoever he is doing this to, as obelix said. All humans in the household should be respected by the animal. Dogs need consistency and structure; in play, in training, and in life... that's the one thing we humans get lax about; when the going gets good, we get lazy. It's human nature to become complacent, and that's when we let our dogs (and sometimes humans) down because we leave decision making to the dogs.