Dominance

[Dustygirl]

I have been told that my female rott is dominant - what does this mean? What type of behavior should I watch out for?

[Leader]

That's a rather complicated question to answer. Briefly what it means is your pup thinks she is leader of the pack, or wants to be, or might try to be. Not very desirable behavior, I'm afraid. she needs to know that you're the boss. If you check the archives under alpha (pack leader) dominance and such you will find many leads and a lot of info.

You probably should look into classes for the two of you in a club. How old is she?

Best of luck.

[Dustygirl]

Dusty is approximately 1 year old. We have enrolled in obedience class and have just finished our 4th session. Each week the dog has shown improvement and when socializing with other dogs it appears that she is both submissive - letting other dogs lick her, smell her and dominant - jumping/mounting other dogs.

[TrishB]

You might find this article helpful:

http://www.dogsites.com.au/internet_...inant_dog.html

Also, if you do a search here for "dominance" you'll find 341 posts! Happy reading and good luck! :)

[RottiMomCT]

Originally posted by Dustygirl
Dusty is approximately 1 year old. We have enrolled in obedience class and have just finished our 4th session. Each week the dog has shown improvement and when socializing with other dogs it appears that she is both submissive - letting other dogs lick her, smell her and dominant - jumping/mounting other dogs.

Congrats on the 'new addition'. Regarding the 'submissive behaviors' it seems your dog is showing: I recently went to a Wolf Preserve in New Jersey (www.LakotaWolf.com if anyone is interested - the place is amazing and the wolves are gorgeous and their pens are humongous and very natural).

Anyways, back to the point. What I noticed, and asked about, was that the Alpha male and female of the group allowed the lower ranking members of the pack to lick and otherwise groom them. I was told that that is a way of showing submission to the leader. They backed off when food was given to them, until the Alpha allowed them to eat . They were given a half of a road kill deer so it wasn't like the pack of 8 wolves was going to starve. The wolves are all captive bred and very well fed, so the Alpha didn't need to compete with anyone for food, yet the lower ranking members seemed to 'wait their turn'. After feeding, they licked and cleaned the Alpha wolves as if to thank them for letting them eat.

I have seen my male do that to the Alpha female here at the house - it almost seems that he's cleaning the food gunk out of her back teeth! When she's had enough of the dogs, she just gets up and walks away...it could be that the others accept her as Alpha and the licking is a way of showing that they are lower ranking in their 'pack'.

[Leader]

Letting other dogs lick her is a DOMINANT trait....My dogs lick me and not the contrary:D :D :D cause I'm the top dog at home (lol! It's TRUE).;)

[ILoveRotts]

When you've been told your dog is dominant is that with you or other dogs?

I have 2 very dog dominant Rotts - 1 male & 1 female. (we have 4 all together).

Rusty & Casey are always the alphas among dogs where ever we go (dog park, neighbors house etc). Not in an aggressive or violent way but they always end up being the boss of the dogs.

Neither however, is dominant with people - especially my husband & I. We are the Ultimate Alphas in our house.

Being a dominant dog is not always a bad thing - as long as the dominance is with other dogs. Depends on the situation and the dog.