Sitting on smaller dogs

[murph5]

This is my first post about my first rott, I posted a couple of months ago in introductions :). My girls name is Steinplatz Hot Ticket. I believe that she might have a couple of relatives on this board :). What a lovely pup she is! I am just wondering, we also have a 12 year old pomeranian, Mia (the rott) when playing with Toby (the Pom) will stand over top of her, and then sit on her She's not hurting her, she doesn't put all of her weight down.... is this a dominence thing? Should I worry about this type of behavior? She also tried it with a Shitzu mix at puppy classes during their play time.....

Thanks in advance!

[Mako'sMom]

You hit the nail on the head....it is definately a display of dominance on her part. I would not be overly concerned with this behaviour because it is far less agressive in nature than some acts of dominating a weaker dog, but that being said I would still keep an eye on her to make sure that no one gets hurt. I would also correct her when she bullys like this. Sitting on a smaller animal should be discouraged....what if one day she decides to dominate a baby??? Get my point. It is up to you to establish with her what is acceptable behaviour and what is over the line. She sounds like she is not aggressive and appears to be acceptive of other dogs so you probably won't have much trouble laying ground rules with her. Kudos for encouraging socialization...it is so important.

[amontague]

I've seen and heard of a lot of mother dogs who deal with their overly-rambunctious puppies by sitting on them until they calm down. It's never meant to hurt the tykes, just gain the upper hand (paw).

[peachesandchubby]

We have a chihuahua Sugar (maybe 6lbs) and a min spitz Angel (around 18lbs) and Peaches, our 8 month old Rottie(around 86lbs), puts her paw on top of them when she is playing with them. Once in a while it looks like she is trying to take her paw and scoop them to her or kinda under her. I always say "easy" to Peaches and keep a close eye on them while they are playing after all the size difference alone is imo a reason to always supervise their play.
After saying that I love to watch them interact, its a hoot!!

[buddysdad]

sounds more like a attachment thing if ya rottie isnt dominating probably just wants to be close to the little guy.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by buddysdad

sounds more like a attachment thing if ya rottie isnt dominating probably just wants to be close to the little guy.

It's not an "attachment thing". It is dominance.... subtle and non aggressive, but dominance just the same.

My younger girlie does this to my oldest male when she solicits for attention from us, and he's in the way. We redirect her and ask for obedience, and then she gets her attention.

Your pup is doing this to the smaller dogs. Eventually she will get larger and heavier. You might want to try the redirection as well.