Dominant behavior

[Keith S.]

I'm assuming it's a dominace thing when a dog constantly puts it's paw on you when your petting it? Is there any way to help stop this behavior? My old dog did this and my young pup has started this also. I've seen this behavior from other dogs but not sure how to stop it.

[duckhunting84]

A few things that can be done, to establish your dominance are the following that I have had success with.
Have your dog sit when feeding, and don't allow them to start until you give them the go ahead.
Make sure you walk through doors and gates first and then give the dog the okay to follow.

There are many others, and you may already be doing these, but if not it is a start.

[dpate]

I am fairly sure you are misreading that behavior. I think it is an attention getting behavior and not dominance at all. I'm not saying you should not try to get rid of it but I don't think it is a case of "establishing dominance" over the dog. What kind of other dominant behavior if any are you noticing?

Disclaimer: I'm not an ethologist, just read a couple of books and please take any advice you get on this thread with a grain of salt. I mean, no one has seen the dog and its behavior so it is really all speculative.

[Jennifer Henion]

I am fairly sure you are misreading that behavior. I think it is an attention getting behavior and not dominance at all. I'm not saying you should not try to get rid of it but I don't think it is a case of "establishing dominance" over the dog. What kind of other dominant behavior if any are you noticing?

Disclaimer: I'm not an ethologist, just read a couple of books and please take any advice you get on this thread with a grain of salt. I mean, no one has seen the dog and its behavior so it is really all speculative.

Agreed. It can also mean insecurity at close quarters. If you come in close to your dog and loom down on him from above to get up close and personal, they will raise a paw to indicate they're unsure about you being in their face.

That said, the paw can many things, much like in the human world, someone putting their hand on your arm can many things. It's contextual. Books will tell you it's one thing, to simplify it. A dog's body language can mean as many different things as human body language.

[DarrinGreene]

You have but two choices in the quest to decrease behavior.

-p = don't allow him to do it and don't reward him. Make him sit in the crate until you can reach in and put his collar on without him trying to do it.
+p = whack him when he does it

My dogs and my client dogs, don't get to leave the crate until they sit still and allow me to put some sort of device on them, be it a collar or lead. I would pull my hand out and close the crate if they did that (and they have), then start over. Repeat until they understand that they aren't getting rewarded (released from the crate) until they perform the correct chain of behaviors.

I don't like +p around the crate, with the exception of bark collars.

[Wayne Nutt]

Whenever he does this, squeeze his paw. This worked for my dog Shadow, he quit doing this after a few days of squeezes.

[rmilner]

Only pet him when his paws are not on you. If you want to make it happen faster than with petting, give him a high value treat such as a freeze dried liver chunk when his paws are off of you. For nearly all dogs, a freeze dried liver treat (or hot dog slice, or piece of cheese, etc.) is a much higher value reward than is petting.

Here is a video clip that illustrate how a lot of people tend to reward a dog for jumping on them (pushing and yelling tend to reward most dogs). The video clip is by Susan Garrett, a world class agility trainer.

•http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=yzqs54qMgQA

[bjoiner]

I just laugh and rub the heck out of my dog when he does it. I guarantee you my dog's is not a dominance thing. His is usually accompanied with some verbal moans and groans, and following by him rolling on his back for a belly rub.

It sounds like he has done a good job of training me.

[dpate]

I just laugh and rub the heck out of my dog when he does it. I guarantee you my dog's is not a dominance thing. His is usually accompanied with some verbal moans and groans, and following by him rolling on his back for a belly rub.

It sounds like he has done a good job of training me.

Haha. This is great. Sounds like my two.

[mitty]

I just laugh and rub the heck out of my dog when he does it. I guarantee you my dog's is not a dominance thing. His is usually accompanied with some verbal moans and groans, and following by him rolling on his back for a belly rub.

It sounds like he has done a good job of training me.

Yup, That's my dog, too!