Is Your Dog Dominant or Submissive?

From the get-go, dog owners need to ensure that their dogs understand their place at the bottom of the pack. This helps prevent aggression and other destructive behaviors that could potentially occur.

But how can you tell if your dog is dominant or submissive? Below I’ve come up with several characteristics for both dominant and submissive dogs that you should look out for:

Dominant dogs

• Starting staring contests (and winning most, if not all, of them)
• Stealing or guarding toys and food
• Getting attention from other dogs
• Resists commands; stubborn
• Making other dogs wait for them
• Always winning at tug-of-war
• Standing tall in an attempt to make themselves look bigger

Submissive dogs

• Turing away during staring contests
• Rolling on their backs to show their stomach
• Giving up when other dogs want to take toys or food
• Offering attention and/or affection to other dogs
• Losing at tug-of-war or giving up altogether
• Urinating during greetings
• Keeping their bodies lower to the ground in an attempt to look smaller

Obviously, your pup does not need to show all of these characteristics to be classified as either dominant or submissive. In fact, most dogs fall somewhere in the middle of being both dominant and submissive.

One important thing you can do to help avoid dominance and aggressive behaviors is to socialize your pup frequently and early. That way, you can see how they naturally interact with other dogs (and humans) and determine from there how they need to be trained, based on their tendency towards either dominance or submissiveness. Also, when a dog is socialized with other dogs and humans early on, they learn how to read social cues and communicate more effectively, which helps prevent destructive behaviors.

Remember: if your dog is naturally more submissive, they will likely have an easier time understanding their place at the bottom of the pack; however, if your dog is intrinsically more dominant, they may be more difficult to keep in line.

It is important to figure out if your dog is more dominant or submissive early on so you can nip any problems in the bud to prevent further damage over time. When a dog believes that they are the “alpha” and continuously expresses dominant behaviors for years, it can be more difficult to teach them how to be more submissive as time goes on.