Submissive Behavior

Recently, a woman who owns a German Shepherd Dog bitch contacted me. The two and a half-year-old bitch is extremely submissive. In fact, she is the most submissive dog about which I have ever heard. Her symptoms covered four single spaced e-mail pages and included the usual; submissive urinating, crate spinning, tail tucking, rolling over on her back when approached by people and numerous others that we normally don't see in most submissive dogs and some that I've never seen.

Extreme submissiveness is the product of fear and/or shyness. Fear in dogs, as in people, is a perfectly acceptable response to certain situations. The dilemma arises when the fear behavior is a reaction to a normal situation; being approached by a person or another dog, hearing a loud noise, being taken for a car ride or to a training class. If the fearful dog has a passive personality, it will respond by acting submissively.

In order to work with the dog, we should learn about several things. When did the dog first begin to exhibit this type of behavior? Is the dog submissive to people or other dogs or to both? Is it submissive only to certain people or group of people such as the dog's immediate family? The answer to the last question may require behavior modification for the people involved. A dog that has been too often punished in a harsh manner by its owner may signal to the owner in the same way it would to another dog, indicating that he or she will not offer resistance or a challenge. Such signaling includes ears down, tail tucked, rolling over on its side or back, whining and urinating. A person that does not understand that the dog is saying, " I give up", may continue with the punishment causing the dog to become even more submissive. Eventually, the dog may believe that all humans offer a threat and signal submissiveness to everyone.

This does not mean that all submissive dogs have abusive owners. Submissive behavior may be the result of a bad experience early in the dog's life or it may be genetic. The owner of the extremely submissive bitch that is mentioned at the beginning of this column wrote to me that all of the bitches in the litter are extremely submissive, as is the dam. The dogs were not submissive.

An overly submissive dog lacks self-confidence. The best way to overcome this is to set up situations where the dog will always succeed. Begin by crouching or kneeling down and calling the dog in a happy, soft voiced manner. When the dog comes to you, act as if it is the greatest thing that any dog has ever done, hugging it and petting it with your hand always below the dog's eye level - you are less threatening this way. Even if the dog does not come to you, but only looks at you, praise him or her in that same soft, happy voice. Be patient, if the dog urinates while coming to you, ignore it, it will stop in a few days.

When the dog comes every time it is called, introduce the command to sit. Do this by remaining in the crouched or kneeling position and while praising the dog and rubbing his or her chin, hold your hand over the dog's hindquarter. Do not push down on the hindquarter or physically try to position the dog in any other way. And, remain down with the dog. Do not stand and bend over the dog, since this is another threatening posture to the dog.

Once the dog is consistently coming and sitting happily, it is time to expand his or her world. Have other members of your household work with the dog doing the exact same exercises in the exact same way, consistency is very important. Then, invite a few friends do the same thing in and away from your home. Do this three or four times for a few minutes at a time. Training classes or handling classes are good places for this type of work.

During the confidence building period, avoid punishing the dog. Ignore minor infractions for a while and set up situations where no major infractions can occur. Again, be patient. The results are well worth it. Depending upon the dog and the dog's age, older dogs usually take a bit longer, complete change in behavior should take place in six to eight weeks.

Anthony Cherubini