What does this mean?

CocoPopsLover

When I sit down to stroke my pup, (staff) and she gets comfortable, she puts her paw on me. Now my oh doesnt like it, he says shes trying to be dominant over me, but shes a very submissive dog. When she does it, he tells her no, but if she does it again my oh shouts at her and sends her back to her cage but i think hes wrong

Is this true or is she just showing shes relaxed and comfortable?

TIA

Claire_Bear

I think it's just more comfortable and she's trying to get close to you, if she was being dominant or aggressive I think you'd be able to tell as she'd be displaying other dominant behaviours. I think she's just enjoying the attention

Sagz_2

You may be interested to read this article: 'Using 'Dominance' To Explain Dog Behavior Is Old Hat'.

'Dr Rachel Casey, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Bristol University, said: “The blanket assumption that every dog is motivated by some innate desire to control people and other dogs is frankly ridiculous. It hugely underestimates the complex communicative and learning abilities of dogs. It also leads to the use of coercive training techniques, which compromise welfare, and actually cause problem behaviours.'

Your lil' pup is probably just enjoying being with you and is going to be very confused by your OH's reation.

Pete*G_4

Both our staff's do exactly the same thing. could be a breed trait?

have you trained yours to give "paw" when you ask for it? we have, so we assumed them doing it was them offering paw in an attempt to get us to treat them

never heard of another dog doing it, let alone another Staffie

walwin

CocoPopsLover wrote: »

When she does it, he tells her no, but if she does it again my oh shouts at her and sends her back to her cage but i think hes wrong

Is this true or is she just showing shes relaxed and comfortable?

TIA

Why on earth does he shout at her and send her to her cage. Do you use the cage as a punishment cell

Poor dog

tandraig

oh dear - poor pup! my staff did this too, so did my sisters boxer and my springer spaniel, not once did it occur to me that this was a dominance issue. it seemed to me more like 'you humans seem to like this patting/stroking thing so I will return the compliment'. If the dog stood over you while putting a paw on chest then maybe, just maybe it may be dominance.but logically a dog who wants to dominate will usually pin the other dog down by the throat. usually sorts the pups from the dogs!
obviously not the case here, as he does it when shown affection, logically then, the pup is showing affection back.

HannahIOW

Our rottie pup does this too. I think it's just their way of being close to you.

Rev

I've never known a dog that didn't do it. Seems most bizarre to should at her for simply putting her paw on someone.

littlerat

Poor pup, your partner is wrong.

Dominance isn't recognised thing mostly in dogs now, the link above explains why.

Our dog does it to get your hand down as he LOVES his belly being rubbed, he also knows paw and sometimes chooses to give it in hopes of a cuddle!

CocoPopsLover

Pete*G wrote: »

Both our staff's do exactly the same thing. could be a breed trait?

have you trained yours to give "paw" when you ask for it? we have, so we assumed them doing it was them offering paw in an attempt to get us to treat them

never heard of another dog doing it, let alone another Staffie

No we have not trained her to give us her paw but because she does it with me, she thinks she can do it with him, not knowing she will get into trouble

Now I feel like ranting....we have two TOTALLY diferent ways of training and looking after our dogs. Our staffs are 1 years old (Bruno and Angel)! Now when my oh leaves to go to work, she comes out of her cage and she runs to me and she sits by my feet or i let her do whatever because shes not in a prison, i dont see why i need to restrict her in the house. I have a baby but the dogs never go near the baby. When my oh comes home from work, she runs back to her cage, now I have 2 staffs! The other staff doesnt do that, he just does his own thing, i dont think he is bothred by anyone but im more worried about Angel. She (to me) portrays signs of fear of my partner, she doesnt leave her cage (it seems to be her safe house when hes around) and he shouts at her ALOT!

I told him to get Bruno neutured as we didnt want the risk of them breeding, they are brother and sister, he has refused as he wants Brunos head to get really big. Bruno got into a fight and my oh got his foot bitten, trying to get Bruno out of the fight and my oh said he would get Bruno done, now that his foot has heeled, he will not get bruno done and now Angel is on heat! So she has to get locked up at night now and I have to watch the 24/7 when im awake to make sure Bruno does not try to hump her. Shes not a home or shelter so I dont see why I have to lock her up 24/7 because he has decided to not get either of them done

When he coems home, he doesnt give me choice, he tells me to lock her up or he will do it, so shes stuck in this cage and I want to cry. I have tried to talk to him over and over and over and over again but hes not listening to me.

Iv even thought about putting the pups up for sale to make sure they go to a better home because as much as I love these dogs, I dont think they will ever be as happy as they could be with a partner such as my oh's

He goes on about Cesar Milan and blah blah blah but I keep telling him cesar milan is not always right and I have never seen cesar shout at a dog but as usual, my oh's way is right and he doesnt want to listen to anyone else

I know this is mean, but sometimes I wish that Angel will just turn on him so he understands that dogs need respect.

Help

Pete*G_4

Sounds to me like your OH should be the one in he cage. Have you thought about selling him, rather than the dogs?