# Dominance?



## katro (Feb 26, 2013)

Ok, so this will end up being lengthy...

My friend has a female GSD (spayed), Capona, that is very dog reactive, very dominant, does not do well with small dogs (my friend admittedly takes responsibility for the small dog thing – Capona attacked my friend’s mom’s two pugs many years ago and now my friend get very anxious when there are small dogs around and Capona clearly picks up on that nervous energy). Capona only seems to get along with large-breed submissive males. Ralphie is a submissive male. Ralphie & Capona have played together many, many times. They do so almost every week, but every time I go over there, we have to basically re-introduce them like they’ve never met otherwise Capona goes berserk. We introduce them outside, away from my friend’s house/yard, then we walk them together for 15 or more minutes, then we go to the house and the two dogs run around the yard and are playful. Every single time I go over there, though, the first thing Capona does before we can walk them together is show her dominance (puts her head right over top), then suddenly growls, lunges and tries to nip (she usually doesn't have enough leash slack to make contact). My friend corrects her, the dogs continue to sniff each other and the show of dominance is over. 

My friend got a puppy a couple of months ago. Ralphie has been over there since then, and Capona did fine. The puppy, of course, was fine and so was Ralphie. This past Sunday when I went over, we did our usual intros, but Capona repeatedly dominated Ralphie. She did so several times while outside, and continued to do so inside the house. She even bit him hard enough for him to yelp, but thankfully my friend corrected her/pulled her off before she could break any skin. She has not acted like this before. When I got there, my friend brought Capona out, but then her husband brought out the puppy, too. The puppy is a puppy and was super excited to be outside, see people and see another dog and I think that just amped up Capona, maybe? I don’t mean to speak negatively about my friend or anything, but it does drive me a bit nuts that neither she nor her husband take the leader role in their “pack” and Capona seems to feel like she needs to fill that position, though, I wonder if the puppy will take that on when he gets a little older (he’s 6 months and was just neutered this week; he’s a Heinz57 mix of who knows what)… Anyway, I guess my question is, how can we get past Capona constantly showing that she's in charge? Is there something that Ralphie is giving off that is making her do this (certain body language or eye contact I should watch for that maybe he's actually challenging her or something)? Ralphie is supposed to stay with my friend while I go on vacation next month, because the two dogs normally get along so well, but now I'm not so sure if that's a good idea or not... Is there a different way we should introduce the two of them when I go over there this Sunday?


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Dominance/submission is generally confined to others of the same sex... for example, my younger bitch is extremely dominant with all female dogs, but submissive to pretty much all male dogs, definitely if they are intact... even if they are submissive or skittish themselves... its actually funny to watch. I've seen her take bullying from male dogs that she'd kill a female for even attempting.

Dominance doesn't equate to bully'ing. It sounds like Capona is a bully, not a dominate dog. Correcting another dog for stepping out of line, or exerting dominance over another dog initially until the dog shows submission is one thing, but making a dog yelp in pain for no reason is something else... if a dog is trying to dominate another and the other shows submission, the dominate dog will be satisfied with the response and stop with the exertion of dominance. What it sounds like is Capona needs to learn to respect the handler as the dominant figure, and then the handler check her behavior and let her know she is out of line when she starts bullying..

just my 2 cents


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

If I was worried I wouldn't risk my dog staying with those friends. Just say you think it's too much to ask with them having a new puppy and make alternate plans. 

Better safe then sorry.


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## katro (Feb 26, 2013)

Friend #2 did volunteer to house-sit for us to watch Ralphie and our cats (instead of just stopping by daily to check on the cats while Ralphie was at the Friend #1's house), but I may just take Friend #2 up on the house-sitting offer, which she only suggested after I told her about how Capona behaved over the weekend! 
If Friend #1 is there supervising Ralphie and Capona all the time, I don't think it would be a problem because Capona would be corrected if she start bullying, but I can't expect my friend to literally watch them 24/7 (woman's gotta sleep sometime! hehe) and that's what worries me. I will see how things go this Sunday and the following Sunday. If it comes to it, then Ralphie just won't stay there. I'm sure he'd be happy to stay in his own home anyway!


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