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Humping and Pawing and dominance?
I don't have nearly the wide experience that many of you do in observing
dogs, but I often find myself questioning the "meaning" of humping and pawing. Not so much that they *can* be and often are dominance signals, but that sometimes it just doesn't seem like that is what is going on, in the context of knowing the dogs. Here's one example: Dylan, our female GSD (9) has lots of alpha traits, and she bas been clearly dominant (food, attentions, sleeping place) over Oppie, our Male Lab (7), from the time we got him. She was two, he was 11 wks. Both are speutered. She's pretty secure in her position and doesn't seem to need to lord it over him. And he doesn't seem to mind taking second place; he doesn't challenge her. When they play bitey face, he's the one that usually ends up on the ground. They both initiate play. Oppie, however, side-humps Dylan on occasion. He puts his head on her back and moves his haunches as if he were humping her. This happens mostly either when there are other dogs around, or when Dylan has been getting a lot attention from us, like when she's been brushed. It doesn't look like dominance, and Dylan doesn't respond to it as if it were a challenge. She mostly ignores it, or, if he's extremely persistent, she'll give a little growl; she has hip dysplasia, so I expect it can get uncomfortable when he persists. When I can't help anthropomorphizing, it looks more like possessiveness (she's *my* girl!) than dominance. Then there's paw placing. When Oppie is upset (he used to get upset when we'd dance or walk strangely in his presence), he will jump up on his hind legs and put his paws on our shoulders, and lick our chins. He also does this if it's well past feeding time and we're ignoring him. Again, I suppose it could be dominance, but it looks more like he's imploring us to stop dancing or to feed him. I'm just musing on the possibility that we may construe the dogs' behaviors too narrowly at times. Have those of you with broader experience ever pondered on this possiblity? FurPaw -- Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever. To reply, unleash the dog. |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Humping and Pawing and dominance? | FurPaw | Dog behavior | 44 | December 20th 03 03:40 PM |