Why Your Dog Treats You Like a Subordinate

1 Overview

This behavior is the most common status error in China: plainly, the dog thinks it is the boss of the house and you are just its subordinate.

If your dog shows the following signs, pay attention:

Barking

Dogs bark, especially small ones, which is understandable, as barking gives them security.

But if it barks constantly, at the slightest noise, especially at strangers when guests arrive, the owner must pay attention. The logic is simple: the dog thinks this is its territory and checks everyone who enters.

Jumping on bed or sofa without permission

Honestly, letting dogs on the sofa or bed is no longer rare.

But note: if it never did this and suddenly gets on the sofa or bed, especially against your clear ban, take it very seriously.

Though it sounds alarmist, if a dog suddenly shows these behaviors, the owner should reduce attention recently and, if needed, show authority.

Resource guarding

This is the headache of many new owners.

A dog is absolutely fixated on its territory and food, like a stranger demanding you cook for them, you would refuse and ask who they are.

True, guarding dogs know the owner is family, but when eating, you are that stranger, the one in its mind who might steal its food.

Hard as it is to hear, if a dog guards food from its own owner, you have over-indulged it.

Not letting you touch

Yes, not letting you touch, such as sensitive spots like tail or head.

Why? Have you seen an alpha wolf let a subordinate pet its head? Only the alpha touches subordinates; a subordinate doing that to the alpha is asking for death.

The so-called heat

Owners with some knowledge know male dogs can mate any day, females twice a year.

Many call a dog humping the owner’s leg heat; aside from whether the term is wrong, the real intent is to conquer you, or remind you of its kingly aura.

Pulling and lunging

This is wrong behavior, but not fixed by anti-pull gear alone.

Those who train dogs know the basic rule: on a walk the dog must never get ahead of the owner; watching dog events shows this too.

What dog drags its owner running?

Fixing the pull starts with making the dog understand who walks whom.

Eliminating on bed or sofa

Many friends say: my dog peed on my bed these days, is it sick?

Note: if a dog is unwell, it may pee or even defecate on your bed, but more importantly, a sick dog soils other places in the room too.

So you can see: if it only soils your bed, it is declaring its status, or challenging it, if it was obedient before.

Either way, when a dog starts eliminating on your bed, it sounds the key alarm of a status war.