You want your dog to be submissive. A dog that considers itself dominant often shows unwanted behaviors like aggression, and since all dogs need to feel they have a place in the pack, you want your dog to believe it belongs at the end of the hierarchy.

However, an overly submissive dog often has its own problems. It may be more fearful, which can cause it to shake and experience stress. It may also suffer from submissive urination, or cower in fear when another dog comes near. While you would like your dog to be submissive, it is possible to have an overly submissive dog – one that can suffer from health problems and may still have unwanted behaviors.

Reducing Overly Submissive Behavior

Overly submissive behavior is often due to low self esteem and possibly fear in your pet. As a result, the one thing you should never do to stop these behaviors is scold your dog. This includes things like submissive urination – if your dog pees as a result of submissive behaviors, scolding your dog is only going to make it worse.

The first step towards reducing overly submissive behavior is to raise your pet’s self esteem. Doing this is fairly simple – and can be very fun! Keep a handful of treats with you at all times. Any time that your dog does a behavior that you find enjoyable, reward your dog with treats and affection. This will have your dog feeling very good about everything it does, enjoying your approval.

The next step is very similar. Every time you give a command to your dog, do not just reward it with a treat – reward it with a great deal of affection as well, including hugging, petting, and speaking to your pet in a friendly voice. Once again, this will have your dog feeling greater approval about what it does, improving its bravery and its self esteem.

Finally, the last step is to reduce fear behaviors. When your dog is afraid of loud noises, other dogs, etc., you should do general obedience training with your pet so that it will no longer feel fearful. If necessary, talk to an expert about how to effectively reduce specific fearful behaviors so that you can train your dog out of each specific behavior one at a time.

Once your dog’s self esteem is raised, and it has experienced greater affection with less punishment, your dog should think more highly of itself and reduce the unwanted behaviors it had previously displayed.