MY bitch has become very submissive when any body comes to wisit. She will crouch down so low that sometimes she is almost laying on the floor. She used to do this ever so slightly whenever she saw my other half and wee slightly which we just assumed was out of excitment. But this seems to be getting worse and it does not matter if it is a male/female/child she has started doing this to everyone. I thought things might change as she has just had a litter so i thought she may become more protective but again no change Any ideas on how to stop this?????

Sorry to ask; but are you sure that your "other half" is not abusing your pup when you are gone? Your bitch may be trying to tell you something... ALL DOG BEHAVIOR IS A MESSAGE.

Thats quite a harsh answer!
Maybe she is just a very submissive little dog, has anything bad ever happened to her? She needs her confidence building up, clicker training might help, I know it helped by boy gain more confidence? Just a suggestion...
Vikki

Hi Brinny,

I have a mini poodle who's 6 mos and she does the same thing. Needless to say, she's never been abused by anyone in any way but she started doing this around 4 mos old mostly with other dogs at first then with people(my husband first then us). In fact, the other day when my friend brought over her dogs(boxer/toy poodle) when we let them in the gate she crouched, piddled and immediately began to play. She also does this when we try to deter her from jumping up by saying "no jump" and we gently push her off, she does the crouching thing then lays on her side to have her belly rubbed so thats what we do.
She's not submissive in other ways actually she can get quite aggressive during play with us(working on that). She loves other dogs and people so I just figured it was her nature.

What kind of dog do you have and how old is she?

dappa

No is the answer to my other half abusing her while i am gone!!!! He loves her as much as me if niot more she brings out his soppy side. Nothing bad has every happened to her as far as i know, we got her at 8 weeks and she is now 14 months old, I did wonder if it was just in her nature, but it just seems to be going to extremes now

It sounds to me as if she's taking being a 'polite' dog to extremes - maybe her first submissive behaviours were rewarded in some way and she's decided that more must be better? I'd ignore any signs of submissive behaviour (as soon as she starts stand up and walk away, saying nothing). Encourage her to greet you in the garden, and maybe train her to 'sit' and 'shake hands' - most dogs find it hard to wee in this position.

Denial is a bitch... in this case, literally. sorry that the truth is not a tune that you can snap to.

Are you saying that you really think this dog is abused? My dog is very submissive and I was reading this thread with interest until you said that! My dog couldn't be more loved by me or my husband/children. You can't really believe that because displays submissive behaviour like this it automatically means that he/she has been abused! I was looking for an answer to my problem aswell, possibly this is not the best place to ask?

There are lots of people who will help with your dogs problems, the previous poster is not one of them; just ignore them and they will go away.
Hopefully, someone will be along later, with some good advice,

liberty

Hi Brinny

I dont know apart from her perhaps feeling a little insecure after having a litter.

Try and disregard some of the replies you have had from a certain person :rolleyes:

Im sure someone will be along shortly with some good sound advice. :)

HELEN.

Hi Brinny

Sorry to hear about your problem. There are a few things I think perhaps might be worth a try.

When people come to the house and your dog shows any sign of being nervous or shy, ask them to completely ignore her and do so yourself. If you force her to face what she is afraid of there's a very good chance that she will be even more afraid/submissive. OR, if they and you make a fuss of her and encourage her to come and meet them when she is hanging back she could see this as having her (unwanted) behaviour rewarded and so repeat it next time visitors arrive.

Only show her any attention if and when she makes any move to come and investigate them, then praise and reward her well.

Be wary of the clicker training at this point. It is a very good confidence builder in dogs that are of sound temperament already but I have seen nervous/shy dogs react very badly to the 'click' and run for cover every time the trainer and/or clicker appeared again.

If it were my dog I think I would try to build her confidence slowly and at her own pace with praise for doing so.

Hope this helps.