Signs of a Dominant Puppy

A dominant pup, cute and fluffy as it might be, can grow up into a dominant (and scary) dog. According to Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, all pups try out dominant behaviors when they are young to figure out their place in the pack. The key to bringing up a calm and controlled dog is to recognize warning signals of dominance in the puppy.

  1. Biting

    • Until the age of 8 weeks, a puppy generally has been around its mother and its litter mates along with the people in its first house. The pup learns social skills from its own dog family and from the people around it. A sign that a pup is dominant is that it insists on play biting and wrestling with litter mates or people. The play biting is a soft mouthing or a soft bite with teeth, and puppies use it to figure out if they can dominate others. Dominant puppies continue to play bite as they get older if the owner does not rebuke them for it when they are young.

    Dominance in Games

    • Play fighting with a puppy for a chew toy can indicate to a pup that an owner is subordinate if the pup wins the tug-of-war. A dominant pup will try harder to win the toy and refuse to let go, whereas a submissive pup will relinquish the toy to the owner more easily.

    Claiming Possessions

    • Dominant puppies are under the impression they rule the house and therefore have first pick of items they want. If a pup has control over something like a shoe that an owner does not want it to have, a submissive pup will give up the shoe. A dominant pup will show great reluctance and fight for the shoe.

    Claiming Space

    • Dominant pups, just like dominant people, think they are entitled to sit anywhere they choose. A pup that scrambles up onto the sofa and does not move away when the owner tries to move it is displaying dominant signals. An owner should be able to indicate to the pup through body language that he wants to sit there and that the pup should move. A dominant pup will resist nonverbal and verbal signals to move away when a submissive pup would give the owner the space.

    Jumping Up

    • Another possible sign of dominance is when a pup jumps up on people. This could be just excitement, but an owner should see if the pup reacts to signals of disapproval from the person it jumps on or if it ignores the reactions and continues to jump on him.

    Barking and Running

    • A dominant puppy also barks loudly and perhaps attempts to "survey its kingdom" by running from room to room.