Im having some trouble with my male chesepeake bay retriever. He is a coming 2 year old and is not cut. Now the problem is, when he is in trouble he will lay on his back and put his legs up and is submissive towards me but if he knows he is really in trouble, he will lay down as low as he can get and growl and snap at me. and He is a 1 person dog. Mine. He is aggressive with my husband as well. When he(my husband) asks Shadow to do something he will stare at my husband and growl or walk away. Now i have never beaten my dog but i have disciplined him when he needs it. Like when he takes off. I will raise my voice and point at him and then he gets really aggressive. I need some help or I'll have to get rid of him. He ran off a couple days ago and my mother in law picked him up in her mini van and brought him to our barn where i went to get him out. I opened the door and looked at him and he started growling because he knew he was in trouble. Another instance, he ran off to out neighbors and i go to get him and he will lay on their porch and growl at me. Other then that he is really obediant and listens well. I just cant get him to stop growling and thinking of kids makes me want to get rid of him if hes this way.

[chessielover]

I hope that you are still reading this forum. We are having the same problem with our 10 month old male Chessie. He started showing signs of dominance or aggression as 4 months, so we consulted a behavioral specialist. He is still showing signs of domination/aggression, particularly as you describe - he will lie on his back in a submissive position seemingly wanting to be pet, but when we pet him he just growls. He growls and gets into a defensive stance with the children as well in certain situations.

Did you ever get any help for you and your male Chessie or did you finally have to find another home?
Thanks.

[german sheep]

When a dog lays in a submissive position doesn't mean that he wants to be stroked. That is an error or a wishful thinking from our humans.

How is your dogs behaviour in other situations? Have you checked his blood picture through a vet? How old is he?

You are writing about dominance but a dog can not really be dominant, not with you and your family because you are not respecting and accepting his attitude.
Very often owners of "Problem Dogs" tell me: he is dominant
But when you have a look at the declaration of dominance you can obviously see, that this is impossible.

Dominance means one individual requires all rights and liberties from another individual, what itself accepts this unlimitedly. Furthermore dominance is addicted to the situation and is relationship-specific, and not consistantly attached.

So we know, if we would like to speak from dominance, it is absolutely neccessary that B is willing to accept that A takes all its liberties and rights in special situations.
So: can you say your dog is dominant?
Is it really the case that the owner accepts pulling on the leash, is it ok for the owner when the dog shows aggressions against other dogs, or when the dog defends his food by using aggressions? No, he isn't willing to accept.
Beause the second part of the declaration is not fullfilled, we can not speak any longer about Dominance.

So what can we call it now? It is just the controll of essential ressources to survive.

Maybe you like to answer my querstions.

LG
GS

[reeskujo]

It's also important to remember to teach your dog to have a good come recall and when your dog does come even after it's ran off that you need to praise the dog for returning...

If you discipline the dog after he's come back to you he will think he's being punished for obeying you by coming when he's called and will continue to associate the come command with getting into trouble...

They do not understand that their actually in trouble for running off..They associate the correction with whatever their doing at the moment they get corrected..

You also need to make sure that you don't call them with a harsh or angry voice as they will sense your anger and thus not come when their called...

Also certain breeds such as hunting and retrieving dogs have an instinct to run as that's part of what they're bred to do and this makes it harder to contain them...

Even though my yard was fenced my Husky would constantly jump it just to run and we had to put her on a 40ft tie out in a fenced yard!....However She was taught the come command at an early age and had an excellent recall and always came back the first time I called her...I achieved that my calling her with a happy voice and then rewarding her with a treat or tons of praise when she came back.

I hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have as there are tons of people here who have had the same issue.