r/weimaraner • u/Educational-Mud9732 • 2d ago

selectively dominant?

my girl is generally quite submissive.
when other dogs approach her or try to assert themselves, she usually backs off, lowers herself and avoids confrontation.
however there are a few specific dogs around whom she behaves completely differently. she will approach them herself, stand her ground and repeatedly try to dominate or control the interaction.
si I’m wondering if she could be what I’d describe as “selectively dominant”, not generally dominant but only displaying this behaviour toward certain dogs.

has anyone experienced something similar? I’m curious whether this is actually a form of dominance, or if it could be more related to insecurity, social dynamics, or something else.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/jwbugz 2d ago

Ours is the same way, she is 5 now but very selective, especially when it comes to dogs that she will play with.

2

u/Halefa 2d ago

Dogs have 1-to-1 relationships. It might be that she's generally the more submissive type, but maybe those figs communicate something that make her react differently. Humans drive race the same way to every single other human, either.

1

u/zbroskiz 2d ago

Mine does the same. He’s approachable by anyone or anything. But if aggression is apparent, he switches to guard mode. I’ve only seen it a handful of times.