Dobermans

[Mav]

By the way, dominance and aggression aren't necessarily the same thing.  My dog is VERY dominant.  When he was a pup, I was worried that, if left unchecked, his demands would continue to escalate and he would become uncontrollable.  Unfortunately, he transferred his evident love of chomping on his litter mates' back legs to us and no calf was safe.  This caused us to worry that he might not have inherited his breed's key trait.  But with time and socialisation down the dog park, he soon stopped biting and now appears perturbed if his teeth accidently make contact with me.  He still has the same set of demands that he had at the start.  His list of demands hasn't grown and he hasn't become more aggressive while claiming his due.  He simply barks incessantly when he wants to be fed, insists on being fed by hand, requires full access to all parts of the house (once ripping out the dog door when we blocked it off when he was being naughty), steals socks and underwear and takes them to the front door when he wants to go into the front yard, and growls playfully when we try to retrieve them.  But he doesn't get up on any furniture or claim any particular spot in the house and he doesn't steal food or anything else.  He's never so much as growled in anger at anyone in the family or the many children who've approached him to pat him.  The only thing is he likes to hump big dogs and that tends to result in battles, mostly involving barking and wrestling, when the other dog takes offence or tries to turn the tables.  So, he's highly dominant but low in aggression towards humans.