Double post

Cooper & Penny Lane lean and crawl under covers.  That is totally acceptable in my home as they are my four legged family members.  Some of you compete and hunt with your GSP, and I understand your need to be the "Alpha" dog in the house and correct what you feel is unacceptable behavior.  We have all types of owners/pups on the list.  Let's play nice.

I have three shorthairs and I call them velcro dogs because they are happiest when they are with me.  My dogs are also leaners and love to snuggle in bed with me (the degree of snuggling varies by dog).  I also compete with these dogs in conformation, obedience, hunt and field, and agility.  I also do therapy work with my dogs.  I am alpha in the pack unquestionably, but that is only in support of a healthy pack  and the fact that I have three dogs and will be adding a fourth later this year.  My house would be chaos if I were not alpha.  All that said, my dogs do lean on me and snuggle with me.  It is in no way a dominance issue.  The way I see it, the behavior is a result of being a part of a healthy pack.  In the same way my three will all pile together to sleep, or sit next to each other so close that they are touching.  Since I am a part of the pack and accepted they treat me just like another dog in the pack, but in my case I am the leader. In other words, they follow my lead, they follow my rules, and they get to do things when I say it is ok, etc. In turn, they look to me for that leadership whether we are competing or when some stranger comes to the house, etc. It is so obvious in my pack, that even outsiders notice how my dogs interact with me. 

When a dog is showing dominance there are other signs and the situation is very different.  It is wrong to make a blanket statement that says all leaning dogs are showing dominance issues, that is just not true, and shows that people do not totally understand dog and pack behavior.  I do understand what others are saying in this thread, but I think we are talking apples and oranges.  As many good animal behaviorists have found, it is very hard for humans to understand the pack mentality or dogs specifically, and reading the dogs body language is even harder.  So, I do agree that in some instances the leaning behavior can be dominance, but I also believe that allot of what we see with our shorthairs can be interpreted as an acceptance, an uncertainty or maybe even a submissive behavior as well.  I think it truly depends on the situation, the dog, and other factors.  If it were so simple, then animal and dog behaviorists would not be able to make careers out of studying and working with dogs and their behavior.

I tend to take the more diplomatic approach....

There is a ton of wealth on this website - some with professional experience and some like me who have no real experience with dogs except what we've taught ourselves.

There are many different ways to go about things - that's how it is in life. For kids, some people prefer home schooling or montessori teaching to publics schools - it's all what philosiphy and manner you prefer. I think we can take the bits and peices of info and opinions on here and do what we want with them. No need to get heated....

Having said that, Osiris has been a leaner from day one. That is one of the first things he did to us when we picked him out at the rescue. He came to greet us, then turned around and leaned his butt on me and my husband. It stole our hearts - it was like he was hugging us. We have been told that it's dominance by a trainer we worked with, but we like it when he does it and really doesnt exhibit any other signs of dominance over us. So we let him do it. That's just us. And it's neat to know that SO many other GSPs do this, too!

Mine rarely lean on me, but Chelsea will go and lean against the knees of anyone visiting!  I think she just does it to annoy me.

They both snuggle with me in bed and yes, Chelsea in particular tends to land ON me when she lies down.  (Sometimes it feels like she drops from the ceiling!)   But she doesn't object if I shove her away and I am confident I am the boss.  I think in bed she is trying to assert dominance over Jasper, by showing "I can get closer to Mom than you can!"   

Koda will sometimes sleep in between me and my boyfriend.  She starts off curled up then pushes her long legs out into either me or him.  If this happens we move her to below my feet (I have shorter legs). 

Our cat Wiley also sleeps at the base of the bed, usually by my boyfriend and away from Koda, but my boyfriend moves around alot, and Wiley will sometimes end up on my side.  Koda and Wiley will usually sleep peacefully on separate sides of the bed, but sometimes Koda pounces on Wiley and makes him run under the bed.  However, the other morning Koda and Wiley were snuggling next to each other peacefullly. 

Fin has his spot every night...curled up by my belly UNDER the covers. If he somehow gets out from under the covers i will wake up to him pawing at me. Dieter on the other had doesnt care where he sleeps...usually at the foot of the bed but he moves around from his bed to our bed to his crate. He is not picky.