"Gee, thanks for sitting on me"

Really? Damn, Karma dont even get out of bed in the morning. I haveta drag her out to feed her, lol!
 
I don't consider the leaning or sitting on feet to be a dominance issue as long as it has been clearly established who the pack leader is within the home. If the pack leader is not clearly defined in the household it could possibly be a test of dominance. Remember we're speaking of dobermans whom seem to have a built in trait; the need to be with its leader. Who he/she perceives to be the leader may not be you but someone else in the home or possibly itself. Watch your dog to see if he "yields" to you or other dogs in the home. Signs of "yielding" are such things as the dog moving out of your way without being told to do so or being nudged. If there are other dogs in the house watch the lower ranking dog give way to the higher ranking in such cases as space, toys, & food. We have 2 dogs in our house one being our doberman (Nero) & a golden retriever mix (Ollie). I can fill both or their bowls with food just before we sit to eat & they will wait until we are finished at the dining room table before they consider eating. Then Ollie will always allow Nero to eat his meals first while he patiently waits for him to finish before devouring his own bowl of food. We allow both of them to lay on our sofas but if Nero jumps up to lay down Ollie will quickly move to the floor. The same goes for myself, if one of them are laying on the sofa and I start to sit they will move to the floor until I give them the OK to get back on and continue being as they were. Yielding is something that is natural to the pack order & is so simple most people don't even pick up on it happening including myself until a local dog trainer told me. Hope this helps.

In my home the pack leader is my wife. Sadie is the highest ranking dog. Jazzy would be third believe it or not. Jazzy gets to come in more than Sadie, but we had Sadie first. Jazzy always sits at our feet or lays at our feet until she passes out asleep while we chill on the couch. Sadie cleary is the pack leader of the dogs, but both clearly see my wife as the Alpha. I don't know where I fall in but I bet I'm a close second with my wife. ;) When we first got Jazzy she tried challenging Sadie, and at times won. I think since then Sadie took over. Sadie gets too hot if she is in the house for too long. Jazzy of course wants to be indoors with us all the time :D.
 

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