Comments on: Why do dogs roll over in “submission?”

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:38:57 +0000

Okay, I see this behavior at times between Duncan and Bodie. Today it was Duncan mounting Bodie. Duncan was really trying to “play” with Bodie today. It was wonderful to watch. Duncan was doing his usual chasing Bodie chasing the ball and body-slamming, growling ferociously and then Bodie turns away and/or slows down (is this what you were referring to as the “opposite”?). All the while Duncan is very relaxed and his whole body is supple; he does a “play-bow” to Bodie and when Bodie stops moving, Duncan mounts him. I just stand back and let it all play out as I don’t want to interfere and muddy the waters for them.

By: kbehan

kbehan — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:21:57 +0000

Expressions of sexual energy, such as mounting, occur when emotion that is fundamentally attracted to a preyful essence runs into enough resistance. So when one dog stops moving, which means it is not conducting emotion for the other dog, the other dog experiences resistance. Then it mounts the object of its attraction in order to get the energy moving again. This isn’t cognitive, there’s a deeper emotional dynamic going on inside the “mounter” that I’ll cover in an upcoming post (“Why do dogs mount other dogs, and owners’ legs?”) which inspires it to do this, but that’s the basic linkage. So yes the mounter is trying to release tension, but this isn’t in and of itself calming. Rather, if the two dogs can align with each other by virtue of their bodies becoming sensualized in a complementary pattern, then the system will get moving again and this experience is what’s calming. For example, if the dog being mounted felt an arousal in its neck region, then it would like what’s happening. The reason the puppy squealed was because it was experiencing being mounted through its balance circuitry (vulnerability )without its hunger component (arousal) of consciousness being invoked and thus it was experiencing a physical memory of being hurt. The mounter was knocking the “mountee” out of balance. Whereas if the mountee experienced that same degree of physical pressure through its hunger circuitry, then it would feel good. Tension is when balance outweighs hunger. Sensual is when hunger outweighs balance. Animal consciousness is an emotional rheostat. The key to success is to cultivate our dog’s temperament so that the hunger component will outweigh the balance component even when the dog is energized at 200,000 volts of stimulation.

By: Donnie Osler

Donnie Osler — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:08:17 +0000

Kevin;

I don’t know if this is related to what you’re talking about in this post, but what does it mean when dogs mount each other? My four year old spayed female has occassionally mounted other dogs. It’s been a while since it happened (before I was turned on to NDT) and I can’t remember if the dog she was doing it to was in a tense state or not (i think at least one of them was). I know one time she did it to a puppy – that ended up giving out a loud squeal. If my understanding of NDT is correct, then this would be another calming behavior to release tension, would it not? If so, who’s? My dog’s or the one she’s mounted?

By: kbehan

kbehan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:39:21 +0000

Exactly right. By becoming prey-like, a dog is in counterbalance to our intense human, predator-like energy and the dog can then enjoy emotional leverage over someone attracted to it. If that is the dog can feel its body, its “preyfulness.” On the other hand if an individual can’t feel its body, then it goes by instinct. So a healthy prey animal that stays in its body will “outsmart” or overpower the predator. But if it loses contact, it becomes con-fused and flight takes over making it fair game.
If a dog can’t “flip polarity” and go from intense predator energy to soft preyful energy, then it will go by instinct or by habit and this is invariably what we would perceive as anti-social.

By: Angelique

Angelique — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:40:52 +0000

Kevin, So the dog’s ability to be comfortable as prey is also what makes them so socially functional with humans who tend to approach and treat dogs in a very predatory manner (eye contact, hugging, looming over them, grabbing for them, etc). If they are comfortable as prey they can process their energy in a way we interpret as friendly, including rolling over?

When they don’t have this behavioral prey template to fall back on, they exhibit what we would consider anti-social behaviors?

By: kbehan

kbehan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:18:58 +0000

Yes, the predator vibrates also when energized and when output (action) can’t match the input (stimulation). When a predator is emotionally paralyzed in the presence of prey, then you see stalking, pointing, setting, quivering, whining and so on. This is adaptive because then the prey can’t see the approaching predator. When a predator is emotionally paralyzed in the pack, then we see what has been labeled as “dominance.” This is adaptive because it gives the individual being “prey-like” (and mislabeled as submissive) the opportunity to exploit its incapacitation and thereby mitigate aggression.

By: Jenny Ruth Yasi

Jenny Ruth Yasi — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:43:55 +0000

You talk about the vibration of the prey. I see my dog vibrate most intensely when she is eager to hunt. She stares and quivers and starts to yelp, shivers, shivers when she’s leashed in sight of moving prey.