do dog's know if u r a dog's person?

Question

i have 2 rescue dogs.
they have always had a close bond to me.
they sleep next to me on the couch, come to me when called, whine when they hear me coming through the door and get so excited when i come home. i have always had dogs. all my life...
my fiance on the other hand, never had a dog ever and they never come to, they never whine when they hear him coming, they never want to sleep next to him and just don't like hanging out with him.
they literrally cower in fear. he has never hit them or anything but maybe in the past they had bad experience with men?
also i feed them, i walk them, i spend as much time as i can with them. i work so during the day he is with them but from 4pm i spend every second with them.
now my question can they tell i love them soo soo much and see me as alpha male? or am i playmate? care taker? can i help them like my fiance more??
just asking out of curiosty here...
thanks for answers.

Answer 1

"dog's persons", consciously or subconsciously, use body language and tone of voice that puts dogs at ease.

This includes behaviour like crouching to reduce ones size while approaching / calling a dog, open arms at a lower level than the dog's height, etc.

On the other hand, people who are not used to dogs tend to approach them with human behaviour (even if they are genuinely trying to make friends with them). This includes what is threatening behaviour to a dog, such as:
* Raising ones arms in a "surrender" or "I give up" gesture. To a dog, this signifies a desire to hit the dog.
* Extending ones hand towards the dog with the palm facing the dog ("hit" behaviour again).
* Tone of voice that is unsure or even afraid. Dogs are quick to sense fear and this triggers a primeval "attack" reflex. Fear is likely to cause two responses, fight or flight. Dogs prepare for the "fight" response if they sense fear, purely out of a defense reflex.

There's not much you can do except educate your fiance on specific behaviour he needs to adopt in order to get the dogs to trust him. Once he breaks through his own fear, I suspect you'll be posting a question as to how to get your dogs away from him so that you can have some quality time with him. :)

Answer 2

I have a rescue chihuahua that had been abused by a male. He has gotten to where he LOVES my husband. How long have you had the dogs? How long have you had the fiance? You say they are alone with him during the day. How do you KNOW he's not abusing them? Or ignoring them while you're not there?
Try to include your fiance in play time. Have him give them treats. Don't ignore them when he's around. Let them know that you still love them and that they are not being replaced. They should learn to love him in time if he's willing to make the effort. It's new for him too if he's never had a dog and doesn't know how wonderful they can be.

Answer 3

Hi,
Yes, at the weekend you can do fun things together. Both of you take them to your local nature reserve and throw a ball with them, things like that.
It worries me that you use the words "cower in fear!" as that clearly points to abuse. Not necessarily by your fiance, but abuse nevertheless. My two dogs are both rescue dogs and very untrusting off men. However, they both learned to love my ex-partner, because they realized over the years that he loves them as much as I do. Try and pick up on when their fear is the worst. Is it for instance during meal times, or when somebody's had a drink, or doing household chores with for instance a broomstick in hand, things like that are clear indicators. Also introduce them to other men, so you can see if their reaction to them is different from their reaction to your fiance. If the cowering in fear keeps on happening with your fiance, but they are alright with other men, than I would start looking very closely though. Jealousy might be involved on both the parts of your dogs and your fiance. Hope you won't be offended by this suggestion and that you guys can really work it out.
Take care.
Kristel

Answer 4

sounds to me that your dogs are overly excited dominant
yeah it depends to you walk theme everyday for at least 40 minute walks because if your not walking them every day then that's way they are overexcited, get your fiance to come along with you on the walks so the dogs won't fear him. it depends when your fiance comes close to you do the dogs growl at him.
maybe your dogs had bad experinces with males that's way they fear your fiance. but have your fiance walk with you along with your dogs on long walks so the dogs can get close to him.
also check out the dog whisperer, they had a episode about this same thing were a terrier mix was afraid of males wouldn't even come close to them

Answer 5

Well I hear that pets have an animal instinct so there you go maybe he doesn't like pets

Answer 6

Yes they can tell if you are a dog person.