Hi everyone. I have 2 dogs male and female, the male is a very submittive fella my girl is very dominent with him and any other dog she meets on her walks the first thing she trys to do is Dominate ! I would like to get a pup to join our family but im worried about my girl its fair to say she is MY baby and is very clingy with me. She is 2 yrs old . So my question is ow do we think she would react to a baby being fetched in? Is it true they give off a smell that makes the older dog realize they are a baby and to be gentle ? Ive had both my dogs from 8wk old and the pup i fetch in will be 8 wks. It will be another female. I will be grateful for your advice, thanks jenny. xxx

the male is a very submittive fella my girl is very dominent with him and any other dog she meets on her walks the first thing she trys to do is Dominate.

Bitches usually do rank higher than the resident dog so that is not an issue in itself at all quite natural, however how do you mean that she trys to dominate other dogs she meets on walks, what exactly does she do? Are we talking that she runs up to play confidently and is not shy or are we talking that she shows some sort of aggressive behaviour towards other dogs male and female? Does she scruff them, how does she act?  Also what breed is she as different breeds do interact in differing ways which you may be percieving as dominance when infact it is her way of greeting and moving.

Adult dogs in general are none aggressive towards puppies, though on first introductions you have to be careful as some adults are actually quite fearful of little bouncing puppies, so you need to introduce slowly and give both places to escape one another at times.

I think we need to assess what type of bitch you have first though. As if she is a true alpha then you will need to take the advice of the breeder of this new pup and make sure that she helps you to choose a lesser ranking bitch pup, you don't want the bitch which is likely to be more alpha as you will have dire problems in 7-12 months time when the pup reaches adolescence, if the bitch you have now is very dominant you can't have two with similar characters together, your bitch will either being the elder hold her status if the new bitch is unchallenging or if the pup eventually grows to be then fights will happen.

TBH if you are worried about how your girl will react (it is very difficult on a forum as we can't see her or judge her body language) then you may be best getting another male.

Hi Carrington thanks for responding. No shes not aggressive when meeting other dogs she just goes in to play mode then starts to get on there backs, and after that,it seems she cant  do anything else except for that ! And she will give the odd growl over while doingthis ! Her breed is British Bulldog ( had them for over 10yrs but all males ! She is my first female.) I do understand that i will need to talk to the breeder as i know to get a submissivesgirl this time.

then starts to get on there backs, and after that, it seems she cant  do anything else except for that!

Oh dear! Poor dogs.

It may well be her being dominant but just to point out, a lot of female humping is also not really associated with dominance it can be hormonal and season related many females get frisky and will hump anything that moves so it may also be related to this. As she is only just mature now are you likely to be spaying her? (to cut down the risk of pyo and mammary tumours) if she is needed intact obviously not. But you may find spaying will stop the humping.

A lot of humping is during play is down to over excitement too - again nothing to do with dominance, and rarely is.  Lots or dogs get humpy during play when they are over excited, it sounds like she doesn't really know how to play properly.  Though again some breeds are more prone to playing roughly and battering with front paws and paws over other backs (and Bulldogs do seem to be one of those breeds) and again doesn't necessarily have anything to do with dominance but is just the way they interact in play.  They can learn to play in slightly different way with the help of other doggie play mate role models so that they can extend their repetoire of play moves.

There are planty of dogs that would be unhappy with another dog doing that as they could take it as being confrontational but I expects she is just a bit challeneged in her play moves

Thanks everyone for the advice. xx