©Monty Sloan

Dogs also display obnoxious submission in their interactions with other dogs and with humans. In a social play situation some dogs interact only by offering submissive and appeasement behaviors including, but not limited to, rolling on the ground, submissive urination, effusive licking, hip nudging and other active submissive behaviors that preclude another dog from actually interacting with them. The potential playmate cannot interrupt the submissive behavior barrage.

Obnoxious submission may confer some sort of evolutionary advantage to the submissive dog or might be a by product of artificially selected traits. In the wild, a dominant wolf may relinquish food or other resources to a subordinate, just to relieve himself of the annoyance of being the recipient of so much obnoxious submissive behavior.

Some dogs are so effusive in their greetings to humans that the person may feel overwhelmed or annoyed by the dog’s persistent body wiggles, squirming while being petted, rolling around at their feet, repetitive hip nudging, and submissive urination.

Dogs being rehabilitated after a history of an abusive relationship with a former owner, may use obnoxious submission with new care takers. Some abused dogs generalize the abusive experience to include all new people they meet – thus their submissive greetings may seem excessive or obnoxious.