Baby and Boxer Handshake – The Darker Side

This very cute video seems to be going viral.  But, as a trainer there is something that I think most people are missing that is a little darker.  Take a look and see if you can figure it out. I’ll explain after the break.

First, the is undoubtedly a very friendly dog. He is being very gentle with the child. But, it is not all sweetness. Watch again, and see what happens. The child crawls up to the dog and puts his hand on top of the boxer’s paw. The boxer turns toward the child and puts his paw on top of the child’s hand.

We often attribute human motives onto a dog. He is handshaking with the dog. But, what I think is really happening is that the dog perceived the baby placing it’s hand on top as a dominance move. In a dog’s world, placing your paw on top of someone else is asserting dominance. So, the dog responded by putting it’s hand back on top of the child’s.

Notice there was nothing agressive. The dog was just communicating in it’s own language, that he is the leader and has higher status that the baby. ANd by leaving their hand under, the baby signal capitulation.

Now on it’s own, that is not a big deal, but it would be a bad idea for the parents to praise the dog and encourage this behaviour. A better response would have been to go over, take their hand and the baby’s hand and place it over the dog’s paw. Human’s always need to assert higher status than dogs.

The dog even yawned and licked it’s lip, which is often a response to a stressful situation. Could also have been just a yawn from a dog that had been sleeping and was waking up.