I don't know much about dog psychology, if be very interested to know how dogs react to relationships. If you let a dog knot you regularly does the dog see you as his female? (bitch). Does it matter if you are a male? Does the dog get jealous, possessive or dominating.
Be very interested to hear other people's perspectives on this.
Don’t know about all that other stuff, but my boy is EXTREMELY possessive.
I’m pretty sure this is a thing whether you’re in an intimate relationship with an animal or not. I mean, you feed, house, and love the animals you live with (At least I hope you do), so of course they’re likely gonna want you all to themselves. Other dogs/people in the picture means split attention, and split attention is not something dogs like in my experience.
Luckily, my boy isn’t very aggressive about it, but he makes it known that I’m not allowed to pet other dogs, If I get too immersed in something and don’t pay enough attention to him, he
will find a way to get rid of whatever I’m immersed in (RIP my novels and old laptop), no men are allowed to get too close, no matter how big he gets, he
has to sit on my lap, etc.
In retrospect, it’s pretty funny, and I kind of like it, which is why I haven’t bothered to tell him no (except for when he tries to destroy my stuff, lol). Goes to show that he cares about me as much as I care about him.