thpets

I have a 2 year old Austrian Cattle Dog that is overly submissive to other dogs.

A little back story. A friend and I got sisters from the same liter. We were told they were six weeks old but we both feel they were probably younger. His dog the was the alpha in the pack and I believe our dog was much lower in the pecking order.

Our dog Abby is a very submissive dog. We've socialized her from a very young age with other people, dogs, and situations. She goes to the beach or the off leash dog park daily. Anywhere we can take her, we do. She does great with new situations, people, kids, you name it ... she excels in it. Her only problem is that she is very submissive to other dogs. She'll lick dogs around their mouth which I have read is a behavior puppies do to their mothers. At the park this does not go over well with most of the other dogs.

I do try to stop her when I notice this submissive behavior but I'm wondering if there is something else I should do or should I just leave it alone. Her playmates range from Yorkies to German Shepard's and Newfies. I do worry that her submissive behavior will get her in trouble. I don't want her to be dog aggressive or a dog bully but I'm not sure the dog submissiveness serves her well either.

Any suggestions?

I have a very large tree in my back yard and have roots above ground that take up even more space in my small yard. I've read that I need to be very careful about not damaging the roots. I would like to try and hide the roots but I don't know how to do that without damaging the tree. How could I decorate or landscape around the tree without harming it?