I heard somewhere that its not good to rub a dogs belly but I cant recall any reasoning why not. Have others heard of this, is it the fact that it makes the dog too doggie or is there some other reason?

Not sure why it wouldn't be good to rub a dog's belly. Maybe it has to do something with a dog being on it's back is sometimes a sign of submissive posturing. I've seen my pup do it once when my older dog decided he'd had enough of her puppyish antics. I've mostly seen it on the discovery channel, when a member of a wolf pack meets up with the alpha male and goes "belly up". Maybe someone's thinking would be that by rubbing your dog's belly, you are having him go into a submissive posture and contradicting the confidence that some need their dogs to have for certain tasks.
I do rub my dog's belly ,but for reasons of my own. Matter of fact it was suggested to me by the organization that i'm raising the puppy for, to rub her belly. Reasons are: #1 that it relaxes her. #2 is so she gets used to being rolled over onto her back, that way any examinations that require her to be in that posistion (such as hips being x-ray'd)doesn't turn into a hectic event. I'm raising a female yellow lab. for future work as an assistance dog, btw, if it makes any difference.

Rolling over on the back is often a sign of submission. But some dogs just like their bellies rubbed! One of my dogs, Djenga, is quite a dominant bitch, if I tried to make her roll over we'd probably have a fight on our hands. But sometimes, she'll stare at me for a moment and then just roll over on her back, front legs spread out, just begging to have her belly rubbed. And she gives me the cutest look, how can I refuse?

Some people think my male GSD is dominate but if I pet him he will rollover and greet a belly rub. It maybe a submissive but thats ok if they are submissive only to you or your command to rollover for an examine.

I don't see this as a method to judge a weak submissive dog, because he/she is doing it to get what it wants out of this situation.
It must feel pretty good as quick as he will flop over. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You may actually have a point. The only person in this world that my female GSD listens to is me, and I've never seen anyone else rub her belly......

I rub my 5mo. male's belly and laugh every time as his hind leg moves 90 mph during the rub. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Reading everyone's posts makes me smile. I can picture all the pot-bellied pups lying on their backs, getting their bellies rubbed, and thinking that we are such a blessing to have in the house. Meanwhile, with goofy grins on our faces, we are thinking the same thing about them!

Probably feels as good to them as a neck and shoulder message feels to us after a long day at work.

Behaviors occur for a reason and the same behavior can occur for different reasons. To say that just because a dog rolls over on it's back it is being submission is very, very simplistic. Yes it can be a sign of submission but one much take it in context to what is occurring at that moment.

I have had some very hard, serious females in my house (one being a bitch out of CJ - not a dog to be submissive) yet the moment she would jump up on the bed with me she'd be on her back and nudging me with her nose to get her belly rub. I also have two other bitches that are the exact same way and by no means are submissive - not even to me!

Remember, dogs will perform the bahavior(s) that produce satisfaction to them! (kinda like most people <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> )

Umm, Cathi, are you sure you meant to say your dogs are not submissive to you? Remember, there's no equality in the dog world: if your dog isn't submissive to you, then it's dominant, and you're in for a world of hurt one of these days. Maybe I misunderstood.

FWIW, I'm reasonably sure that a request for a belly rub is a submissive act by a dog, and is one of the ways it confirms its position in its pack. There are, it's true, situations in which a dominant dog will put itself in a submissive posture to a lower ranking dog, or a submissive dog assume a dominant posture (even outside of play, where this sort of thing is quite common), but this appears to be a complex form of social interaction that has the seemingly contradictory effect of confirming their true relationship in the hierarchy. I don't know if this happens in dog-human interactions, but I'd tend to doubt it, since most of us speak their "language" with such a terrible accent. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

oopsie! guess I would be in trouble with 8 dogs in the house all being the dominate. Meant they are only submissive to me. However, have never had a dog hit the floor on it's back either due to the fact that it felt it had to "submit" or get it's butt kicked or simply for the fact that I have walked into a room or raised my voice. I've had to kick some of the butts and not one of them has ever hit the floor to "submit". If I did, the dog would be finding a nice "pet" home.

Dave, you point out exactly what I'm saying: "There are, it's true, situations in which a dominant dog will put itself in a submissive posture to a lower ranking dog, or a submissive dog assume a dominant posture (even outside of play, where this sort of thing is quite common), but this appears to be a complex form of social interaction that has the seemingly contradictory effect of confirming their true relationship in the hierarchy.

If a "contradiction" in what "causes" behavior can occur then where is the validity in stating that a certain behavior only occurs for one specific reason. It's not valid! There is other body posturing that occurs with an act of submission other then the act of simply being rolled over, all the behaviors occuring need to be evaluated.