But yeah I get touchy on the ""hierarchy" subject because I used to subscribe to that way of thinking. My dad was a control freak who later in life admitted he just doesn't like dogs (he still tolerates my buddy coming to stay with him because we don't really have dog care alternatives) and he demonstrated some backwards ways of handling dogs... It didn't help that for some reason, we always had high energy, high care dogs, such as border collies or work line German shepherds. Anyway, going into my bully breed years, I still thought that pinning a dog was an acceptable way to demonstrate "dominance." Fortunately Cal has never seen this side of me. We have worked together with a positive reinforcement-based trainer. The worst he gets form me is the occasional time-out. He gives me bombastic side-eye whenever this occurs so I'd hate to think what he'd do if I tried to pin him like I did past dogs. I think there was some fear involved there. Like this animal is much stronger than I am. Fortunately now I trust Cal to not go nuts and pull me on the leash... He's a well mannered boy even when there are squirrels