I have a nephew that visits me occasionally. He is a free spirit and a bit of a vagabond. One of the things we do when he comes is take his dogs and my dog out for a run. On one of his visits I noticed that his voice control over his dogs had improved dramatically. He told me this was from his adopting the training techniques of "The Dog Whisperer."
One of the things he had learned was that the behavior that a lot of dog owners interpret as the dog showing love and affection, is in fact a power play on the part of the dog.
I thought, that may be true of your mutts, but my Maggie really loves me. He did, however tell me a simple way to check out what was going on. When the dog is being patted right in front of you, move your hand to your side to pat her. If she is content to stay at your side to be patted, it's about affection, if she moves back to the front, it is about domination.
Finding out what was really going on startled me. At first I was somewhat angry at Jason for exposing the true nature of my relationship with the dog. I even resented the dog a little for decieving me. But eventually I came to terms with what I had learned and used that knowledge to better understand and improve the relationship with my dog.
When you read a comment critical of a Dem candidate, before reflexively giving it a troll rating, consider that the diarist may be trying to help you better understand your dog and not necessarily be trying to make you dump your dog and get a pot-bellied pig.