Behavior modification

I've mentioned before that Wolfey used to flip out if I left my hand resting on him when I was done petting him, but never really explained what was going on there.  When dogs put their paws on each other, it is a show of dominance.  It's not always the same with people; for example, I visited a friend last night whose dog stands on her and it really is just a display of affection, but I do wonder if Wolfey was just so terrified of what I might do to him (after all, at that point his experience with people had been pretty negative) that he couldn't bear for me to show any dominance.  It was a long process to get him to allow me to linger after petting him.  I started by petting him super slowly, but always having my hand moving, progressing to leaving my hand still just at the end of a pet, but still touching him very lightly.  With time, I increased the pressure and duration, but always paid attention to Wolfey's reaction and as soon as he seemed uncomfortable, I would move my hand and continue petting.  This process took many weeks and lots of patience, but Wolfey is now to the point where I could use him as a pillow if I really wanted to.  In fact, the other night I woke up to find that I was half laying on top of him.  It wasn't very comfortable, and I can't imagine that he was really comfortable either, but he certainly didn't seem to mind.  I love that we've come such a long way, and I'm so lucky that we were both patient enough to make such progress!