Carrie HELP!
Dixie is a Alpha female. Most dogs submit to her (except Aunt Jazz (RB)). Right before Jazz crossed over the bridge, Dixie challenged her for the first time in 4 years. We believe it was because Dixie knew Jazz was sick.
Anyway... Dusty isn't particuarly alpha. He is just a bubbly adolescent boy who doesn't think before he acts. When he sees something he wants he usually just goes and gets it. If Dixie has it, he will just go take it from her. When he was younger I think Dixie let him get away with these things. Now she growls and shows her teeth but he just looks at her like "what's your problem momma?" He just bounces around without a care in the world. I usually make him drop something he steals from her and then tell him to find his own. He looks at me for a moment, says Okay and bounces off to get his own. He really is just a big adolescent bouncy bubbly boy who doesn't have a care in the world!
Now that he is getting bigger (1 year old on May 2nd and weighing in at 75 pounds) Dixie is starting to display her alpha side to him more. Unfortantly he just ignores her. It's as if he doesn't even know she is sending signals.
I don't think he is challenging her for the alpha spot. I truly believe he just doesn't understand that she is alpha. I feed Dixie first and pet her first, etc etc.
My problem.... Because Dusty is not listening and following the signals that Dixie is giving, she is getting very moody and irritable. I was off of work the week before Easter and was home with the dogs for 12 days. Since I came back to work this week, every single day, Dixie has destroyed something in the house. Usually she only shreds papers to millionss of pieces. I don't know if you remember me ever saying she suffered from seperation anxiety. We worked on that and I thought we had it under control but I guess not. Perhaps she is regressing because I hadn't had a problem for almost a year. Anyway her harmless paper shredding became costly today. She shred the cushion on the love seat and it can't be repaired. I know it happened within 5 to 10 minutes of me leaving because my father in law (they live next door) came over to let the dogs out since he was doing yard work. He said I was only gone 5 or 10 minutes and when he went in to get them, the cushion was shredded. I mean all the foam was taken out and shredded to pieces.
My husband thinks she is doing it because she got use to me being home with her and is suffering from seperation anxiety again. I think it has something to do with Dusty not submitting to her the way she wants him too.
My confusion is whether it's Dusty's failure to comprehend she is alpha or another round of seperation anxiety or both! How would you handle this situation at this point?
Just another thought. They still play together all the time but lately Dixie has been getting a lot rougher and more serious. Again, Dusty doesn't seem to notice or care!
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