Pack behavior with pics...

I think it's interesting to see Heyoka with the three sibes, you can see how much larger he is than they are. With our "mini pack", Star is definitly the alpha. i was just discussing her "alpha-ness" today. I noticed that when I wake them up, she is immediatly alert and checking everything out, whereas Sherman has "bedhead", his ears are flat, his eyes are half shut and he looks all groggy, and it takes him a minute to really wake up. I thought maybe she's more alert because it's her "job" to watch out for her pack? Would this be an alpha trait?

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When my dogs fight, Muskwa and Heyoka are rarely involved. It's the middle of the pack dogs that get into it occasionally. Muskwa will actually break up an altercation. He'll go stand between two growling dogs until they back off. He never does anything, just stands there and glares at them, like a ticked off parent sending fighting siblings to their rooms!

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lol same deal here, now that Misty is fully established as Alpha she does not start fights, she breaks them up. and oddly enugh she breaks up fights between dogs she has never met before and they always listen to her, no matter how large or dominant they are, I dont know how Misty does it, but I suppose Misty WAS bred to handle cattle and her mom has stopped a raging bull in his tracks.. lol

pack order is VERY important to my dogs, we tried the punnishing severly thing(both dogs no matter who started it) if they tried to fight it out, that was a HUGE mistake, because all that did was make them fight more and fight worse, we had so many dog injurys from alpha fights when we were doing this, finally we stopped, let them fight it out, and guess what? 1 injury free fight and pack order is fully established, with nobody challanging it. Perky likes to bully Happy, that that is not alpha wars seeing as perky has ALWAYS been above Happy lol Happy does not challange perky and submits to her on sight.

Having so many dogs would really give you the opportunity to observe dog behavior on all kinds of levels. It's really fascinating to see, thanks for the pictures! And we only see one aspect, too, I always wish that I could smell like a dog for a day or too, and see what that feels like for them.

Marta is top dog at my house, but has never shown any aggression to Adele. Only sometimes she will keep toys away from her. They are both pretty laid-back about it. At the dog park, though, Marta will be submissive and lay on her back for any dog who appears pushy, she is smart enough to not want to start any trouble. Adele doesn't have her sense though. :rolleyes: She is usually only submissive to Marta.

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now that Misty is fully established as Alpha she does not start fights, she breaks them up. and oddly enugh she breaks up fights between dogs she has never met before and they always listen to her, no matter how large or dominant they are, I dont know how Misty does it, but I suppose Misty WAS bred to handle cattle and her mom has stopped a raging bull in his tracks.. lol

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Marta tries to "break up" fights, too. She will bark at dogs that are showing aggression. Does anyone know what this means?

I was thinking the same thing ,on pack order last night..glad you posted this..SAmmyj may look cuddley but hes an alpha dog, Hes a bit agressive but i put a damper on it when were aound other dogs, mostly he ignors other dogs except yollie..hes not even a barker,neiter is yollie except at play..
I like the order you put them in , those were really great pictures and I loved seeing it played it..thanks..pj

Heyoka is sooo handsome!!!!!

Our house Shadow is the Alpha, everybody submits to her and will only lick her face. Mini is constantly trying to challenge Mini but Shadow puts her in her place immediately, I'm sure once Shadow is older Mini will be Alpha. I think Pack behavior is sooo interesting!

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Originally Posted by Glacier

I'd bet that Nino is what I call a Beta Bully--second place in pack order and thinks they should be the alpha. My Hoodoo was one of those . Then he tried to bully a GSD one day and got his butt kicked. Be careful with it. Hoodoo didn't get hurt, but a bully dog can get in a lot of trouble in a hurry if they bully the wrong dog.

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Ok, that is good to know. He just goes up to every dog and postures to them and kind of makes sure they know who's boss, even after the other dogs get it. He started actually growling and almost trying to hump an intact boxer but we managed to call him off that time and we left.

That is really cool! I can see the submissive behavior with the ears back and low heads. :D Kia does that belly up pose with me all the time. Especially when I'm not to happy with her. ;)

Oddly enough though, she switches from dominant to submissive depending on the dog. She can't just pick one and stick with it, making trips to the dog park interesting..

....sigh......oh Heyoka.. one of my (many) Favs of yours!
My two take turns!
Sierra will lay just like Anatare when Buddy's laying down, but then the next thing you know she's standing with her head over his shoulders/back confirming her status as alpha.
Ugh... they are either very confused pups or they both really don't care! LOL!!!

What great pictures!

I think Nanook is giving up his role as pack leader (after all these years) and Raustyk is taking his place.
I am so glad pack structure is not TOO important in my house as it is a little confusing right now. One minute Raustyk acts like the leader, then the next she acts like Nanook still is. I don't know if it takes a little while for it to fully happen or if it just because of how she feels at that moment in time or what.
Due to this I'm not exactly sure if I should just jump right in & just treat Raustyk as the alpha from now on or just continue to treat Nanook as the alpha until he looses all aspects of the leader position and I can see more clearly that it is in fact Raustyk that is the leader.
I don't know if I would help it along or just prolong it and confuse them in the process.

There is by no means any fighting, aggressivness, behavioral issues or anything associated with the pack order so I am not really worried. It's pretty much just affecting body language, play time & the like.

Your dogs are all such beautiful babies. I love to see them.

This alpha, pack thing is very interesting. At our house, Sami was the pack lead. When Sami died (almost 2 years ago), Sasha was lost. She spent the next 8 months hiding in my walk in closet. Now, she thinks she is the only one with anything to say. I'm not sure if it is in a border collie's nature or not (she might have learned it from Sami - part husky) but she will woo-woo at me and tell me all kinds of stories now.