I remember when I brought Pepper home from the animal shelter! She was a tiny little adorable mix breed. She was sooooo cute! Jake was about 40 or 45 lbs at the time. They were both 3 years old, and we'd had Jake since he was a pup.

They seemed to be tolerating eachother pretty well - not paying much attention to one another. Then, we were all sitting in the living room. Pepper was on the couch next to me and Jake was sleeping on the floor. Suddenly, out of the blue, Pepper flew off the couch like a bolt of lightning and took a big patch of fur out of Jake's hide!! She woke him up out of a dead sleep!

I guess she just wanted to establish right off the bat that she was top dog. She never did anything like that again, and they got along great - but she was definitely the alpha!