Pack behavior with pics...

[.sarah]

I see Nova do that a lot with Mandy, though she doesn't with Luka. Everything tells me that Luka is dominant (she does everything before Mandy) but neither Mandy nor Luka "bow down" to each other. I just ... can't really figure it out. I desperately want to hire a behaviorist

[Suki Wingy]

This thread is really cool! Niño's a really pushy dominant dog. He walks up to dogs in the dog park and just bullies the crap out of the other dogs.

[Alysser]

Cool pics and really cool way of showing us pack order!

[Glacier]

This thread is really cool! Niño's a really pushy dominant dog. He walks up to dogs in the dog park and just bullies the crap out of the other dogs.

I think there's a difference between that kind of behavior and being an alpha dog. I could bust Muskwa loose in any off-leash park (I used to all the time when we lived in a city) and know there would never be any trouble. Both Muskwa and Heyoka almost never fight or show physical aggression. They will posture with each other--a little growl, staring contests--but that's it. 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!

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.

[.sarah]

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.

That sounds like Mandy. She got her butt kicked about a month ago by Luka. She lost two teeth -- one had to be surgically removed -- and has quite a few puncture wounds. We hope that everything has been worked out. They seem to be content now, but still if we can't watch them we keep them seperated. It can be stressful but Luka has already found her forever home and we're not about to give her up because Mandy is a b*tch (she has started both fights they've had). But, Mandy has come a long way since I started working on her agression a year ago, and I only hope it's going to get better. She's going to a real obedience class starting Wednesday. Hopefully it'll be an opportunity to learn that I'm the boss (she's a lot better about this, but even tonight she started humping me) and also an opportunity for socialization.

I wish I could just let them figure it out with fighting, but that was a 10 second fight and Mandy got seriously hurt. I think Luka could kill her easily. She has major strength and age advantage.

[Suki Wingy]

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.

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.