Quote Originally Posted by Suki Wingy
This thread is really cool! Niņo'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.