Pack behavior with pics...

[pitc9]

....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!!!

[lv4dogs]

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.

[Queen of Poop]

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.