Highly recommend this.....

[borzoimom]

Hehe, yes.

Once you start learning about dog behaviour in general, it is surprising how much more your dogs can teach you themselves. It's about learning to detach yourself from the human way of thinking that is the hardest part and once you've done that, you can figure out so much more for yourself by just watching your dogs behave.

I started researching dog behaviour when I was 12 and it was such a leap for me in other ways too because learning about animal behaviour also teaches you a lot about human behaviour but learning about human psychology doesn't seem to enlighten you about animals.

Have you noticed that too?

My parents raised cavaliers- and even they had a standing order. I grew up this way- but I will say- having that many shepherds at one time ( most I had at one time was 35!) but mostly like 23, they each had a rank, and felt their rank was important.
Even the Borzois are like this- if I give Galina her cookie before femka- I swear I get a confused look by Femka. It makes meal times, cookie times, and daily household stuff easier because they all know-- who comes next..
I even found like with the shepherds- if a middle dog died- the under that was under that dog- was confused for a day or two- taking their cue they were next by the now missing dog. They were the one that acted depressed- not the ones above the missing dog in rank- it was the ones under that dog..
I have found dogs like knowing their status- they are calmer and more relaxed. Even my now floor flop- where hottie will go lay down on the floor- then femka comes- Zubin waiting and when she is down- he will come- and same with galina- they NEVER lay out of order.. its sooooooo strange. If they are going to sleep in a " group flop" in one area- its the same way... I have also found that the few times I have chaos- is when the " rank and file" is broken- like if I have to take one dog to the vet- .. The other 3 seem shocked- wait a minute- " why didnt I go too???".. Unless the returning dog is Hottie- " master borzoi of them all" the one over the returning dog will walk around the dog with a raised tail- .. I always when bringing a subdominant dog back into the house- go straight to the cookie jar- and re establish the same order- ie here it would be " HOTTIE , FEMKA, ZUBIN, Galina... "..
In all my years of having not one- but a pack of dogs- I have only had one fight- one.. And that was two brothers when the boss dog ( their father) died. And that was my fault.. As two brothers- treated as equals of not setting one over the other on a consistant basis- ( sometimes it would be Midas Zubin- other times Zubin Midas.. -no not the borzoi zubin..).. After that fight- I took the smarter one of the two as the boss- Midas.. No more problems..
In the first photo- you can see Femka started it- in the second photo- obviously galina just joined.. ( the camera woke up hottie.. lol.)