Alpha dog?

[Denyce]

I agree with pretty much everythig Glacier has said. I have only one dog but 5 cats and a betta. All my animals are dominant animals. That is why none of them get along with each other. But I am the Alpha in the house. When I whip around and hollar at them they quit what they are doing pretty much immediately. Once in a while it requires an actual hiss.

With Sequoia we are still working things out. We have never had a husky. Actually neither of us has had a dog since we were children so it is a learning curve. But we read a lot and try to do all the right things so she knows that she is not the top dog in the house. Sometimes she challenges us and I have to look her in the eye and give her the firm NO. Then she will put her ears back and try to lick my face. But like I said we are still learning about husky behavoir.

Denyce

[DogLover9501]

Piddle!!

Piddle is definatly the boss in this house, Jasper is scared of him, and Piddle will growl, chase AND bite at Jasper if Jasper just does something as simple as get too closer, or touch him/his fur by accident.

We have tried working with this, but Jasper basically solves it himself, and tries to just stay away from Piddle.

[PJ's Mom]

Little Piddle is the boss? That gives hope to all tiny dogs everywhere. lol

I was always under the impression that you had to create the alpha dog, or at the very least, reinforce who the alpha dog is. This is all very interesting.

[binka_nugget]

I was just pondering over this last night. Of course, both boys know I'm alpha but I think the ranking between the two isn't set in stone. Kaedyn likes to be pushy now and then but when it comes down to it, Kai always has the last "word". If they get in a fight, Kai always wins.. but Kai only fights if he really has to.

[cali]

Misty is alpha dog in my house, but knows perfectly well she is under me lol Ripley is the Alpha male(equal to Misty) Perky is under Misty and Ripley, and I have noi idea what order Happy and Blair are in lol I do believe in Alpha, however not to a huge extent, it has helped us solve a major issue afterall, Happy and Misty were not getting along at all, fogered out Happy was being treated more as alpha then Misty was, changed that and all they they love eachother more then they ever have, and play together more in the first week then they ever had.

[cali]

Kaedyn likes to be pushy now and then but when it comes down to it, Kai always has the last "word". If they get in a fight, Kai always wins.. but Kai only fights if he really has to.

sounds like kai is Alpha, the alpha dog NEVER fights unless absolutly nessasary, they mostly ignore the other dogs, and they do allow the lower ranking dog do stuff as well, and the lower ranking member is allowed to get there way sometimes

[jesse_3]

Out of Jesse and Sammy, Jesse is definetely the boss. Sammy always follows her and Jesse gets EVERYTHING first. Sammy now refuses to because she knows Jes is in charge. Jesse and Sammy have never been in a fight, but Jesse will mouth her once in a while when Sammy has forgotten her place. I have to have seperate bowls for them because Jesse chases Sammy off if they share.
I guess that I would just observe your dogs and see who leads the other one around, eats first, etc.
Hope that helps!

[BitsyNaceyDog]

In my house if I had to pick one of them as the leader of the pack, I'd say most often it's Nacey. They know I rule the roost, but out of the 5 of them Nacey is top dog.

Originally posted by PJ's Mom
Little Piddle is the boss? That gives hope to all tiny dogs everywhere. lol

Heehee, that reminds me of when I was a kid. We had a yorkie and my grandma, who lived across the road, had a lab. The 2 dogs were together almost everyday, but our little 5 lb. yorkie was with out a doubt the alpha over Ace, the lab.

[cloverfdx]

Piddle is definatly the boss in this house, Jasper is scared of him, and Piddle will growl, chase AND bite at Jasper if Jasper just does something as simple as get too closer, or touch him/his fur by accident.

But does Piddle know your the boss though?

First off i am the alpha, they do as i say and look up to me for direction.

I have been thinking about this for a while now and was no closer to figuring it out until a few nights ago. Elvis thinks it is time to assert himself over Clover and the last few days have been interesting, Elvis is being very pushy (Not agressive, i will NOT tollerate agression). Just little things i have noticed like, he forces Clover into playing and will corner her, he has even started to mount her.

El has started to constantly mark territory when we are out and even in the backyard, and has no problems marking over where Clover has peed. He is going to be 18 months old on the 13th so he is maturing.

[senorita02]

My Alpha dog is Face but Senorita has lately been showing signs of trying to change that, Face is getting older and is more passive than before , so she knows she has a good oppurtunity, but i really dont think Face is going to allow it,

[Dixieland Dancer]

Originally posted by PJ's Mom
I was always under the impression that you had to create the alpha dog, or at the very least, reinforce who the alpha dog is. This is all very interesting.

You do not create an alpha dog. It is either in their genetic makeup or it isn't. Some dogs don't show their alpha characteristics until the need arises. For instance, my Dixie is a alpha dog. She always submitted to her Aunt Jazz and never challenged for the alpha position when Jazz was around. Then one day out of the blue the two started growling and a mild attack out of the blue ocurred. Jazz won but not by much and then we discovered that Jazz had cancer and within 4 months passed on. Dixie realized her Aunt Jazz's weakened condition even before the humans did and challenged her for alpha position amongst themselves.

Dusty went through a stage where he wanted to be alpha over Dixie but she always put him in his place. If other dogs come over or we meet other dogs at the dog park, Dixie is happy to make sure everything stays in order with all the other dogs but she never exerts her alpha status. She just has a presence about her that lets other dogs know she is alpha.

If you don't clearly know what dog is alpha, my guess is, you don't have alpha dogs (period). In this case you don't need to worry about following "alpha rules" at all. If you had an alpha you would know it, you wouldn't have to figure it out.

In my case, I am alpha over both Dixie and Dusty and they know it. Dusty also knows his mom is alpha over him. So I don't particularly follow alpha rules in my house either. I pet who I want when I want and feed them in no particular order. I also treat them to the first one who does what ever behavior I tell them to do. I always incorporate a little NILIF to their routines. Not as much as when they are puppies and learning the ropes but enough that they realize I am the boss.

If you do have an alpha and a challenge arises in the pack, then you need to follow "alpha rules" to ensure harmony presides in the pack. However, the human is always the head alpha no matter what heirarchy the dogs assume. You just need to be aware of the canine heirarchy and reinforce it if you have two alphas that challenge for the top position. Otherwise, don't worry about it and just enjoy the fact that both your dogs are probably not alpha by genetics.

The biggest problem I see with people and Alpha misconceptions is "this dog was here first, so it's the alpha". The alpha could be a newcomer over a dog that was here for years. It's the strength and dominance the dog exerts over the others in the pack that makes it the alpha. Not who was here first. When people have a alpha newcomer and they treat the "first come" as the alpha even though it is not, problems could arise that are unneccessary. I always say let the dogs work it out amongst themselves and let the human abide by there choice, as long as the human is always alpha over them all!