alpha dog

Comments

• JessicaRabbit

  May 2008 edited November -1

  That is what I have been doing basically so Piglet (my adult female) is more accepting of Himiko my female puppy. So far there has been minimal stress. Tons in the beginning but now everyone is mostly chill.
• Nikkoth

  May 2008 edited November -1

  To keep all of our dogs in line, I help them establish a pecking order. Especially with foster dogs, they are at the bottom. The eat last, play last, etc.
• tsukitsune

  May 2008 edited May 2008

  If you bring in second dog as a pup, they wouldn't naturally work out their order?
  I guess I'm unconventional/wrong/whatever where I don't establish a pecking order for my dogs, whoever is closest gets the bone/toy first and whoever's bowl is on top gets the feed first.
• ivanmeza03

  May 2008 edited November -1

  "If you bring in second dog as a pup, they wouldn't naturally work out their order?"..........i agree with you, i think the pup automatically will know that hes on the bottom.....
• BradA1878

  May 2008 edited November -1

  We don't enforce a pecking order in our pack. We actually give the newest dog the most attention in order to make it more comfortable. Once the new dogs is comfortable in its new environment the other dogs will be more comfortable with the new dog too.
  
  Judging the pack order of a pack is to difficult and can never be 100% accurate by a human since the pack order is fluid and rules are applied to objects as well as pack structure and members. So, imo, it is best to just make sure all the dogs are as comfortable and calm as possible and then let them work out a pack structure.
  
  The only time Jen and I will enforce any type of order is if two [or more] dogs start to get close to the point of starting a fight, then we will remove whatever object is causing the fight (sometimes that object is a dog - like Maui). This works well because all the dogs realize, a) there is no reason to fight over objects when there is a limitless supply, and b) if they fight over an object the pack leader will take it.
  
  There is lots of info out there on the "alpha" way to manage your pack, but all of that stuff is rather old-school thinking. There are many new theories coming out in the behavioral community that directly contradict the "alpha" way of dealing with your dogs and what an "alpha" is.
  
  
  Heidi wrote an article on this topic:
  
  http://www.nihonken.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=826
  
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• ivanmeza03

  May 2008 edited May 2008

  wow nice article Heidi!.... but i think this applies to grown dogs more than puppies.... i believe that the pup by instinct will know that the older dog its kinda the leader and will not mess with him, its like humans, you know that you have to be respectful with older people.... and i think that the same think applies with dogs and any others animals that lives in a community......
• tsukitsune

  May 2008 edited November -1

  You also have to consider their body language to one another, or a barrier of said language in the pup.
  Or if your dog has a certain expectation of routine and the pup throws it off a great deal, you might have some tensions as well.
  Hopefully, your pup will come fully prepared to deal with the older dog's demand of that 'respect' and grow up doing so!
  I would do a lot of research online and reading and cross referencing and getting a good scope of the different methods and techniques used to introduce same sex dogs - it can't hurt to over-prepare yourself!
• ivanmeza03

  May 2008 edited November -1

  yea im doing a lot of researches! :P i want to be prepared.... the only thing that keeps me like calm down its that long time ago we had 3 German Shepherds and 2 of them where females and the other one a male, i dont know if the male was the key to keep them friendly with themselves, they never fought or entered in a state of tension......