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Hi everyone, Lately I'm starting to notice that Kynda (Caucasian Ovcharka/German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees) is starting to challenge our other dog Brooke (golden retriever). Brooke has always been the top dog in our house. She was here first, and Kynda has always respected that. Today I was watching Kynda chewing on a bone when Brooke came along and tried to take it from her (As she has always been able to do). This time Kynda didn't let Brooke take the bone and hung on tight while Brooke was trying to take it. Kynda then stood up and started to play tug-of-war with Brooke over the bone. It didn't look like Kynda was 'playing' though. Her body language looked like it was saying "hey, back down, I'm the big dog now and this is MY bone." Her ears were straight forward, her legs were stiff and she even let out a growl which we don't usually hear out of her unless there's a dog outside. Brooke eventually backed down and let Kynda chew on her bone. There's been other occasions lately where Kynda has nipped at Brooke when she was trying to eat her food. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about this because we don't have any experience in owning two dogs at once. Is this all normal? Do I need to do anything, or should I step back and let them sort it out. Brooke is 15 months, and Kynda is 13 months. Thank you, Jess
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Hi Jessica, That is normal while the dogs are establishing their pack order. Let them sort it out - very seldom will they get hurt. If it was two males then there would be more reason for concern. Gary
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Thanks, that gives me some relief. They usually aren't left alone together so even if there was a fight we could step in very quickly. Honestly though, I don't think they'd ever fight, I think Brooke would back down before fighting Kynda. Take care, Jess
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Excellent point. My younger female is starting to challenge the pack "bravo" now. I will let it play out but I hope it does when we are there so we can keep the "alpha" male out of it. I fear that he would take sides with the older female and then the challenger will be in big trouble. Happened once already with the males when they were reshaping the pack order.. the female joined in on the side of the prior dominant male and it was not a pretty sight! I know from experience that it is our nature to want to break them up but when shaping the pack - they have to settle it and the sooner the better.
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Are you sure this is caused by pack order? I mean, look at the wolves. A single wolf will definately growl at, and even to some degree fight against, the alpha to protect its food WHEN HE HAS THE FOOD IN HIS MOUTH. This is a law in the wolf world. If there's a prey or a dead animal on the ground then the alpha shall eat first, and if anyone else attempts to sneak it will be a horrific fight. However, if a wolf ALREADY has the food in his mouth, then the alpha will usually not take it away from him/her. So it's perfectly fine if your German Shep. mix defends its food when he's eating, and it's not necessarily a sign that he tries to be alpha. But let's say that you drop a peace of meat on the floor 2 meters infront of both dogs. If your German shep then tries to fight with your alpha dog before reaching the meat...then he tries to achieve alpha The same applies to my dog.....I can say "no!" if he attempts to steal food and then he gives up without growling. He accepts that I'm alpha and that I should eat first. However, If he's already the food in his mouth he'll fight to protect it. In these situation I do like the alpha wolf....I let him keep it.
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Good point Lars. Of my 4 CO's even if they have the food in their mouths I can tell three of them to "drop it" and they wll. Jessica - would you give us an update on how this has evolved.
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[quote=gsicard]Good point Lars. Of my 4 CO's even if they have the food in their mouths I can tell three of them to "drop it" and they wll. Jessica - would you give us an update on how this has evolved.[/quote] Hi Gary, With both our dogs, we can tell them to "leave it" and they will not touch whatever they were told to leave. For practice I can line both her front legs with food when she's laying down and tell her to leave it. She looks away, and eventually will get up and walk away, but will not touch it. Brooke is still the boss, I think that's the way it will stay. They live so peacefully together, never have faught. Take care, Jess
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create a balanced dog create harmony no matter what the breed or sex,
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I forgot about this topic... bump
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I agree with Gary & AL about allowing the dogs to settle this. I would add AFTER, there is no sound reason to allow them to be together with a high priority item like food or a bone. Feed them seprately and/or alllow bones seprately. There is no bennifit to alllow unneeded stress after rank is set.
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I found this article which I think is not only relevant but but very infomative http://www.justshepherds.com/dominance.htm
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