Top Dog??
Tiggy is getting uppity!!   She's 1 year old now and is starting to think she should be the boss. Rastus is not amused, neither am I come to think of it, she's being a terrible teenager and pushing the boundaries.
Tig has always pushed Rastus but if he got serious she would back down and submit. She's getting less and less inclined to back down over the past week or two and last night they had a reasonably serious debate as to who should back down, and it was Rastus for the first time, he started it so he was pretty shocked himself at the outcome. He has been looking slightly stressed/depressed for the past couple of weeks, perhaps he sees the writing on the wall, so to speak, but also he was bitten by a Border Collie at the park and his shoulder is still sore so it could be that too. What I'm wondering is, do I leave them to sort it out between them, or do I intervene in some way, like reinforcing one or others status? Any tips and exeriences would be appreciated. Thanks. |
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| Pearl(OES) is 13 yrs....Coz.(beardie) is 4...Heart(OES) is 19 months...
Ever since Heart came, she has bullied Coz..and he lets her. Pearl, on the other hand, is a different story...Heart has tried to bully Pearl..but Pearl has maintained her alpha status in the pack. Pearl either totally ignores her or she WILL 'put Heart in her place' if she gets too intrusive. I have left the whole pack order to the dogs. I have to admit, I have not had a MAJOR confrontation yet. When Heart first came to us, I did make it a point of FEEDING Pearl first, then Coz, then Heart. Only Pearl was allowed on the couch. And when they went out, I made sure Pearl went first. Any treats are given in that order too...Pearl, Coz...Heart. I don't know if it helps, I think it does. Heart sees that I veiw Pearl as the Grand Dame.... 
If Coz and Heart's play in the house becomes too wild or aggressive, Pearl will go over and basically 'yell' at them to KNOCK IT OFF!!!..And boy do they listen!!!! I think your difficulty is that Rastus is male and Tiggy is younger and a female. I have found that my male, Coz is a pushover when it comes to pack order...he has no thoughts of moving up in the food chain, so to speak. I think ALL males are happy to be dominated by the females... Now, I may be wrong, but this is my opinion...I am sure many of the forum members have suggestions.... |
| I'd let them work it out on their own and only intervene if you think somebody's gonna get hurt. They may have a couple of scraps but they'll figure it out. |
| Yes do let them work out the pack order and only intervene if you think it is getting real serious.
Babs bullies Syd and Mum puts the two of them in their place so pack order here is Mum rules regardless. I don't intervene at all unless I think it is getting too serious, they have to work out who is top dog of the household. Do find bitches more dominant over the woozie males.   Well in this house anyway 
Also Tiggy is not that little pupper anymore, the teenage phase has bloomed, he he he wonderfull time you might find she will challenge you too, gotta luv a rotten teenager |
| A sharp cut it out isn't unclled for if it seems to be escalating. |
| They will work it out. Top dog will be whomever they decide, not who you think it should be.
We have the same thing going on at our house. Tazz the min pin is submissive, is always been and always be at the bottom. Simon likes his space, otherwise can't be bothered with what the others are doing.
But, I have 3 that are around 3 yrs old. Those are Maggie, Chewie and Riley. Maggie has been the alpha bitch, Chewie and Riley have always just let her. If she wanted a toy, bone or whtever, they let her take it. Lately, they have started challenging her. Chewie actually wins sometimes - it is getting to be pretty noisy when they are at it. The 1st few times she was shocked - you could just see it in her face. Now she anticipates his response, and is ready to fight him over it. Riley just growls when either of them even look at him! He is a grump lately. Then, if they run into Simon while tussling, he gets in on it. Try and convince an old basset to just move....
Tazz wisely chooses to go in his crate. 
I would only intervene if it got bad - as Jill said earlier - "blood on the floor". |
got sheep wrote: They will work it out. Top dog will be whomever they decide, not who you think it should be.
I think that's the hardest part to deal with (as the human standing by watching), too. |
| When Misty came to us we still had Dash and he was and remained the boss up until he died, I thought that Misty would have taken over since most bitches are doninant over males but no Hamish took over. When Zorro arrived he would not accept Hamish and we had some fights between them, now it seems since they cannot sort out the pecking order Misty has taken the helm and rules the pack now. |
| Sometimes its kinds fun to watch.
Not the fight parts but how they do things. Randy told me that he thinks Gar is top dog. I said not true...watch Simon next time Gar has a bone. Of course Simon HAS to have it. He will go over and lay down Next to Gar, almost nose to nose. He waits for Gar to get distracted or just nicely reach over and takes the bone. He won't run off with it most times, just stays in the same spot and starts chewing on it. Garfunkel has never tried to take a bone from Simon. Once I did see Garfunkel lift a lip and I called Simon because I didn't want a fight. We leave them to it most times though. There have been some loud goings on from them and I only say something if it starts to get too rough. |
| When I got Bella at 8 weeks, it was only a matter of time that she established herself as top dog over my 5 year old deaf girl, JoJo. Then I lost JoJo (way too soon). After awhile I took in Simon, a 2 1/2 year old rescue and Bella remained top dog. However, after working with Simon to build his confidence, he decided to assert himself as top dog over Bella. We had some tense times when he decided he was going to bully Bella for the position and there were a few times when I was afraid it was going to get ugly. However, Bella decided to acquiece her position. Mostly I let them work it out for themselves. There were a few times when I had to intervene with Simon's bullying with a "Off" command because she was so scared. Once Simon realized Bella relinquished her top dog position and I would not let him bully her, they settled into the new pack rules and it's been fine. I admit it was a little scary through the transition, but with help from my trainer who knows Simon well, we got through it! |
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