changing status order?
Could someone help me by describig alpha behavior? I jus added a wonderful 12 week old puppy to my 4 and 2 year neutered guys and I think the dominant order is changing. Tom, the 4 year old, has been the leader and Pats, the 2 year old has followed him around, deferred to him, etc. but I notice that the puppy targets Tom and avoids the 2 year old dog, who really puts him in his place.
Are there signals about who's #1? Like maybe in a trio, who pees on the spot last? I thought I knew the order but I'm really confused about this. Right now the puppy pees, and Pats pees on top of that and Tom ignores it.
They are all getting along just fine--no problems, just tht the puppy avoids Pats, the 2 year old and is really focused on Tom and I thought he was the alpha.
Oh and yes, I know that I AM really the pack leader and they know that too!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by MagnoliaFly on
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Good information on Dominance and pack hierarchy.
That page explains scientifically about pack hierarchy in good detail with videos.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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It can be hard to say sometimes who is dominant and who is not, because different dogs have different motivations. So for example a more dominant dog might allow a more submissive dog to squeeze in front of him to be petted if the dominant dog really doesn't care if he's petted or not. That same dog might forcefully warn off the more submissive dog who tries to go through a door first if doorways are important to that dog.
Any dog, dominant or submissive, can try to steal from a dog of any rank and a dog of any rank can try to defend what it already has in its mouth (though the submissive dogs might not always succeed). This can lead to fights so I don't allow stealing regardless of how I perceive their rank.
It may be that your #1 (the one you think is alpha) just tolerates puppies and your #2 does not so the pup avoids him--- it may not have to do with rank at all.
As far as peeing, it's meant to be in pack order but then I read a wolf study that said in wolf packs, only the alpha male and female mark at all, and either can mark first and the other will mark on top as a sort of "solidarity" thing; even if the male outranks the female, the female will mark over his markings, and vice-versa. Usually my boy pees first and the girl goes next in the same area, but sometimes they change the order and sometimes they both go at the same time. Jack is way more interested in marking over outside dog's spots and could not really care less where Maddie pees.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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It sounds like the puppy is challenging Pat for spot #2. Not sure when this becomes "official"--maybe it's part of normal puppy behavior? Seanna challenged all the dogs when she was a puppy. Ended up the Newfoundland male stayed #1, and Seanna and my springer spaniel/golden retreiver mix "shared" spot #2. I think it really was just that Blaze was so laid back she didn't really care most of the time about the ruckus Seanna was causing, but would periodically show she was boss. Since they are both gone, Seanna and Sage are best friends, but Seanna is dominant. Sage is just nervous about everything (she's a rescue dog), so she doesn't make a good leader!
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