What is the chain of command in your home?
Those who have seen "It's Me Or the Dog" more than a couple times are probably familiar with this scene:
Victoria Stillwell meets a family with a problem dog. She observes the behavior, then sits the family down in front of a chart, on which she uses cut-out pictures to show the chain of command in the home. The first chart shows the family from the humans' point of view: Pictures of the smiling husband and wife at the top, then the kids (if there are any), then underneath that all the pets as more-or-less equal.
She then flips the chart and shows the ranking from the dog's point of view. Usually there is the dog, sitting at the top, proud as could be. The various humans are often scattered below. Frequently if the dog is a male, the female human of the family is right below him, as she is "his" human, and the husband and kids and sometimes other pets are away down at the bottom.
If Victoria Stillwell drew a chart of your family, how would it look?
I am amused and a tiny bit frustrated to say mine would not be quite as it should.
From the point of view of the dogs, my cat Alice is way at the tippy top, over everyone, a goddess-like figure to be feared, Supreme Ruler of the Universe. I have no problem with that as it keeps the cat safe and she actually sees me as outranking her, or at least whatever the cat equivalent of "rank" is.
From there things get a little more iffy.
I know I rank next from the point of view of all the critters. I am the one who trains them and works with them.
I have become increasingly sure that my Corgi Jack thinks he is my #2. He is very bossy with my husband. He barks at Shawn, demanding to play. When Shawn eats, Jack sits in front of him and shuffles his feet and grumbles. When Shawn walks him, Jack stops wherever he likes and marks as often as he likes and frequently decides which direction they will travel in.
With me, he's a totally different dog. He's s typical confident bossy Corgi and sometimes will talk back to me, but if he wants me to play he gets out his toys and tries to convince me how fun it is by rolling them around and growling at them. On a walk he will heel next to me on a loose leash. He'll argue sometimes about direction or stopping frequency, but in the end he gives in.
*sigh* I've tried to give Shawn some pointers on the whole dog-management thing, but I think it's a bit of a lost cause! LOL It's not a huge problem in that Jack is very well-behaved and we don't have any problems in the house with chewing or marking or fighting.
Maddie is content to be somewhere near the bottom as long as she gets lots of cuddles. She's an easy dog and I think a child could handle her. But Jack? Well, as I said, I think he sees himself as my second-in-command and faithful servant, and Shawn is that nice guy who plays with him and sometimes feeds him or gives him treats.
I can't be the only one in this situation! Anyone else have a well-behaved dog who runs roughshod over the other adults in the household?
Victoria Stillwell meets a family with a problem dog. She observes the behavior, then sits the family down in front of a chart, on which she uses cut-out pictures to show the chain of command in the home. The first chart shows the family from the humans' point of view: Pictures of the smiling husband and wife at the top, then the kids (if there are any), then underneath that all the pets as more-or-less equal.
She then flips the chart and shows the ranking from the dog's point of view. Usually there is the dog, sitting at the top, proud as could be. The various humans are often scattered below. Frequently if the dog is a male, the female human of the family is right below him, as she is "his" human, and the husband and kids and sometimes other pets are away down at the bottom.
If Victoria Stillwell drew a chart of your family, how would it look?
I am amused and a tiny bit frustrated to say mine would not be quite as it should.
From the point of view of the dogs, my cat Alice is way at the tippy top, over everyone, a goddess-like figure to be feared, Supreme Ruler of the Universe. I have no problem with that as it keeps the cat safe and she actually sees me as outranking her, or at least whatever the cat equivalent of "rank" is.
From there things get a little more iffy.
I know I rank next from the point of view of all the critters. I am the one who trains them and works with them.
I have become increasingly sure that my Corgi Jack thinks he is my #2. He is very bossy with my husband. He barks at Shawn, demanding to play. When Shawn eats, Jack sits in front of him and shuffles his feet and grumbles. When Shawn walks him, Jack stops wherever he likes and marks as often as he likes and frequently decides which direction they will travel in.
With me, he's a totally different dog. He's s typical confident bossy Corgi and sometimes will talk back to me, but if he wants me to play he gets out his toys and tries to convince me how fun it is by rolling them around and growling at them. On a walk he will heel next to me on a loose leash. He'll argue sometimes about direction or stopping frequency, but in the end he gives in.
*sigh* I've tried to give Shawn some pointers on the whole dog-management thing, but I think it's a bit of a lost cause! LOL It's not a huge problem in that Jack is very well-behaved and we don't have any problems in the house with chewing or marking or fighting.
Maddie is content to be somewhere near the bottom as long as she gets lots of cuddles. She's an easy dog and I think a child could handle her. But Jack? Well, as I said, I think he sees himself as my second-in-command and faithful servant, and Shawn is that nice guy who plays with him and sometimes feeds him or gives him treats.
I can't be the only one in this situation! Anyone else have a well-behaved dog who runs roughshod over the other adults in the household?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Congratulations on your upcoming baby!
I have seen that Corgi story and it makes me laugh every time. It is so true.
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Permalink Reply by Allison Musick on
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Thanks! I love the story too. I read it again every now and then. Heidi fits the mold more and more each day. LOL.
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Permalink Reply by Aj on
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On the topic of "It's Me or the Dog", I was watching an episode where a couple has 5 pugs and this is how 1 of their pugs reacted to one of their other pugs. I thought it was the funniest thing ever of what came out of the pug's mouth!
http://animal.discovery.com/videos/its-me-or-the-dog-pug-with-attit...
Ok, back to the discussion:
In our household, the ranking goes:
My bf and I are basically on the same level
My bf's sister and bf's mom are also on the same level
Ein & Washu (our cat) are on the same level
Brian is a 10 week old puppy so I am not placing him on a set level just yet.
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Oh my goodness, that pug is one of the funniest things I've ever seen! LOL
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Permalink Reply by Cathi on
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Hello,
Reading your post about where we are in the hierarchy of the household just makes me laugh. We also have a 'Queen of the Universe', ruling over her dominion and minions (everyone else in the house). She is our 8 year old female siamese mix, cross eyed and sure knows how to glare that queenly glare that would have any weak-willed being take their own head off just to please her. Not really but you get the drift.
Our house consists of myself, my teen age daughter, the queen who we adopted when she was 2, another cat who is about 2 1/2 years, and Bunny who is 9 and who came to live with us three years ago on Halloween.
Bunny and Luna, both sleep with me. Luna has her places on the bed, one is sleeping on my side. Bunny sleeps next to me anywhere that isn't Luna's. It became really clear to me who was in charge of the bed one night when Bunny and I were sleeping soundly in the middle of the night, Luna climbed up and laid on my side facing the other way.
Bunny started shaking, not continuously, but for a few seconds, then stop, a few seconds then stop, etc.
I touched Bunny and spoke to her calmly and she relaxed and quit shaking. Since then she'll stay on the bed if Luna gets up there, but will snuggle a bit closer.
One night Luna stretched out her leg and accidentally touched Bunny's hip - both tensed for a minute then relaxed and Bunny scooched over a teeny bit.
They don't fight, Bunny doesn't chase Luna or the other cat, but will walk around Luna. If Luna won't move, Bunny will sit and wait for her to move over.
I am rather random about who I feed first in the morning and at night, and who I pet first, sometimes both at the same time.
Bunny keeps cats out of the yard when she's outside, and has learned to not chase cats when we're on a walk.
Yesterday we had all three in the car to get their toes trimmed at a groomer. I'm sure Bunny wished both of the cats would be quiet and enjoy the ride. My daughter and I laughed.
Before when I had two female dogs, one a bit younger than my first dog, I had a behaviorist come to our house because of increasing agression between the two. Sadly I had to teach my older/first dog that the younger one was now the second in command so she would relinquish her place without bloodshed. In the end it all worked out ok, and I made sure to spend one-on-one time with her without the other dog.
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Permalink Reply by Sunni A. on
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No Eddy seems to act just as inferior to the other humans we live with, he never barks at anyone in particular, and he takes walks the same.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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I can't offer any advice, and not having a dog, there is no real chain of command in my house. Typically, it's "I love you the most and the other humans in this house are decoration" with my cats.
Anyways, I just had to laugh at this: "From the point of view of the dogs, my cat Alice is way at the tippy top, over everyone, a goddess-like figure to be feared, Supreme Ruler of the Universe." Torry will be a akin to a god when Waffle moves in to my parents'...
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Permalink Reply by Jill, Kari & Jackson on
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Lets see-
this is from Kari's point of view
Me
Kari (1 1/2 yr spayed female)
Mom
Jackson (5month old male
Guinea Pigs
Dad
sad but true that the guinea pigs are higher ranked than dad
Kari is an incredibly strong willed dog and it took a while for me to get that top spot but I did and theres no stopping me now. She still talks back and whines when I tell her to do something that she doesn't want to do but she does it. I've taken her to classes and the trainer can get this out of control goldendoodle to behave but Kari will just look at him and bark back. Sometimes when she barks, I don't even have to tell her to be quiet, I just give her a look. Also, if shes done something bad, I can give her that look and she will lay down, roll over onto her back and whine a little. I never had to physically discipline her but when she plays too rough with other dogs, I have rolled her onto her side and then I can hold her down with one finger just touching the side of her neck. Its good to be top dog.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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I love the talking back! Sparty will submit to me but likes to get the last word in with a little closed mouth woof. Since I raised two teenagers I know when to pick my battles . LOL
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LOL, I love the idea that the guinea pigs outrank your poor dad. Not ideal, but it makes a good story!
Jack will talk back, badly. We have mostly gotten past it now that he's two-and-a-half. A typical scenario would be that he wants to go, say, upstairs. I tell him no and stand in the way, legs at shoulder-width and chest open--- strong stance. Jack barks. Then he barks again. Then he fraps madly around, eyes all crazy and making "Grrr-grrr-grr!!!" sounds while panting and running (trying to impress me into giving up, no doubt). Then he stops and barks once or twice more (I'm not moving and giving him "the look" the whole time), then he puts his ears back and comes and sits right in front of me.
Thankfully these incidences have become very few and far between!
Now, in that same situation for my husband, Jack would just barge right past him and go upstairs. I suppose I should back my husband up to show the dog his place, but I'm often too busy laughing instead....
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