wow, i forgot about this thread, hahaha.

i was separating sonny from the other dogs, not any more though, as we are having fewer and fewer problems.


now, i have some more questions.....

yes, i believe and agree that the head dog does the correcting. but he/she can't possible do ALL the correcting. when one dog in a pack has pups, several females help raise those pups, and those other females get to do correcting when mom is away.

likewise, if a younger/lower ranking dog starts bothering another dog(who is higher than that dog, but lower than the alpha or beta), that dog isn't going to run up and find the alpha in a "tattle tale" fashion, no, he's going to correct that lower ranking dog.

my understanding is(which could be wrong) that it's not alpha, then all other members are equally bottom....

because of that, middle ranking dogs can and do correct truely lower ranking dogs just like an alpha would correct them...

Mallory,

My philosophy bottom line: My house, my rules, MY RESPONSIBILITY to ensure a safe, harmonious home. Alpha, beta, somewhere in between, what difference does it make? I don't care where the dogs want to rank themselves or for that matter my teenage kids. If I don't take the reigns and reel them all in, it would be bedlam. And yes, my husband and I do ALL the correcting and whoa to those who forget that rule.

Sorry I don't see where applying the rules of a wolf pack to a domesticated dog other than that they need a leader works in a home. Read Jennifer Marshal's post on this thread, it is excellent.

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

if a younger/lower ranking dog starts bothering another dog(who is higher than that dog, but lower than the alpha or beta), that dog isn't going to run up and find the alpha in a "tattle tale" fashion, no, he's going to correct that lower ranking dog.

While I agree that we, as humans, need to maintain leadership of the pack, but I also agree with allowing an adult dog that knows the rules and is good around other dogs, to school the youngsters.

My Bloodhound and Dutchie are great teachers to pups and young (6mos or less) dogs as far as behaviors when together.
This allows the curiousity that all the dogs have to be taken care of, since, if I did not introduce them, they would always want to "sniff butts". Since I allow it, my dogs generally ignore other dogs, strange, or each other.

I do not do this unsupervised since if I were to need to step in, I could do so quickly. But I have never had to. And I have never had a pup become scared of dogs by doing it this way. It is always nice to have a good second in command to help me out with respect (of other dogs) issues.

Both Max and Rock will play with pups and young dogs, but will let the pup know where the lines are. The respect the pups learn is invaluable and helpful, as the youngsters are then respectful of the dogs I have that do not necassarily have the patience the other two do.

yeah----that's what i mean....

no older dogs unfairly beating up pups, and no pups relentlessly nagging the older dogs, but a fair amount of "schooling" as carol puts it....

 Quote: Carol Boche

I do not do this unsupervised

Big huge point.

of course not

 Quote: connie sutherland

 Quote: carol boche

I do not do this unsupervised

Big huge point.

It is actually kind of fun for me to take the pups in with Max. he turns into a big goof ball rather than being the "stoic ole man" he is getting to be. Nice to see him acting young when I know he is not going to be around as long as I would like him to be....sucks when dogs get older so fast.

I actually use my dog's papillon (3.3 kg) to teach my Malinois pups some dog behavior/manners
She is a sweet very confident little dog that will put them in their place when they are overdoing it

Greetings

Johan