Alpha

"Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. When the term alpha dog is used, it refers to the dominant dog, in a pack setting, that is first and most important. The alpha dog is the dog to which other members of the pack are submissive (called the beta dogs)."

In the four years that Roxie has been in our lives, we thought she was a submissive dog. When she meets other dogs, she does lower herself, expose her belly etc. She also has followed Blake's commands (and sometimes mine) very well for years. With the addition of Tasha, we are more aware of dominance struggles in our house, and so have been researching dominance, what it is, how dogs show it, and how we can assert ourselves as Alphas in our house.

A little research showed something we didn't expect... we have allowed Roxie to be dominant in the house for years!

Here is a list I pulled up of dominant dog behaviors with the italic ones being those that Roxie regularly shows or does:

Stubbornness

Demanding

Pushiness

Begging

Pushing a toy into you or pawing in order to get you to play with them.

Nudging to be pet.

Sitting in high places looking down on everything.

Guarding a human from others approaching. People like to call it 'protecting' but it's actually 'claiming'. Dog owns you.

Barking or whining at humans which many owners consider "talking" (without a command to do so).

High pitched screams in protest of something dog does not wish to do.

Jumping or putting their paws on humans (without a command to do so).

Persistence about being on a particular piece of furniture when you ask them to stay off (dog owns it).

Persistence about going in and out doorways before humans.

Persistence about walking in front of humans while on a lead.(this one is huge!)

Persistence about getting through the doorway first.

Refusing to walk on a lead. (excluding untrained puppies, dogs with injuries or illnesses)

Nipping at people's heels when they are leaving. (dog did not give permission to leave).

Not listening to known commands.

Dislikes people touching their food.

Standing proud on a human lap.

Persistence about being on top, be it a lap or stepping on your foot.

Persistence about where they sleep, i.e. on your pillow.

Annoyance if disturbed while sleeping.

Likes to sleep on top of their humans.

Licking (giving kisses) in a determined and focused manner.

Caring themselves with a proud gait, head held high.

Not liking to be left alone and getting overly excited upon the humans return. (See Separation Anxiety in Dogs)

So... we have to do as much as we can to stop all of those behaviors, because if we want peace between our dogs, it has to be with us in charge. They will have a pecking order between them (Tasha will likely be on top) but first, we have to be extremely aware of every thing that either of them do to try to get dominance over us, which is not okay. When I go up or down the stairs, I have to make sure that I am first. When we enter the house, we have to enter first. We have to teach them to heel on walks, where they walk to the side and a little behind us.

All this came about from a few different shows of dominance between the dogs in the last couple days. Enough that we didn't feel comfortable leaving them alone together all day today. Instead, I took the day off to become a dog spy.

Their first trial time was the 10 minute gap between Blake leaving for work and me setting up my classroom and getting home again. Both safe, both happy. Check.

Their second trial time where I made them think I was leaving, then snuck upstairs, and watched them from an upstairs window for maybe 20 minutes or so. Both safe, both happy. Check.

Their third trial time today was when Blake left after coming home for lunch. When he drove away (making the dogs think I left with him) I snuck upstairs into the bedroom. While giving our poor, short end of the stick cats some much needed attention, and reading, I continued to spy on our two dogs outside for a little more than an hour. Mostly they just slept. Both still safe, and happy. Check.

I have also seen them play happily together in the house, and today they gave each other kisses (See video below)... really really good.

At some point today, I will be heading to Target, and giving them yet another trial. If I get home from that and they are both still safe and happy with each other, I think we will be good with leaving them alone together together tomorrow.


p.s. notice how, even in the video, Tasha asserts her dominance by standing over Roxie, allowing Roxie to kiss her, Roxie being the one to lay down first. But all that is okay as long as Tasha knows we are above her too. Roxie will be happier once she has peace with her new position in the "pack."