I am doing everything I can think of to do to help Rocky continue to assert his dominance over Missy.
[Diagram that!]
It ain't easy.
She outweighs him by roughly 20 pounds, now.
When they play tug-of-war he still wins. He's a pretty smart powerful little dog. But at some point, she will learn what he knows, and she outweighs him by 20 pounds.
And yet... . she follows him.
And they both-- more or less-- follow me.
One of the nurserymen adopted a ?? (I'm guessing chihuahua/jack russell cross) 3 or 4 years ago. For his daughter, supposedly. After about 6 months of just visiting, dog came to live at the nursery. (my guess is daughter lost interest, or dog was too active at home) Another year or so went by, and Roman adopted a German Shepherd pup. Physically about the same size as dog #1. Dog #1 left no doubt as to his dominant position - though he could have no knowledge of Pup's eventual size. Put that puppy down on the ground and Pup didn't _move_ without permission.
ReplyDelete2 years down the road, and "Puppy" is a full sized, very good looking male dog. And totally cowed by his miniature "boss" dog. Think "Pinky and the Brain" differential here.
Get that dominance well established early and it simply doesn't change!
Although the sex thing messes it up. The little dog is a neutered (thank heavens!) male. He has tried to dominate our Doberman when she goes down for her run, and she just ignores him. When they play, she roles him over and he just takes it. But comes back for more. _Very_ determined little sucker. Almost got killed by Coyotes. "Puppy" knew the "boss" was in trouble - didn't wade in to save him, but like a good Rin Tin Tin, went and got the master, who was able to rescue him. They pretty much stay out of the riverbed these days - they know the "bad guys" are still down there. But _they_ rule the topside! Actually, I wonder if they head for the nursery buildings (well, plastic huts) if the "bad guys" come up. We rarely see them, so I don't know. The topside is pretty open - maybe the "bad guys" are as wary of topside as the dogs are of the bottomside.
The riverbed used to be open and rideable. But in '93-'94 we had major rains and the vegetation has increased annually till now it's a virtual jungle down there. Only the marijuana growers make use of it - or so the Sheriff's department says. They fly over it - we can't see it.