Leader of the Pack….

I know I can’t type those words together without hearing the earworm, so I apologize if it’s been passed on to you as well.

We’re having a pack re-org right now, not that the order is actually changing – but we’re reinforcing the order as it should be.  In the past 24 hours, Tripper has tried to disrupt the order of things, and challenged Suzy – both times happening when we’re not present.  Since it would have been easier to control if he’d tried it in front of us, we’re enacting more stringent measures.  And, I don’t think I can handle another dog fight, because Tripper is not coming out on the winning end of this proposition, and the first time was nothing compared to the second.

The first “conflict resolution” happened outside, and Tripper came in with some gouges on the left side of his face. They were still bleeding a little bit, and I treated him as if he were an 8-year old: rubbing alcohol to clean it, and neosporin. He was not a fan of either, as you can imagine!  And this sort of thing happened with Polly, too – not quite as gougy or bloody, but she carried some scars/war wounds herself and it seemed par for the course.  We thought that would be the end of it, but then later that evening, Tripper finished his food first & attempted to get some from Suzy’s bowl. WWIII commenced. I had already left to meet up with some friends, and James was in the other room – suddenly, in came Tripper, trailing blood everywhere, because now he had some new gashes on his face and muzzle. James said it was a good thing I wasn’t home, because I would have freaked the hell out, and from his description of the scene, he’s right.

So, we have instituted Extreme Pack Order. Suzy got fed first tonight, then Polly, then Tripper. When we’re letting them in or out the back door, the same order applies. We are the pack leaders, and because James is the hard-ass, he’s the top dog, and as much as I love to pet and love on the pups, I am being a hard-ass about it as well, because Tripper’s in his teenage years and we need to nip this effectively and quickly. It’s a lot more challenging with three dogs, because we’re outnumbered, and (from the Omega’s perspective), there’s more combinations of ways to climb the pack ladder. Tripper’s constantly challenging and nipping at Polly, and she tolerates it in the house, but outside puts him in his place. We’ll be intervening more on that from now on, too.  We hadn’t seen much more than play with Suzy, so it seemed more puppy behavior vs. assertive or aggression; now that he’s been foolish enough to really take on the big dog, we aren’t allowing any other feedback or structure that gives him more foolish ideas.  The last altercation came pretty close to Tripper’s eye, and seriously, I am NOT knitting him little eye patches. Pirate Tripper. He’d look very rakish, especially with all these scars, but even though he may not have accepted it yet, he’s on the bottom of the pack and staying there.