[Dailydrool] Temple Grandin's book

[Swartz]

Susan currently I have 2 brothers and they are so close that Colt who is my 
"momma's boy" will sometimes stress over who to be with...momma or Ruger his 
brother.  I swear that those hounds must have slide out of the birth canal 
together. In the almost 3 yrs that I have had them there hasn't ever been a 
single fight, only a woof if one of them steps on the other or bites a 
little to hard in the play/mock fights.  One Oouch-woof and everything 
stops...they sniff and go back to playing.  They are always together and 
when I say together they are normally never out of eyesight from each other. 
The only exception is when they are both in the house.  Colt will hang out 
with me in the computer room and Ruger will nap on the couch in the living 
room.  But the moment Colt hears the jingle of dog tags he is out and 
attached to his brother's hip.   I don't really see a dominance of one over 
the other either. They just seem to be content to both rule over the momma 
together.  I also had a family of 5, Shadow the definate pack Alpha who 
ruled the pack with an iron paw.  Comanche mate to Shadow, Princess daugther 
to Comanche & Shadow, Storm brought in as a mate for Princess, and Wolfgang 
who was the son of Princess & Storm.  I never had any fights, food issues or 
anything else for that matter.  Shadow ruled and no one questioned it.  The 
only problem I ever had was when Storm & Wolfgang were the last 2 remaining 
hounds of the Fab 5, they were both Seniors 13 and 12 years old.  Wolfie 
would attack Storm when I would leave.  I don't think that Storm ever 
defended himself but try to duck for cover. There was never any serious 
injury...Storm would sometimes have some puncture wounds on the face and 
neck, but nothing that I couldn't take care of myself.  I ended up 
seperating them when i would leave.  Wolfgang got run of the house and Storm 
got my bedroom (he slept the majority of the time)  I'm not sure if these 
attacks where due to seperation anxiety, or seniliaty, on Wolfgangs part.  I 
also read somewhere that a dog would sometimes attack a sick pack member, 
this could have been the case too because Storm started to have the 
beginnings of kidney failure  when this all started.   Just my 
experience...hope that this helps to answer your question.

Michele, Colt & Ruger
Princess, Shadow, Comanche, Storm & Wolfgang...My ATB Pack