[Dailydrool] Pack order

[Christina Brookshire]

I have 3 dogs and have for some time.  Before Sadie we had our Beloved
Hoover, Sparky the beagle and Bumpy the basset.  Hoover, a black lab was the
boss.  No quarrels or arguments ever, he was just the boss.  Sparky and
Bumpy were kind of equal partners.
Then Hoover passed away.  The two dogs did a bit of a dance as to who would
be alpha.  Bumpy eventually won out.  But he wasn't happy about it.  Neither
dog wanted to be alpha.  Both are definitely not alpha dogs.  But I think
they figured someone had to so Bumpy took over.
Then Sadie came home as a "foster".  Sadie walked in the door, looked at
Bumpy and Sparky, jumped up on the sofa and that was that.  She is the
alpha. Took all of 1 minute for her to establish herself as Queen.
  She eats first, sits in the best spots, permits Sparky to sit on the sofa
with her but not Bumpy except on special occasions.  We have been lucky for
years.  We have never had fighting, arguing or fussing except occasionally
over a tidbit.  Easily stopped by my yelling HEY!  But that's the extent of
the fireworks here.
The funniest part is poor, dear Sadie is quite elderly, very arthritic and
not terribly mobile.  The other two could run circles around her or push her
out of the way.  Bumpy outweighs her by 14 pounds!  Doesn't matter a bit,
she's the Queen, they are the subjects-period.
The best part is the other two are so much happier not having to be alpha!
They are quite content to let her be Queen and they be her subjects. I could
almost hear a sigh of relief when she walked in the house and took over.
Guess that's just the way the dog world works in my house.

Christi, Bumpy (I hated being boss!), Sparky (I don't wanna be boss ever!)
and Sadie (I am and will always be the Queen).
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