[Dailydrool] alpha, alpha, who's alpha??

[Dale Rutz]

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Here we go.

Cyrus, of course, was alpha.  Hugely alpha.  Undeniably alpha at the dog park 
and everywhere else he was simply huge and used his intellignce along with his 
size and weight to clear a path when needed.  Nobody every challenged Cyrus.  
Nobody's that stupid, man or dog.   Well .... Snoopy pushed him as far as he 
dared.  Snoopy is a huge powerful basset and he couldn't even believe another 
dog could be bigger or badder.  They never injured each other.  They had a few 
scraps .... a few time outs .... a few times of me yelling and screaming and 
holding one dog collar in each hand while they lunged at each other but no harm, 
no foul .... boys will be boys.

Now Cyrus is gone.  Snoopy assumed defacto alpha and LuLu's such a scardy cat 
she never said a word.  Anyway Snoopy just loves her to pieces and they're just 
fine.  And then we brought a very scared little girl named Gracie home who is 
sweet and gentle and never got into a lick of mischief until she heard the words 
adoption contract .... and before I finished the sentence she left and returned 
with Juliannes (favorite) DVD, Peter Pan, in her MOUTH.  So in all fairness she 
did announce rather ceremoniously that the honeymoon was OVER.  And so it is.

We had her spayed and the vet wanted her on tramadol for 5 days to keep her 
sedated which bought us some time.  Time's up.

Snoopy and LuLu have been laying across doorways and low growling and such I 
live here and you're visiting behavoir (cringe) and she had to tiptoe past and 
Gracie was getting everything last and made to sleep on dog beds on the floor 
(for her own good, first she was a foster and then she needed to be spayed and a 
freshly spayed dog shouldn't be climbing on or off anything) and the bit with 
her and Snoopy on the bed just tipped the scales and she's done.

They scrapped some last night which I put a stop to right on the spot, she can't 
sort this out yet, she's still got staples holding her together.  No bites but a 
lot of talk and posturing and they wanted to tumble but I didn't let them, I put 
her in a crate and there she slept until morning (I don't use them regularly but 
I DO use them for safety .... I'm clueless, not DUMB for goodness sakes).  


Got her out this morning and fed them all and she and Snoopy had nothing good to 
say to each other and she had him backing down to her dirty looks so then she 
started in on LuLu growling if LuLu went through the door first or tried to get 
up on the couch.  So, we did some teethering with a leash around my waist and 
hooked to her collar so I could correct subtle messages she was sending (and 
break up a few more scrapes).  In fairness the other two been doing it to her 
(more subtly) for two weeks, and some of this was payback.

I called the vet thinking something could be hurting her and they said bring her 
down and we'll look her over, no charge so I did.  The vet said there's nothing 
at all wrong with her, she's doing great the incision looks wonderful and she 
took off the collar.  Said to give her two more days and she is off restriction 
and can resume normal activity (including wrestling with her brother and 
sister).

So, I brought her home and gave her a short leash walk and brought her back in 
and told them all they better be NICE from here on out.  Well, Snoopy and LuLu 
got so worried when I left with her they had to sniff her all over.  And poor 
little Grace was a bit scared to be taken to the vet so she was nice coming in 
and glad to see them.  I told them all how NICE that was and handed out treats 
left right and center.

No more trouble since this morning now and it's mid afternoon.  I've got all 
three sleeping in the office with me, LuLu and Gracie on the couch behind me and 
snoopy on the big orthopedic dog bed which is on the floor.  The other two are 
defering to Gracie a bit and letting her have her way.

Do I have a new alpha?

the ever clueless momPerson who needs to know
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