[Dailydrool] Bassets and pack order

[KR1204 at aol.com]

Any long time basset owner will tell you that there is a pack order even if 
 it subtle. I have always had multiple bassets and when fostering at one 
point  had my five and up to 3 fosters. At that time Spanky atb was my very 
benevolent  alpha. He never snarked anyone but they all looked up to him. I 
was down to just  Crackers and Loki when I adopted Jordan, a female, 4 years 
ago. Jordan is  extremely submissive to me (won't go through doors ahead of 
me or down the  stairs) but after a couple of weeks here, she realized that  
Crackers and  Loki had no interest in being alpha so she assumed the role. 
She promptly kicked  the boys out of my bed and snuggles with me every night. 
She does allow them to  share the bed in the morning while I am getting 
ready for work. When I watched  TV she was not letting either of them on the 
couch but I have gotten her to the  point where one of the boys, usually 
Crackers can get up too without getting  snarked. The funniest is when she wants 
the recliner, she simply stares at the  occupant and that basset immediately 
gets down. She has never laid a tooth on  either of the boys but does make 
an angry shrieking  noise if she thinks  one of them has broken her rules. I 
have had to scold her sometimes as she will  sit at the head of the stairs 
and the boys will sit at the bottom and whine  until I make her move. Same 
thing with my computer room; they won't come in  unless I intervene. That 
being said, I do not reinforce her being alpha in  anyway. She gets fed last, 
gets treats last, and I won the couch battle by  lifting the others up until 
she accepted the new arrangement. She is also crated  when I am not home. 
This has taken some of the edge off her bossiness. She is  very demanding of 
me for pets, bellyrubs etc and will worm her way in between me  and whatever 
basset I am petting so I have been ignoring her when she does this  in hopes 
she will learn to wait her turn.
This is just my experience.
Kathy with Crackers, Loki and Jordan who thinks she is in charge. 
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