By Fran Jewell
In our quest for divine partnership, so many of us now have multiple dogs. Dogs bring such enrichment to us! I have been guilty of that for 35 years, at one point owning EIGHT German shepherds! Such a living situation creates so many considerations, such as introduction of a new dog, the loss of a dog, dog relationships and compatibility, breed compatibility, our personal living space, and budget, to name a few! The more dogs we have, the more complicated all things will be. Sometimes there is little complication and other times there can be a lot of complication!
Some of the things that influence the complication are certainly the nature of each individual dog and our own comfort with leadership. As you may know, I am a huge proponent of leadership. Some dogs simply need more leadership than others and that can be influenced by the age, sex, breed and even past history of a new dog, particularly with rescues. However, the influence of a breeder is also enormous to the development of each puppy.
Geez! It now seems like more than one dog is very complicated! And, honestly, it is. Sometimes we luck out and the new dog or the multiples just happen to get along well.
Many people do not favor or even understand the innate influence pack behavior has on every dog. To me, when we try to dismiss the pack influence, we are not honoring our dogs for who they are. Dogs are a different species than humans and see the world entirely differently. Dogs are still over 99% genetically the same as wolves, even with domestication. The genetics are still there. Domestication actually means we humans selected wolves that were most willing to communicate and work with us. During domestication, we chose the instinctual characteristic of certain wolves to create different breeds. But, the genetics are still there. They did not change.
So, what is not fair? The dog hierarchy is not fair. No matter what the circumstances, dog to dog or even dog to humans, every dog will seek hierarchy or who is in charge. Dogs who do not know the leader will either take the leadership on and make purely dog decisions, or they will live in constant anxiety. Unlike wolves, however, the act of seeking hierarchy has changed somewhat with domestication. In most cases (though not all), the discovery of the hierarchy is much less violent. However, every dog still MUST KNOW who the hierarchy is.
As humans, we need to honor that need in our dogs so they can be mentally healthy. Lack of leadership can lead to that violent aggression or painful anxiety. When dogs are uncertain about how to behave, many times they will revert to instinctual behaviors. Then, along can come the violent aggression that many of us see wolves use to discipline each other.
To prevent the encouragement of aggression, we must make it known to our dogs that we humans are the decision-makers. Yes, there will always be one dog (in a multiple-dog household) that is that high-ranking dog, but we must be sure that we make the decisions about what are appropriate behaviors in our human environment. As such, nothing is fair. The higher-ranking dog (who is not violent) should be fed first. He/she should get treats first. He/she might get to go for the ride in the car today and not the others, and so on.
What I see from so many dog owners is that they think everything should be fair. That is not necessarily the most appropriate way to honor your dog. If you are unsure about who the high-ranking dog is, it may be time to ask a highly experienced professional to help who is highly adept in dog behaviors. So many conflicts between dogs, or even between us and our dog, can be avoided by honoring instinctual and genetic pack behaviors with our own proper responses.
Fran Jewell is a dog behavior consultant, NADOI-certified instructor and vice president. She owns Positive Puppy Dog Training LLC and can be reached at (208) 721-7221.
