Meet Forrest and Willie.
Apart from a tiny growl at another springer (one month younger than Z) a couple of weeks ago, Forrest is the first ever dog that Zebedee has shown any obvious dominance behaviour against! It was kind of a shock to see Z really growl at Forrest (nine months old) when they met at Piddinghoe yesterday evening. Luckily Forrest's people are understanding and let the dogs sort out their places themselves. After a little while, Zebedee was playing fine with Forrest. It was never that aggressive behaviour, anyway, but I'm just not used to seeing him growl at all. I guess now that he is at the brink becoming an adult dog, he is trying his luck at being the more dominant one compared to those younger than him.
Well, I guess it's time to do a bit of research into what is the best way to deal with this situation. I'm not going to allow him to become a bully, but I need to know how not to crush his spirit, either. Hm, well, not that there are signs of that. Silly dog.
1 comment:
Hehe. Dante will still try to be dominant, to this day, sometimes. It's scary! They're worse when on a leash, of course. When given enough room to run away, sniff buts, spin and twirl and try to stand up taller than the other, they usually work it out just fine. Good luck with him. I wouldn't worry too much. He's too sweet of a dog to be a bully or too overly aggressive, I think.
But then, I always tell people when I'm out walking Dante on a leash, dogs are like people - they're allowed to have bad days and decide they just plain don't like someone, too. :)
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