Dominance and Your Furry Friends
If you are a pet owner, you have probably noticed this with your four legged friend. You have probably noticed that he or she likes to have a certain degree of dominance and control over the household. This behaviour can manifest itself in many different ways. It is often most apparent in dogs because every dog has the ancestry of the wolf. Wolves thrive on dominant and submissive behaviour. In a wolf pack, there is usually one alpha-male so to say who is the leader of the pack. He has the most dominance and control over what goes on. There are also others who have a certain role of dominance and ones who have a more submissive role. Most commonly it is the males who are more dominant and the females who are more submissive. Domestic pet dogs possess these ancestristic roles as do other household pets. As with wolves, it is usually the male pets who are more dominant than the females, but that isn’t always the case.
I would like to share with you an instance of this interesting and often comical behaviour that I have observed with our two Great Danes Bones and Tango. Bones and Tango where two of the tightest dog mates I have come across in my time. Bones was an abnormally large, very mild mannered sweetheart. He was the type of pooch who would greet you at the door with whining and tail wagging but he would never attempt to jump up on you and would rarely ever lick your face. He was always extremely friendly to visitors in the household and would rarely ever display any aggression towards them. He preferred spending his days lounging around on the couch and trying to mooch food off his human friends. He would much rather prefer to suntan on the back deck than go for a brisk walk around the park. He was not exactly what you call “dominant.”
Tango on the other hand, is something of a completely different type. She’s probably about 50 pounds lighter than Bones was and is a dwarf compared to him. That doesn’t stop her from displaying her in-your-face attitude and not quite lady-like manners. Tango has a pretty big ego and she is not scared to show everyone else how much better she is than them. She enjoys playing rough games of tug-of-war and jumping on you and showering your face with slobber. Whenever we attempt to take her out for walks, which we have learned not to do very often, she tries to “doggy dominate” (if you know what I mean) every other dog we came across. Whenever her and Bones would wrestle, she always had to be the one on top. Tango clearly has a very dominant role and Bones was definitely the submissive one. Sadly, our dear Bones passed on a little over a year and a half ago and we miss him greatly. Tango still continues to display her dominance, and although she has calmed down significantly, she is still the Queen of our household.
If you are a pet owner, you have probably noticed this with your four legged friend. You have probably noticed that he or she likes to have a certain degree of dominance and control over the household. This behaviour can manifest itself in many different ways. It is often most apparent in dogs because every dog has the ancestry of the wolf. Wolves thrive on dominant and submissive behaviour. In a wolf pack, there is usually one alpha-male so to say who is the leader of the pack. He has the most dominance and control over what goes on. There are also others who have a certain role of dominance and ones who have a more submissive role. Most commonly it is the males who are more dominant and the females who are more submissive. Domestic pet dogs possess these ancestristic roles as do other household pets. As with wolves, it is usually the male pets who are more dominant than the females, but that isn’t always the case.
I would like to share with you an instance of this interesting and often comical behaviour that I have observed with our two Great Danes Bones and Tango. Bones and Tango where two of the tightest dog mates I have come across in my time. Bones was an abnormally large, very mild mannered sweetheart. He was the type of pooch who would greet you at the door with whining and tail wagging but he would never attempt to jump up on you and would rarely ever lick your face. He was always extremely friendly to visitors in the household and would rarely ever display any aggression towards them. He preferred spending his days lounging around on the couch and trying to mooch food off his human friends. He would much rather prefer to suntan on the back deck than go for a brisk walk around the park. He was not exactly what you call “dominant.”
Tango on the other hand, is something of a completely different type. She’s probably about 50 pounds lighter than Bones was and is a dwarf compared to him. That doesn’t stop her from displaying her in-your-face attitude and not quite lady-like manners. Tango has a pretty big ego and she is not scared to show everyone else how much better she is than them. She enjoys playing rough games of tug-of-war and jumping on you and showering your face with slobber. Whenever we attempt to take her out for walks, which we have learned not to do very often, she tries to “doggy dominate” (if you know what I mean) every other dog we came across. Whenever her and Bones would wrestle, she always had to be the one on top. Tango clearly has a very dominant role and Bones was definitely the submissive one. Sadly, our dear Bones passed on a little over a year and a half ago and we miss him greatly. Tango still continues to display her dominance, and although she has calmed down significantly, she is still the Queen of our household.
3 comments:
>.< the dog is gonna eat me
Great Dane! Those are such sweet, sweet dogs... I miss my friend's Danes...
awwe, what kind did she have?
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