Dog Aggression -- the Hard Way (Conclusion)

The cause of their fights was our fault.

It took many weeks after that dog fight, during the process of healing and more researching that the truth finally dawned on me. I recalled the first doggy fight I saw at the driveway and compared it to that last one where I got bitten. There was a difference. In those initial first brawls, Butchie Boy was the aggressor. In the last brawl, it was Spot.

The cause of their fights, I discovered, was our fault.

Dogs follow a social hierarchy among themselves. There is a dominant leader, the Senior or Top Dog, and there are the followers. They are wired to observe this and a dog owner not aware of this will cause dogs to brawl among themselves as they fight for their positions.

I had brainwashed Spot to believe he was the Top Dog because he was the family favorite. Simultaneously, Butchie Boy, having been there first, believed he deserved respect as the Top Dog. I did not teach Spot that – neither did we observe it as his humans. We had totally ignored the Boxer and whatever he had felt were his rights. We had petted Spot first, walked him first, put him his collar first, fed him first, and given him priority over everything in their lives together. That’s why the Boxer despised the Dalmatian newcomer from the start.

Finally identifying the cause of the fight, I concentrated now on this phenomenon called their canine social hierarchy. We had a lot of un-doing to do.

We started to observe the Boxer’s seniority over Spot by respecting his position first. He was fed first, given his collar first, and walked first.

The brawls were reduced considerably but they were not completely eradicated. Upon my arrival from work, to my disappointment I would sometimes receive reports from our househelp that there was a dog fight that day. But the dog fights were always instigated, this time, by Spot. Spot was now the aggressor, Butchie Boy was the defender.

In the end, it was Butchie Boy that lost his home. I had plans for Spot and wanted him for further training as a career agility dog. We rehomed Butchie Boy as Spot persisted in asserting his belief he was the Top Dog. As long as those two dogs lived with us, there would be no peace.

As Butchie Boy left us, Spot was our only dog for several months until I slowly built up a new pack. But by then, I knew how to handle our multi-dog household. I taught the other dogs their respective positions while assuring Spot he remained Top Dog. Each dog had his position no. 1, no. 2 and no. 3 and this was firmly observed by all of us, a method I picked up from Dr. Dodson’s book. In later years, as I met our famous dog whisperer, Fred Alimusa, I learned that petting Spot in front of the other dogs do not bother them as long as they know their positions.

 

My spotted pack a few years ago. "J.R." (left, back) is Spot's son, an accidental mix with a border collie. In foreground (center) is Toby. Their hierarchical positions are (l-r): dog number 3, 2, then 1 (Spot). We followed this social order of theirs strictly to avoid doggy squabbles.

Dogs are not humans. They do not react as humans do. What we humans dub as “jealousy” is a dog just asserting his position over an upstart trying to bypass him.

Sounds like corporate culture huh?