Question:My American bulldog just passed at 17 years old. And now i have a 2 year old boxer and 2 year old Border Collie. And so i was wondering how do i tell wich one is the domiate pack leader ( Besides Me ) So please tell me how can i tell wich is the leader. Boxer Is Male ( Chaos ) Border Collie Is A Spayed female ( Oreo )
Answers:
Very likely the female is the dominate one.. But they should both be treated equal under you.. But those girls tend to like to be the ruler.. Female is probably alpha over both you and the boxer.
Well, if you want a specific method of telling, take a treat and hold it in plain sight, high enough that they can't get to it.
Usually one dog will jump up to get the treat, and the other will remain on all four feet. The dog that jumps up is the next man on the totem pole, and the one that stands firmly on the ground is the lowest man in the pecking order.
The reason for this traces back to the wolf, in which there is a strict pecking order once a prey animal is taken out and ready to eat. The alpha eats first, then the next man, then the next.
When you hold out the treat, the rules for the pecking order begin to take place, and the low man on the totem pole becomes submissive to the ones that are higher, and lets them eat first.
EDIT: Yes, you can train them out of a behavior, but beforehand you can tell these things by instinct. This is the only way I know of (when using an untrained dog) to figure out who is dominant over who. Otherwise, sorry to say, I don't think there's any other method.
Here's a little more info on what I was explaining:
http://www.barkbusters.co.nz/badhabits2.
"'Jumping up' is all about dog-psychology.
Dogs communicate with body language. To them, height is dominance. Dogs will naturally jump up on us to test their dominance. You've probably noticed they do this to each other as well. "
More Questions & Answers...