Lisa, the Alpha Dog

We've had Lisa for three weeks now and she is really starting to settle in. She's also really getting into toys. She and Tucson have every single toy out of the box and strewn all over the house. And there's A LOT of toys!

This past weekend, Jeff and his Australian Cattle dog, Sheila, came to visit. We are going to keep Sheila for a while when Jeff goes to Florida. So, we wanted the two girls to meet. For those of you who don't know Sheila, she is usually the dominant dog. She always bosses and herds Tucson, and my little passive dog doesn't really care. Jeff says she also polices other dogs at the park if they start fighting. So, naturally, we all expected she would be the dominant of the three dogs. Lisa is the alpha dog here, not so much because she has established it, but because Tucson is so passive.

Anyway, Lisa was not about to let another female come into her house and be the dominant dog. She growled at Sheila from the minute she walked in the door. Every time Sheila came close or looked at her directly, Lisa would growl. She was never aggressive and never did anything to Sheila. She just let Sheila know she was paying attention. At one point the two girls were growling at each other under the table while the people ate and Tucson slept. It was pretty funny. They were about two feet apart from each other, too. Later in the day two really funny things happened. The first was when Tucson and Sheila were playing "tug-of-war" with the rope toy. Lisa watched very closely, her head going back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. Sheila pulled the rope towards her (which is usually when she wins), and BARK! from Lisa. Sheila dropped the rope and backed away, and Tucson ran with the rope declaring victory! I WON, I WON, I FINALLY WON!

Tucson took this lesson to heart. A little while later, Sheila had a bone of Tucson's. Of course, just like children, Tucson could have cared less about it until Sheila had it. Tucson waited for Sheila to drop the bone and then swooped in and snatched it while Sheila wasn't paying attention. Then Tucson very quickly ran and dropped it behind Lisa. Basically, because of where Lisa was lying, Sheila would have to pass Lisa to get the bone. She kept trying to figure it out, but to no avail. Another victory for Tucson!