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I have decided I want to be the dominant dog (as Barbara Bush said, "rhymes with rich") in my house. My little Lhasa Kiwi has become more and more pushy, with me and The-Original-Dog Bandit (every so often she kicks the stuffing out of him). What I want to see is whether she becomes part of the pack with Bandit, rather than doing all that dominant dog stuff. So I started doing just a few simple things the alpha dog always does....

I go in and out of the rig FIRST
I eat first, then feed the dogs
I choose where she sleeps (not with me, for now)

In one day, the change is amazing. She will come to me and leave the room when I tell her (and I thought she was just hard of hearing! Ha!) and she isn't, well, demanding. So far, so good.

How have all of you become your dogs' pack leader?

Leader??? We know who rules the roost here! I know my place, and my task to wait on, feed, pet, and not disturb with the vacuum. My girls richly reward me for my subservient dedication by agreeing to give me a little space in the bed each night.

Sunseeker wrote: My girls richly reward me for my subservient dedication by agreeing to give me a little space in the bed each night.

Oh, if only things were that simple in my humble abode .... LOL. We need to stop the bloodshed, man. When I seek to be a peacemaker, I sometimes get bitten in the process. Someone's gotta take that B*****h down!!!

I must admit - when I had 2 dogs, I did practice some of that - it really was necessary in order to have somethings work right. Now, with one, I'm not quite as good about it, but still find that I must do a little, or Peaches thinks that her 16 pounds of fur is my complete boss. So, no food when I eat, I do leave the door first, and enter first - and we've been working on some of the basic commands - so that she always responds to them. This has been harder with her, as an abused pup - she never would come when called- instead would go the other way and cower. She now comes almost all the time, but I need to make it 100% - getting there.

interesting thread.........seeings how I have 3 to dominate, one being a more recent additon we all went through a bit of a learning curve here. Bandit has always been
the dominant one under me, then Gracie and then Pixie came along. The thing I
noticed first was Bandit seemed to give me that look that said, "oh no, one guy
surrounded by a bunch of bi*ches" I'm sure that was just my imagination though.
He is still the first one to come in the door from outside with Gracie behind and
then Pixie. I still feed him first, putting his dish inside his kennel with the door
open. Then I put a dish down for each of the girls on seperate sides of the kitchen
and Pixie chooses hers first and Gracie gets the other one. The two girls do get
along very well although they have had their little squabbles a few times with a
little bloodshed (mine) reaching my hand in there like an idiot instead of grabbing
the water bottle. The water bottle works better. I really don't think either of the
girls is an alpha personality although I do feel Pixie has learned to be submissive
(in her previous life) and knows how and when to convey that. Gracie on the
other hand is just plain stubborn and runs screaming when she doesn't get her
way and blames everything on me. In her younger days, Bandit would glance at
her sideways and she would scream like she got killed and run and hide. She
wouldn't even come out to me, it was always my fault.
She is still stubborn this way today. Pixie on the other hand, when she gets submissive
and moves very slowly away from Gracie, she comes and crawls in my lap with that
"save me mommy" look. Most of the girls squabbles were a jealousy thing towards
me and I fixed that by putting them both on the floor and standing up, and walking
away. They learned to share me.
When we come in from outside, I step up on the steps, open the door and give the
command "UP" and Bandit comes first, then Gracie, then Pixie. Occassionally I have
noticed they don't want to come in........Pixie will mind and come in anyway, and
the other two will stand and look at me. They make me go round them up and heard
them in. Little brats
Other than that, they have me well trained!

I AM the boss (I think). My two guys mind pretty well - have to cause together they outweigh me. My only problem child is my 7 yr old female Sassy. I have never been able to stop her from jumping on people. The only thing that worked really well was a squirt bottle. Its because she wants all the attention and right now! She doesn't jump on me, only new people. Once she settles down and is around someone for a while, she doesn't jump. I can get her to sit but she almost immediately jumps up again. I need someone she doesn't know to work with me and that's hard to find. The nice thing about being RVing dogs is that they both almost pee on command.

I am just smilin' at these replies. LOVE dog stories. Keep 'em coming!

I'm wondering if this will work with a cat?.... or maybe a husband?

Barbzeee, thanks for the Lhasa insight. You really do know these little dogs! I know she's fierce and thought she might be bred as a guard dog. But then I'd look at her again and go, "Nah!!!" Now I know what I'm dealing with. She has been accepting her usurped position and things have gotten a lot simpler here. Thank goodness.

LOL! This is a great thread! It was very different having one than having 6. When it was just me & Scooty, he could get by with a lot. Now, I do have to be the pack leader to bring some order & for them all to feel safe. I do go first thru doors & gates, feed them after I eat, make them walk beside or behind me til it's time to potty. I know somebody has to be in control so I guess it's me. They don't resent it, I think it makes them more comfortable. I can walk all 6 at one time. It's quite a parade, but the reg "pack" has helped our new guys. Peyton & Eli have just fell right in line with the rest of us.

I don't mean to make it sound perfect, cause it isn't. Some days they drive me nuts! But it doesn't seem too bad for all the love & companionship I get in return.

I am dominate biyatch in my house. Except in the mornings when Shade decides it's time to get up and go outside to P!!! LOL There is just no reasoning or persuading that girl to go back to sleep and wait just a little bit longer.

David's dog is a Rednose Pitt/Yellow Lab mix. She was a shelter rescue, I got her for David for Christmas 3yrs ago. She had some basic obedience training and was either semi house broke or from being in the shelter had forgotten or gotten sloppy. But we had some issues with food aggression when she first moved in. She hasn't had to share her food dish with anyone. But I flatly will not put up with food aggression of any sort. Whether it's aggressiveness towards human or animal. One chomp from Honey would severely injure or do my little Shade in. So her aggressiveness was stomped on in a hurry. I tried separate food dishes at first. But if ya didn't keep a constant eye on Honey? She would sneak and clean out Shade's little dish if ya blinked your eye. So....Honey has learned to share her food dish. I do also keep Shade sized dishes in my bedroom for her midnight snacking pleasure. hehehe

I really need to quit procrastinating and work with Shade and get her obedience trained. She knows 'sit' and that's it! LOL Why is it so many people let that slide with little dogs? I guess it's because their little and easily controlled and contained? As soon as we got Honey I went to work on her obedience. I was spending that week with David and his x-gf when we got her. LOL Gave David some quick lessons on how to go on with her. He's done a good job with her and has kept up with reminders.

The one complaint I have with Shade is her yapping. She was never a yapper until we stayed with my friend Tracy. Her dog yaps at everything and nothing. And what a habit that is for a dog to pick up. Slowly she is getting quieter. But dang!!! She always comes when called (unless she sees a brush in my hand) never have to worry about her running off as she sticks close by. She does like to go visit if there's kids around. Gets excited when she sees kids. She use to play tag with everybody's kids in Maine. We would all get together for a potluck and laugh like crazy at either Shade chasing 10 or more kids, or them chasing her. She would come to a dead stop, turn around bark at them and it was her turn to chase. The kids would run for awhile then turn the tables on Shade and it was their turn to chase.

The GF's cat??? That is almost a whole nother story. But I am breaking her of wanting to use the back door casing for a scratching post. Can not be having that, especially in a rental house. If the cat wants to tear up the GF's furniture and the GF's doesn't mind so be it. But I'm bound and determined she isn't going to do it to anything else. I or the GF either need to get that cat a scratching post or something. Hmmm? I have an arm full of firewood outside, maybe I ought to bring a piece of it in and see if that would satisfy her??? Worth a try any way.

But for the most part? I am QUEEN BIYATCH in my house.

Yeah, you really convince us, Echo . If you keep saying that out loud you just might have the furkids believing it too.

Now you stop that!! LOL If'in ya don't believe me? Ask the kids! LOLOLOLOL

I have found the perfect T-shirt for Kelly, it says "If ya think I'm a B*TCH you should meet my Mom!"