[cigwyllt]

Just to fill in a bit of background:

Toffee is the oldest and largest of the three dogs, very submissive to people, rescue dog, no idea of her background. When we go out she is the leader - the one who runs furthest from us and the one who turns to come back first. Very much a people dog, she thinks everyone loves her as much as we do. She's not bothered about other dogs at all.

Ojo is 6 years old, very stroppy, very excitable, barks A LOT. She is a man's dog. Loves men and is a real handful for me.

Manny - the light of my life LOL! He has great doggy manners, very nervous around strangers, MY dog. He follows me everywhere, waits on the stairs if I go to the bedroom, watches out through the conservatory window if I go outside. I have to admit that of the three dogs he is my favourite - partly because he is a JR and partly because he is so clingy to me. I just love the fact that I am number one in his life.

The dilemma is that I have been told that he is a bossy dominant little monster and I need to put him in his place but I really do have trouble seeing that in his behaviour. There is one area where he is top of the other two - toys. If anyone has a toy he wants he takes it. Ojo loves to play tug, Manny loves fetch. If you throw the toy and Ojo gets there first Manny will take it off her. If you are playing tug with her Manny will come along and hump her.

He gets the toys calmly and without any teeth or aggro. They are his that's that LOL!

But when it comes to food it is totally different. I have to stand over Ojo and guard the other dogs' food because she will try and eat the lot. That's not strictly true - she will run around the three bowls, grabbing mouthfuls of food and the other two will not eat while she is eating. When she has had her fill Toffee will eat then Manny. But Manny picks at his food and also, which is a little odd, he eats sitting down. He will only eat if Ojo isn't aroun.

At bed time Ojo will sleep on one mat while Toffee and Manny have the other. Last night for the first time I put a dog bed in the kitchen and Toffee immediately made herself at home in it and Ojo followed. Manny on the other hand curled up on the mat as usual (couldn't bear the thought of him sleeping on his own like that so made up a bed in another basket for him LOL)

My question is - do you think that Manny's behaviour is dominant? I do wear rose tinted spectacles where he is concerned but I just don't see dominance in his behaviour. He is submissive to me, perhaps a bit manipulative in the way he will roll over rather than come sometimes but he never really defies me, unlike Ojo. I can't see that a dog that wants to rule the roost would wait for the others to eat and why when he does eat is he so relaxed?

[gotambull?]

Why would he need to fight for his food when he knows you will simply give him more if they eat it all, much like you made up a special bed?

But seriously, any time a dog takes "possession" of anything, whether it be toys, a place on the floor or couch, or in other cases food, it is showing dominance over other dogs.

However, I don't think you need to do anything about it. Dogs that live together live in a pack, and they must have their own hierarchy. They must decide this order for themselves, you cannot pick and chose which dog is alpha and which dog is not. As long as YOU and your family are the pack leader, and there is no aggression or behavior YOU do not allow, then it is fine. I guess the point I'm making is that it doesn't matter what happens, as long as it's on YOUR terms, and not his.

I would like to give you one word of advice: be careful spoiling one dog over the others, it could lead to behavior problems with your other dogs. Try showing the dog you "like" the least the most attention and see how much their behavior changes. Most often behavior problems are a result of pent-up energy: the more attention, love and play a dog gets the less they misbehave.

[mightymite]

Take a look at this website. She has given very interesting video clips (from Milan's show where he discusses 'domianance") and then taken it apart bit by bit. Labeling dominance really doesn't help solve behavioral problems - it's a catch all phrase that is often overused and grossly misunderstood. Milan just makes it worse since he is highly inconsistent about it on his show. In any event, you notice that very submissive dogs can seem 'dominant' in certain situations - so dominance, and canine interlations is as dynamic as our own inter-relations:

The Dominance Controversy and Cesar Millan

[cigwyllt]

Gotambull - I do try to make a fuss of Ojo when I can, she is just not that interested. From the time we brought her home she has been independent and wanting to do her own thing. She loves the men in the household - particularly my husband and older son and will girl up and sleep on their laps but never with me. I love her for who she is and treat her the same as the other dogs. I try to follow their lead when it comes to feeding - at breakfast time Toffee expects to eat first and at tea time it is Ojo so I go along with that rather than trying to enforce a different hierarchy onto them. I can fuss Manny and cuddle him when he and I are alone together which is most of the time - Ojo likes the bed by the radiator and Manny prefers the rug by my feet. He follows me everywhere - even if he is comfy in the basket if I leave the room he follows. So I can make a big fuss of him without singling him out in front of the other dogs.

Mightymite - that link you posted is so interesting. I haven't been able to read the half of it yet but will do so over the coming days/weeks. So much food for thought and it all makes so much sense. Thanks very much.