If you have a multi-dog family, you probably have a pack order. There are alpha personalities who dominate the other dogs, and there are those who are content to follow — the betas and the omegas. It’s up to the human alpha to keep the entire pack in line.
Part of keeping peace in your pack means respecting the pack order. It seems unfair by human standards, but dogs don’t follow the idea of taking turns or fairness. By dog standards, the dominant dog goes first and everyone else follows.
Here are some tips to help keep the peace in your pack. Not all tips work for everyone and every situation, but these are a few things you can try:
- When you come home from work, always greet the dominant dog first.
- When going out for walks, put the dominant dog’s leash on first.
- When the dogs come to you for attention, pet the dominant dog first.
- Feed the dominant dog first — that includes meals and treats.
- Ignore the other dogs who may push in for attention or treats first. Choosing another dog over the dominant dog will be seen as you supporting the other dog’s challenge.
- Allow your dominant dog to warn other dogs off with body language or growling. Reprimanding your dominant dog for this behavior can be seen as supporting another dog’s challenge.
One thing you want to try to avoid is seeming to support another dog’s challenge — this can encourage fighting between your dogs. Dogs understand a clear pack order; you trying to make things “fair” can actually be confusing and unsettling and make things worse.
If a fight does break out, some experts suggest actually letting it happen. This will allow the dogs to determine dominance for themselves. However, dog fights can be upsetting, frightening, and leave one or both of your pets injured. Most dogs won’t fight for the sake of fighting — so once the dominance issue is settled, they will hopefully calm down.
Sometimes a shift in dominance can be gradual and done without fighting — like what happened with my Moose and Lally.