Feisty Fidos..

After our scuffle earlier I decided it's time to nip this one in the bud before it becomes a major problem so i did some online research. Here is what I found... We have 2 dogs that are possessive of their toys (what started the fight). We have Baylie who is an obvious dominant dog, then Charley-who we aren't quite sure yet where in the pack he is-but he is starting to blossom in personality and beginning to climb the alpha ladder. I came came across this ARTICLE about two females but it describes our situation perfectly. Step 1 is that Charley will go back to sleeping in a crate. Letting him sleep in our bed (oops my mistake when Steve was gone a few nights ago) is letting Charley think he's an equal to us or even dominant to us because he get's the best place to sleep. Because he's been neglected we have been extra nice and because he is so skinny I think he is fragile so we have been extra gentle--well that is all changing! We witnessed tonight that he does not back down from Baylie's attitude anymore and is a little scrapper that can definitely hold his own. Five days in and while I am glad Charley is getting comfortable, but we cannot get to comfortable and allow these behaviors. In the words of our in home trainer Ken DeBoer from Bark Busters....Baaah!