Strange Behavior

I've always had normal pets. I've had dogs all my life and I've adored
them, but they've always acted like, well, dogs.

I now have 2 Jack Russell Terriers. These dogs don't act like any dogs I've
ever seen.

They are 3 years old. Not sibs, but we only had Maggie about a month longer
than we've had Starr. They've grown up together even though I don't think
Maggie's ever gotten over the usurper Starr entering the picture. It's a
constant, albeit gentle, war of dominance for Starr, especially. She's
smaller and it kills her.

Maggie is, quite honestly, portly. Part of the problem is that Starr, who
is much more interested in playing than eating, often grabs a few bites and
takes off. Maggie is left to clean the plate. Feeding them separately is
desirable, but not always possible.

Every evening they get a chewy treat. Something to keep them occupied for
at least a little while. I can't throw a ball 24 hours a day. The other
members of the household need sustenance and clean laundry.

Every night, it's the same ritual. I hand them both a chewy and they take
off. Starr to my bed and Maggie to the rug in the hall way outside of my
bedroom. For this game, Starr has to be able to see Maggie, but doesn't
want her in the same room. They've worked out this detail themselves.

Maggie immediately goes to work on the chewy. It takes her a good half hour
to 45 minutes to finish it off.

Starr lays on the bed, her eyes fixed on Maggie with the chewy laying
between her front paws... untouched.

The instant Maggie finishes, Starr jumps off the bed and lays beside Maggie
on the rug and begins to delicately nibble on her chewy, holding it between
her front feet. Maggie watches out of the corner of her eye. When Starr
catches Maggie looking, she growls menacingly.

I've seen Starr fall asleep with her head held up waiting for Maggie to
finish.

If the dance gets interrupted, and Maggie gets distracted by someone coming
in or a noise in another part of the house and if she goes to investigate,
I've seen Starr chase after her and brush up against her with that damn
chewy, looking like a big fat cigar in her mouth.

It reminds you of your little brother taunting you with his Halloween stash
after you've finished all the good stuff of your own.

I expected it from my little brother, but what possible instinctual behavior
could this teasing be based on?

Cindy

teleflora wrote:

I expected it from my little brother, but what possible instinctual behavior
could this teasing be based on?

An Eeevul gene? I have no idea, but it must be really funny to
watch! Do they ever get into a fight? Do they end up chasing or
playing?

My dogs have often teased each other with chewies or toys, by
sticking it in the other one's face, usually ending up in a game
of tug or chase, but I've never seen them engage in a protracted
ritual like this one.

FurPaw

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.

FurPaw spoke these words of wisdom in
:

teleflora wrote:

I expected it from my little brother, but what possible instinctual
behavior could this teasing be based on?

An Eeevul gene? I have no idea, but it must be really funny to
watch! Do they ever get into a fight? Do they end up chasing or
playing?

My dogs have often teased each other with chewies or toys, by
sticking it in the other one's face, usually ending up in a game
of tug or chase, but I've never seen them engage in a protracted
ritual like this one.

FurPaw


I've seen my dogs do it, but I don't ALLOW games like this, and crate
them, or take away "coveted items", until they learn to eat them, enjoy
them, or loose them, but let's not play games with resource guarding.. OK?

Resource guarding simply is not allowed. It saves much problems later.
It's a symptom that needs to be trained, unless guarding issues are not
much concern in a household.

And as i watch the many issues of multidogs of the many posters here, and
yet have never had any issues, in my own household, I'm wondering if
interdog aggression is really a breed thing, or a pack leader control
thing. Or both.


I know in my household, stuff like that is NOT ALLOWED. And therefore
can't develop into something else.

diddy wrote:

I know in my household, stuff like that is NOT ALLOWED. And therefore
can't develop into something else.

You're probably right that it should never be allowed... I've
probably been lucky, but it (almost) never went beyond play for
my dogs.

Only twice that I saw... Once, Chile walked over to Dylan's dish
and started to help herself while Dylan was eating - I think
Dylan was about a year old at the time. I noticed this happening
just as Dylan growled and snapped at Chile. Dylan found herself
thrown on the floor with me roaring in her face. (Not a smart
move, I know, I reacted without thinking.) It never happened
again, and I never saw Dylan growl or even curl a lip in the
Chihuahuas' direction.

Once it involved a 'doggie crack' item - pig ears. Oppie
finished his first and walked in Dylan's direction. Dylan
growled. Firm NO, put both dogs in a down-stay, and I took the
pig ear away from her. That was the last time I saw any
snarkiness over a resource.

But I may have just been dodging bullets.

FurPaw

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.

FurPaw spoke these words of wisdom in
:


Once it involved a 'doggie crack' item - pig ears. Oppie
finished his first and walked in Dylan's direction. Dylan
growled. Firm NO, put both dogs in a down-stay, and I took the
pig ear away from her. That was the last time I saw any
snarkiness over a resource.

But I may have just been dodging bullets.



That's because you did NOT allow it. You handled the situation
appropriately

diddy wrote:
FurPaw spoke these words of wisdom in
:

Once it involved a 'doggie crack' item - pig ears. Oppie
finished his first and walked in Dylan's direction. Dylan
growled. Firm NO, put both dogs in a down-stay, and I took the
pig ear away from her. That was the last time I saw any
snarkiness over a resource.

But I may have just been dodging bullets.

That's because you did NOT allow it. You handled the situation
appropriately

Yeah... but I did allow the teasing games. I would have
intervened if I'd seen them turning snarky.

FurPaw


--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.

"FurPaw" wrote in message
. ..
diddy wrote:
FurPaw spoke these words of wisdom in
:

Once it involved a 'doggie crack' item - pig ears. Oppie
finished his first and walked in Dylan's direction. Dylan
growled. Firm NO, put both dogs in a down-stay, and I took the
pig ear away from her. That was the last time I saw any
snarkiness over a resource.

But I may have just been dodging bullets.

That's because you did NOT allow it. You handled the situation
appropriately

Yeah... but I did allow the teasing games. I would have
intervened if I'd seen them turning snarky.

FurPaw


I used to play teasing games with my murphy all the time. But she was a
special and unique dog. Of course I never play them with Gracie,
different breed dog, different temperament, different thought process, etc.
Murphy and I used to *talk* to each other all the time. Sometimes while
playing with her, I'd give her a new nyla bone. She'd be all into chewing
on it and I'd come over, usually she was laying on my bed doing the chewing,
and tell her "murphy, momma wants that boney!" She'd promptly growl at me
under her breath. The more forceful I'd say the words, the more forcefully
she'd growl back at me. I could lay my face right beside her head and tell
her "murphy, momma *wants* that boney!" But then I'd change my tone of
voice to a pleading "Murphy, momma really wants that boney, please??" To
which she'd promptly change her *reply* to me to a sort of
whine/whimper/pleading sound. I could reach over and take her bone from her
at any point in time without any fear. She would give it up immediately.
We just sort of enjoyed the game of talking back and forth between us.

She had so many games we played together. One of her favorites was me
hiding the treats around a room and her finding them. She loved to do that.
I'd make her sit and stay in a separate part of the house while I busily hid
treats. Then I'd say *OKAY*, and she'd come flying into the room to hunt
down treats. The more obscure places I found to hide them, the more fun she
had.

We, dh and me, also played a lot of hide and seek with her. One of us would
hide somewhere in the house and then she'd have to 'find momma' or 'find
daddy'. It just used to crack me up when I'd follow her into a room and
watch her look into the waste basket to see if perhaps daddy might be hiding
in there. ;-]

She was such a great girl, a one in a million dog.

td




--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.

On Sep 19, 8:17 am, FurPaw wrote:
teleflora wrote:
I expected it from my little brother, but what possible instinctual behavior
could this teasing be based on?

An Eeevul gene? I have no idea, but it must be really funny to
watch! Do they ever get into a fight? Do they end up chasing or
playing?


Nope this is different than "let's play". And they don't fight over
it, Maggie is much too polite to just grab the chewy. Now if Starr
leaves it laying for some reason, Maggie figures it's fair game. Then
Starr comes to wherever I am and whines and jumps around me until I go
retrieve her chewy and give it back to her.

This is the only area where Starr has it over Maggie and she uses it
like a weapon. Maggie is bigger and stronger than Starr and Starr
defers to her all the time. Since Starr can control her gluttony and
Maggie can't, Starr wins this game.

"teleflora" wrote in message:

I expected it from my little brother, but what possible instinctual
behavior
could this teasing be based on?

My dogs play musical rawhides, and they're allowed to since it follows
certain rules (finders keepers, and no, you're not allowed to bully anyone
and take their stuff away). While Khan has never done the sort of thing
you've mentioned, Pan often does. Once she has something she wants, she'll
go to great lengths to show that she has it, and will make a production out
of lying down and chewing on it, often right under Khan's nose, as if to
taunt him. No idea why she does it, except to say that she's being Da Big
Bitch.

Suja

diddy none said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

My dogs have often teased each other with chewies or toys,
by sticking it in the other one's face, usually ending up
in a game of tug or chase, but I've never seen them engage
in a protracted ritual like this one.

I've seen my dogs do it, but I don't ALLOW games like this,
and crate them, or take away "coveted items", until they
learn to eat them, enjoy them, or loose them, but let's not
play games with resource guarding.. OK?

Teasing is in the eye of the beholder. I like that some dogs
are comfortable enough to offer a toy to initate a game.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.