new pack members
I recently acquired a new pack member. I purposely chose a small male, as my larger female is usually dominant, and reactive to challenges. They are both from pounds. I have implemented some of the dominance rules for my beloved bitch, as she was getting too sassy with strangers, and it became necessary to hire professional help. So now I have a younger, smaller, cuter male who she dominates. Sometimes we give her heck for being to rough with him. She sometimes gives him jabs, like a boxer - with her paws, just like a bully. They race around the yard, and he, being a bit silly tries to bite onto her tail, and chases her when she plays fetch. She's so focused on the balls, she tolerates quite a bit of crap. But every so often she growls and snaps, tells him to back away from her balls, and her body.
I'm still wondering, trying to figure out how much I should scold her for bullying him, to enforce my own leadership, or allow her to set her own limits and teach him to respect them.
I figured you might have some comments to make regarding the dominance issues here and how to apply them.
They do sleep in our room, on a mat, and they even have one couch they are allowed on. Should they be disallowed?
Opinions welcome and appreciated.
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