Seeking Alpha

Everybody wants to be the "top dog", right?

One of Cooper's many quirks is he thinks he has to be the Alpha Dog of the pack. He is in constant turmoil trying to be the Alpha Dog yet be further down in the "pack" pecking order.

We've been working on leash training the dogs during their daily walks. In theory, Valerie and I are the "pack leaders" (we'll leave who is the true pack leader up to your imagination). As such, the dogs should be walking slightly behind us as we stroll down the street. If they get ahead of us, they get a forceful jolt on the collar followed by the most annoying buzzing sound. They both generally get it when they're walking alone.

When I walk them together, it's a different story. Cooper stays about one step behind me but one step ahead of Otis. You can tell from his gait that he knows he's going to get yanked back if he goes one more step up, but there's no way he's going to let Otis get ahead of him. If I stop walking, Cooper stops for a second to make sure Otis stops.

Otis is really a happy-go-lucky type of dog. He's happy to play second fiddle just as long as he is around people. Cooper is, shall we say, a little more neurotic. Every now and then we will give the dogs a stick of rawhide. Otis is happy as a clam to grab his and start grinding away at it right on the family room floor. Cooper, on the other hand, takes his bone and brings it upstairs to "hide" it. He then comes back down to Otis and sits and whines the whole time Otis is gnawing at his bone. He's even tried to snatch it out of Otis' grasp a couple times, but has learned that's probably not a wise choice. About two minutes before Otis is done, Cooper will run back upstairs, bring his bone downstairs and proceed to start chewing it just as Otis is finishing up. Maybe it's just because Cooper is a smaller dog, but I swear he takes his time while poor Otis just sits there watching.

These two couldn't be more different.