Dominant behaviour!!!!!

[andrewp35]

I have a 4 year old Female and kept back 2 pups from a litter i had last summer so their around 8 months old now.Paddy the male pup will sometimes playfight with snowdrop his litter sister then Angel will mount him LOL Is this dominant behaviour? and will this stop in the future atall? it is funny to watch,specially As the one mounting is a bitch LOL

[dodger]

it is definatly dominant behaviour my bitch does this to my dog has done since a pup she is 14 months now and is still doing it

[andrewp35]

funny that .It only happens when the pups have been playing.Is the older bitch trying to tell him to stop as he is much bigger and overpowering i wonder?

[dodger]

i dunno there from the same litter the dog aint than interested in her too much he never seems to mount her its always the other
way around

[jjbulls]

this is defo dominant behaviour, but they are all in the "pack" so to speek & are still young dogs .. perhaps when his testostrone kicks in about 1 year onwards the rolls may change ...!

[dog]

Humping can be an assertive behaviour and is just a dog trying to dominate but that doesn't neccasarily mean the dog is dominant. You'll have to wait and see how things turn out because as JJ mentions once the testosterone really kicks in it will be a very different game.

I try and allow my dogs to sort out their dominance issues and I don't interfere in it as alot of people do. I only get involved when real aggression is shown and make it clear that aggression will not be tolerated. Others might be different but it seems to work for me.

[dodger]

thanks owen thats confirmed what i thought she was doing i dont really get involved with the dogs to much just let them get on with it but knowing little dodger it probaly givs him the horn i know id get the horn if some girl was trying to hump me lol

[Jessica]

Raising litter mates closely is quite complex when it comes to dog psychology and can lead to certain behavioral issues if not done correctly.
I will find some old articles and studies i have and send them over - Its very interesting and as you read them things will fall into place.

[ragingstormkennels]

I have 2 litter mates (male and female) and have found the female often mounts the male...... he tends to stand there without a care in the world, but I do find that the female is the bossier one.
Their Mum has, in the past, mounted them both (individually of course) and still keeps them "under manners" if you like. Although she makes a lot of growling noise when shes telling them off, she has never hurt them - (she normally does this if they jump all over her while shes sleeping).
I personally have allowed the Mum to dominate her pups and they have always been submissive to her....... I have found that problems start when the pecking order isnt established.
Its very very rare for a bitch to hurt her pups so if from the very start you allow her to dominate them, the pups will grow up having that respect for her and their pecking order.
Obviously this is just my experience and I wouldnt want to say everything will be fine, just incase its not.
But like Owen says I think the less intervention from the human the better........I have made the mistake of intervening and stopping the natural dominance issues being sorted and have 2 girls that dont get on and never will........but I also now have 5 dogs that will sleep and play together, because their pecking order has been established between them, with my supervision ...thats all.
Hope this helps

[andrewp35]

Thanks for all your veiws.I dont generally get involved with them either ,but occasionally when aggression is shown which is usually Paddy the 8 month dog over Angel the 4 year old.Snowdrop the other bitch usually stays well out of it at all times.Bless her.The only issue i have is when Paddy gets slightly older and bigger and does try to overpower Angel, if she will let him or not we shall have to wait and see.

[paddy]

Feb 24, 2010 17:11:32 GMT andrewp35 said:

I have a 4 year old Female and kept back 2 pups from a litter i had last summer so their around 8 months old now.Paddy the male pup will sometimes playfight with snowdrop his litter sister then Angel will mount him LOL Is this dominant behaviour? and will this stop in the future atall? it is funny to watch,specially As the one mounting is a bitch LOL

I would be more concerned about keeping mother and daughter together...could well end in tears in the future

[andrewp35]

Paddy why do you say that?on the wholeThey all get on really well together!

[paddy]

Shes only 8 month...a pup...in 12 months time when shes an adult it could be a whole differnt story...i know there are those out there that keep same sex Staffords together...but in my opinion they are the exception rather than the rule...most will tolerate the oppersite sex...but keeping a bitch+bitch or dog+dog is liable to end in trouble somewhere along the line...you may well find that the male pups dominance will spill over into squabbles that will kick all 3 dogs off in to a full scale tear up...then you got problems!...keeping 3 staffs together like that your running a risk...you should be aware of that...all the best with em!

[andrewp35]

Cheers for the advice paddy ill have to just keep my eye on it.