[ Post a Response | Rhodesian Ridgebacks And Friends ]
Posted by Alyssa on 9/27/2008, 11:22 am, in reply to "Re: This looks so much like Lucius!! (Or Charlie....)"
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I think in some cases it can be a situation where a dog senses a stronger leader, but that doesn't explain the situation at our house. The boys are definitely "my" dogs, but Lilly has recently decided that she belongs to my husband. I'm still the one who feeds them, so it's not a food thing. I think Lilly has just decided that "Dad is more fun" than I am!
And I have a friend whose two dogs adore me. I see them only a few times a year, but the situation is a lot like what was described in that article. If I took them home with me, they'd be overjoyed.
One of the boys my breeder had for a long time (8 or 9 years) went to go stay for a weekend at one of her friend's homes while they took her girl to a show (a temporary trade since there's only so much room in the dog truck). The female that stayed with him was more than happy to go home with the breeders when they came back to collect the dogs -- but the male refused to get into the truck and kept going back to her friend. She had always loved Monte, so when Monte made it clear that he wanted to stay, he did. Monte made that choice.
Dogs do have preferences. I think we would underestimate dogs' intelligence and emotional being to make it solely a pack order thing (although I'm sure part of that comes into play).
-- Alyssa.
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