Dog Pack Mentality: Successfully Owning More Than One Dog

If you're going to add a second or third dog to your household, don't make the common mistake of not understanding dog pack mentality. All too often, the lack of understanding this programmed behavior can lead to disasterous results.
Comments on article "Dog Pack Mentality: Successfully Owning More Than One Dog"
Name Views and CommentsDate
amber we have 6 dogs and the eldest is being attacked and bitten lately by the two second most oldest every time shes around whats going on? 11/19/2009
Joey Palmer I was givin a american bulldog puppy. He was found with a brother, dad and mom as a pack. I am unable to get thru to the puppy,he is somewhat coming to follow my older dog, but the puppy refuses to socialize or even pay attention to me. He is always scared no madder how much love and petting I give him, tonight just like the first night here I got him he bolted for it into the woods. I guess my question is do you have any ideas to pull the puppy outta full blown dog pack mentality to human/puppie mentality, he does not act like a puppy, he doesnt play, well once or twice with my older dog. Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Thank you for your time...		 10/18/2009
Norma Murdoch Excellent. The only article so far that I was able to find to help with my particular concerns. Very clear with the exception of the second bulleted item. "This will work" (especially the "this") is momentarily confusing. 4/29/2009
helen we have a female jack daniel terrior and a male bischon friese and the female is attacking the male and drawing blood. Why? What should we do? 8/19/2007
Diana Divine Kelly Marshall wrote a nice article, but I don't think that she has a lot of experience in owning multiple dogs. The first thing you have to do is establish yourself as the alpha or all is lost. You also need to know how to "read" a dog’s body language and whether it might be necessary to step into a dispute or let it be resolved between the 2 dogs. When adding another dog, it’s usually best to let one of your current dogs pick out the addition - they know best which dog will fit in - we have used this approach and it works. You also have to realize that no matter how much you love a dog, if it is "damaged" - missing a leg, blind, etc - it really has no ranking in the "dog pack". This is not cruelty - in the wild, this dog would probably not have survived, but in your "pack" it is receiving loving care from you. Since you are the alpha, you eat first, and then feed the pack all together in one place. We have 3 dogs, 2 females (4 yrs old) and 1 male (3 yrs old) – all are neutered. All are loved – and yes, very spoiled, but know that I am the alpha. The 2 females have been "invited" into my bed, but must obey the rules or are ordered out. The "order" within their pack changes, without any friction – and they are inseparable. 8/18/2007
Else I have a couple pf puppies that seem to be the opposite of all of this! They are 9 month old littermate beagles male and female, the female got spayed, the male is intact, she is smaller, She is also dominant. She eats first, she gets the first toys, she makes sure she gets more attention and pets, and she will growl and bark and bite him if he doesnt listen. 6/13/2007
Susan M Excellent information, we have 4 large dogs, 1 small. So far we are doing the right thing. Main problem is barking. 4/17/2007
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