Thursday, November 15, 2007

Dog dynamics.

I was walking in the hills with Chuck today along with a friend of mine and her dog ...the dogs are good buds, and partners in crime.

Nona, my friend's dog is a greyhound, and a diva who is unafraid of anything or any dog however aggressive, and she defends my wimpy Chuck frequently, and so, with his bud by his side he grows much more assertive than he would otherwise be...today being a case in point....there are some folks here who leave their dogs unleashed and wandering. Unfortunately most of these dogs are not fixed, male or female, so their interactions have an intensity I am not used to seeing. There is one male who frequently joins us....he lords it over Chuck, being a freaking enormous German shepherd, but defends him against others...as in, "that's my whipping boy, thankyouverymuch". I don't really like him very much, but it is difficult to make him go away.

Part way through our walk we met a trio of other loose dogs. Giant Shepherd, Nona the greyhound, and the usually timid and friendly Chuck get into it....Chuck gets in further than he likes and finds himself cornered....I had to wade in yelling at this point....the dogs are very obedient to humans, well, at least they go away when you tell them to. As an aside I am learning more Catalan swear words during these interactions. A truly educational event.

Once I worked him out of the corner, Chuck decided he had had enough and trotted rapidly and contentedly down the road with Nona pulling up the rear...behind her the Giant G.S. Interestingly, as we looked back a little later, the enormous GS was sitting, just sitting in the middle of the road while Nona and Chuck retreated into the distance. The other three dogs were standing looking edgily at us as we retreated and more nervously at Giant GS....If I had been faster I would have taken a photo....Chuck seems to be the wimpiest of the lot, he isn't as big and has no where near as much attitude. For which I am glad.


It is interesting watching the inter-dynamics of the dogs...who hates whom and who likes whom...who beats up on whom and who defends whom....there is a very interesting interplay of size attitude and gender that goes on....


That said, I am not sure how much fun it all is.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty funny. Our pets have some similar ways. If the cats get into a fight, George the dog goes in and breaks it up...but side with any cat that isn't named Minnie.

Anonymous said...

It is interesting how the animals interact. To add to Sirdar's comment, if Minnie is on our bed first, George is too nervous to jump up. If he does, she growls ferociously at him, and he tries to go to the pillows. If George is there first, Minnie will jump up quietly and lay beside him, sometimes backs touching. They are such strange creatures.

Angel said...

I really enjoy watching animals, dogs in particular, inter act with each other.

My female dog is fixed but she is THE DIVA in this house. She eats first, she drinks first...everything. If Trooper is drinking water, she just comes up and PUSHES him out of the way...and he lets her. He's so timid, but will bark like crazy if she's outside with him...to protect him.

Go get 'em Chuck!!!!!

oreneta said...

Sirdar: The dynamics ofthechanging groups are fascinating....aren't they....

Dawn: There does seem to be a dominance element to it...and a first come first servd issue too....I am more interested than I expected I would be.

Beth: We were laughing when I told the girls about the incident...a doggie version of 'my Dad's bigger than your Dad', except for Chuck, and Trooper it seems, it is more a case of, 'my girlfriend's bigger than your girlfriend'
*Nyanny nyanny pooo poooo*