Question for the "dog people"...

[Rocky]

As many of you know we have two dogs, a Standard Poodle (Gina) and a Miniature Poodle (Louie). They get along wonderfully but I am wondering if there is such a thing as "sibling rivalry" among dogs. The reason I ask is that Gina insists on eating and drinking out of Louie's bowls and vice versa. The thing that makes it comical is that Gina, being a rather tall dog, has a raised dog dish station and Louie's, being built close to the floor, has his bowls there. Gina has to lay down by Louie's bowl to eat and Louie has to stand up on the bowl station to reach the food. He can barely do so and in looks very uncomfortable for him.

Secondly, they both have beds in our bedroom. Louie's is about 15" x 18" and Gina's is 30" x 48" and guess what? Yes, Gina tries to sleep in Louie's bed (she can only get her rear end in it) and Louie lounges on Gina's gigantic bed.

Further, our daughter has two Poodles, a Standard, Marley and a Toy, Carlo and they do the same thing. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[cmason1957]

Oh yes there is "sibling rivalry" between dogs, more likely, it is just pecking order. I have two dogs, 100 lb golden retriever, 12 (well maybe 14) lb Chihuahua-Terrier Mix. We have a Golden sized dog carrier where the boys sleep. Guess who takes over the bed. Certainly not the big one.

My daughter comes over and brings her 90 lb American bulldog and his bed. The little one plops down in the middle of the bed and her bulldog sleeps on a tiny corner.

 

[JohnT]

I know that there is such a thing.

We had two dogs, Duke and Tango.

They were very competitive. If duke was on my lap getting petted, and tango wanted to come over and get petted too, Duke would growl at her. The reverse was also true, tango would growl at duke.

As for feeding, they would both race to get there own food finished as fast as possible. The winner could then go to the other's bowl and eat as much as he/she could get away with.

 

[dangerdave]

Same issue, here. We have a 100 lbs Black Lab (Jet) and a 10 lbs Jack Russell (Cinnamon). Guess who's in charge!

 

[jamesngalveston]

great read....pecking order is not just in human male/female...lol

 

[GaDawg]

If ya'll are interested in dog behavior I would recommend "How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain" by Gregory Berns. He has managed to teach dogs to lay still for a functional MRI.

 

[sour_grapes]

As for feeding, they would both race to get there own food finished as fast as possible. The winner could then go to the other's bowl and eat as much as he/she could get away with.

Ahh, I know this behavior well from being the youngest of a large, poor family.

 

[JohnT]

SG,

I grew up in a home with two other HUNGRY brothers. My dad always had a saying...

"He who eats the fastest, gets the most".

He wasn't kidding. My mom once claimed that she spent 2 hours cooking a huge dinner for us, set it on the table, turned to get some salt, and saw only a swirl of empty plates when she turned back.

 

[jswordy]

Same issue, here. We have a 100 lbs Black Lab (Jet) and a 10 lbs Jack Russell (Cinnamon). Guess who's in charge!

Of course the Jack Russell won. You've got to be a hard-headed owner to own that hard-headed Jack Russell! VIGILANCE is what is called for with those dogs.

My neighbor has a Jack Russell with the apt name Trouble. He left his house and left the dog behind with its buddy, Tiger, another JR. When he came back, the dog had gotten up on his bedroom dresser by hopping from the bed, dragged his wallet from there into the exact center of the living room, pulled out 8 crisp $100 bills from his payday, and torn each of them up into tiny bits. He didn't like being left behind!

The money was replaced, and the owner learned a lesson.

Heck yeah, there's rivalry. Dogs play dominance game with each other and with their owners, too. Like the time my wife and I looked at each other and realized we were sitting on the living room floor watching TV while our 3 mutts were up on the couch!

 

[LoneStarLori]

I have a 20lb long hair Chihuahua and a 50lb Vizla. The little one is definitely in charge.

as for humans, my husband grew up as #7 of 10 kids. He says he didn't know that a chicken had any edible parts other than a neck till we got married.