dominant behavior?

[James Hepler]

I dogsat for two black labs last weekend. They came over to my house
for three or four days. I share my space with a 1 year old border
collie. Jojo, the border collie, was a real jerk! He would play with
them, as long as they played with certain toys. I understand that. But
when it came to eating, it seemed like Jojo wouldn't let the two labs
near their food. We ended up solving it on days when we were home by
locking Jojo outside while the two labs ate. But on days when my wife
and I had to work, there was no one to do that, and I'm not sure if the
labs ate. I'm just wondering if this is normal dominance type behavior,
or if there is something I need to worry about before getting a second
dog to keep Jojo company. And advice, or info would be greatly
appreciated.

James Hepler
http://www.unc.edu/~hepler

[Lwcollier]

hep...@email.unc.edu wrote:

>But
>when it came to eating, it seemed like Jojo wouldn't let the two labs
>near their food.

Naturally a dog who is used to being the top dog in his home isn't going to let
visiting dogs eat if he can steal their food. And the other dogs, knowing that
this isn't their turf, weren't in a position to defend their food from him.

However, other than hogging up the food, your dog does NOT appear to be
dog-aggressive, so should be able to adjust to a second dog, should you decide
to get one. You'll probably be best off getting a puppy as his companion, as
puppies are very submissive, which should make Jojo feel comfortable.

We did this, and our two dogs now eat side by side, except that if we place the
female dog's food bowl too close to the male's she won't eat the food,
presumably out of submission. You will probably have to feed the new dog
separately at first, until Jojo gets used to having another dog around. at meal
time.

Being a young dog himself, I don't see why Jojo can't learn new habits.

Lisa

[James Hepler]

Thanks very much!

James Hepler

--
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease" -3.2.3