Top Dog

Four of Linda's dogs in Tucson, as seen through her back yard's sliding glass door.  Ralph is the dog at upper right, facing away and barking at the back alley.

Today on Facebook, Doug B. described the near-demise of Tequila the Chicken:

The chickens and turkey decided that Tequila needed to die, so they all ganged up on her in a massive peck fest. Digby, the turkey, towered over the poor bird, stepping on her while she drover her beak into the poor bird's head repeatedly. We just managed to rescue her from certain death.

Animals can be brutal.

That reminded me when I was a kid in Corrales, NM. In those days, dogs often ran free of fences and restraint, so when a dog next door went into heat, we suddenly found a lot more unfamiliar dogs in our midst.

Among those dogs were the three dogs from the Mapstone's place: a Doberman, a German Shepherd, and some sort of smaller dog - like a Dachsund-cross. We were playing out back when these three dogs crossed through the yard, focused on their goal and oblivious to our presence, and aiming straight for the neighbor's fence. We were perturbed by the presence of the two intimidating military-style dogs, in particular, and inadvertently moved closer to them as we tried to coordinate a response with the neighbor kids.

Apparently the small dog got in the way. All of a sudden, the Doberman and German Shepherd turned on the small dog, and in about three harrowing seconds, they tore into it, tossed it into the air, and killed it right in front of us!

We were aghast. If the dogs would kill their own housemate for nothing, what wouldn't they do to us? Not wanting to attract undue attention to ourselves, we SLOWLY withdrew and went inside our homes.

On my recent visit to dance teacher Linda Walker in Tucson, dog politics once again proved dicey.

Linda has five dogs:  one much-older dog, three medium-age dogs, and a more-aggressive young dog named Ralph.  In order to keep the aggression in check, Linda (Alpha Dog) makes sure that the dogs are fed in hierarchical order, with the youngest, Ralph, fed absolutely last.  Departure from the hierarchy for any reason just causes trouble, and is not tolerated.

Linda has to keep the oldest dog completely separate from the other dogs.  So, as she closed the house in order to bring the oldest dog inside, and to feed it as well, I ended up outside, enjoying the company of the other four dogs.

I was having a good visit, when Ralph noticed that my position in the hierarchy was not established as of yet.  So, he began leaning against me and biting my hands and legs.  The bites were not enough to puncture the skin, but enough to cause discomfort.  The bites were quickly growing stronger.

The other dogs had taken no notice as of yet to Ralph's challenge.  I sensed an attack, possibly a pack attack, might be imminent, however, and so while saying soothing things to Ralph, I SLOWLY started moving to the sliding glass door.  It was VERY IMPORTANT not to shout to Linda (who was in no position to help anyway), or to convey any fear or discomfort, or to attract the attention of the other dogs, but to simply ease my way out of the yard.  It took ten to fifteen seconds to accomplish, but I was able to ease my way out of the yard without harm and without provoking a dreaded pack attack.

I'm sure Ralph was disappointed.  Who was that guy, and where did he belong, exactly?