Critter behavior

It occurs to me that two dogs are playmates; three dogs are a pack.

After several days together, Abby’s presence has turned The Estate at Louisville into a doggie den. Sassafras has become the alpha dog. Abby wants to be the alpha but is simply not big or strong enough to do so; Sassafras can put her in her place almost immediately, and Abby shows all the classic signs of subordination to Sassy — tail tucked between legs; low, slinking posture; rolling over on back. Not so with Abby and Karma; neither will subordinate to the other. Abby often tries to hump Karma as a show of dominance and frustration, and Karma sometimes just takes it. That would seem to make Karma the bottom dog — except Karma obviously does not like it and will sometimes become assertive with Abby when she’s had enough of the humping and pulling on her tail. Karma fights more aggressively, but is not as big or strong as Abby, and the ongoing struggle for beta status remains indecisive. For instance, Abby and Karma chased each other in circles around the coffee table in the basement, and then wrestled and growled for about twenty minutes last night.

As I’m learning, cats react to proximity to the dog pack with aggression towards other cats. The kitties are doing much more sparring and fighting these days than I’ve observed in the past. I think Jordan is still upset about, and scared by, Abby. She’s taking out her frustrations on Ginger, who seems to relish the opportunity to fight back on the new cat in town. Interestingly, Ginger, who is one of the biggest scardey-cats I’ve ever met, has become completely placid about all three dogs — and quickly takes a more aggressive posture when sparring as compared to Jordan.