Multiple Dog Household--Can't we all just get along?

I recently had a case where I was called into a couple's home to help them with their dogs' door barking and house training issues. I helped Brian and Jan* with the problems I had been called for, but as is usually the case, I get to observe and hear about other challenges clients are having with their dogs.

Jupiter is the 8 year old male Dachshund mix who, other than the door barking, is as calm as an eggplant, and everyone knows eggplants are way calmer than those wackadoodle cucumbers. Tigger is a 10 month old male Dachshund rescue who has a bit more energy and lacks some manners, but he'd never be sent to the principal's office.

What was interesting was watching Jupiter and Tigger interact. Tigger would jump up on a person and Jupiter would try to bump him with his nose or body, nip at him or hump him. Brian and Jan told Jupiter to stop and they expressed how frustrated they were with Jupiter. Apparently Jupiter was often "picking" on Tigger like this. Sometimes it escalated into noisy fights, but neither dog was ever hurt.

"Does Jupiter jump on people?" I asked.

"Oh no," they both agreed. "He's so good, he knows not to do that. He's the perfect dog other than this picking on Tigger."

They said that Tigger still jumps up and they feel guilty because they know they encourage it because it's amazing how high he can jump.

This is where I always wish I had a monocle that I could theatrically remove from my face. "So Jupiter knows that jumping isn't allowed," I started, sans monocle, "But you let Tigger jump up without addressing it, you even encourage it?"

I explained that Jupiter is the older dog and had been in their home the longest, so he's the Alpha dog. Jupiter is trying to teach Tigger the house rules but he's not getting any support from the human pack members. He even gets admonished for his efforts. Of course the humans needed to establish leadership over the dogs, however it would be natural that Jupiter be next in line and Tigger be Omega dog (Alpha--first, Omega--last: It's all Greek to me).

This is not unfair to have a pecking order in the household. In what sane human household would the two year old have more control and say-so than the 18 year old? That would be ridiculous.

"No Tommy, let your baby brother scream and tear around the house like a banshee. Isn't that cute?"

Suddenly Brian and Jan no longer saw Jupiter's behavior as "bad," but that he was trying to help them train Tigger. With this new perspective, we watched as Tigger would jump up on me and Jupiter would move in between me and Tigger or try to redirect Tigger by getting him to play.

By looking at Jupiter's behavior under a different light, the couple had a new-found respect for Jupiter and praised him. They also decided to back his play and no longer allow Tigger to jump up. House rules would be the same for every dog.

"Your insights into our dogs were transforming. We are basically mellow people and understand that behavior doesn't just come out of the blue. For you to explain why our dogs behave the way they do will help us relate better to them." --Brian


*All names have been changed, dogs pictured not actual dogs. Story and quote is true and factual.