'Posturing' - Challenging for Pack Status

Anytime I have a dog that returns from being away at dog shows, or have a visiting dog, the pack status has to be reassessed, it seems. Noisy and nervous-making for some people, but perfectly normal canine activity.

The introduction of another adult dog into the existing group should be done carefully and with supervision. Usually all goes relatively smoothly - just the regular butt-sniffing and challenging behavior that you would expect. With very assertive dogs (and I have a few), there can be a fair bit of posturing accompanied by some growls. If the new dog is quite submissive I need to be careful of the number of dogs I expose it to initially. The others can decide to gang up on it and if not controlled the situation can turn nasty.

If someone should step in protectively too quickly it may communicate the wrong message to the dogs. They may perceive that perhaps you need protecting or that the other dog is weak. Almost always the pack does its own handling of "who's the boss" very well themselves and the less interference from us the better.

The key to good supervision is being able to read the dogs' verbal and non-verbal signals correctly. Does one of the dogs turn his head so that there is not eye-to-eye confrontation happening? That's good. Wagging tail? Good. Raised hackles? Not good. Lifting upper lip and Baring teeth? Not so good.

Challenging another dog is one thing; full out aggression is quite another. A little growling and even a little tussling is part of the natural process of figuring out what the pecking order of the pack will be, but don't allow it to disintegrate into the kind of fighting where one or more of the animals could get injured.

Usually within 10 minutes the whole group is running and socializing and getting along famously. Each comfortable with their understanding of their place in the pack.