The Alpha and The Omega
When someone asks, "Who is the top dog at your house?" we all kind of look at each other for assistance. We're all dog adoption puppies. It's actually quite complicated. There is a strange lack of hierarchy. Linguini and I have seniority. If Linguini wasn't as sweet-natured as she is, we'd be in trouble. I was born an Alpha. Linguini is female, like me, plus she has seniority because of her age, and she was established for almost a decade before I barged into her life. Linguini does not care about titles though. She's happy to share everything with mini-me. When the Brat, the chiweenie, appeared into both our lives, there was no more room for top dogs. Frankie became the Omega.
Perhaps if I tried to use my demo photos, I could explain this better.
First, the Alpha spots the Omega
Meanwhile, the unaware Omega is basking in the sun
Then the Alpha pounces on the Omega
Clear demonstration of who the Alpha is
You guys know about pack mentality. There has to be a real pack leader. Who would that be? Our M is our Alpha and our Omega. She is also the fierce commander we all report to. She's like our PO. Nothing escapes her, and perhaps that's why we all live so peacefully and harmoniously together--and this includes the katz.
Who's the Alpha in your home?
* * *
Before I leave you to figure this out, I'd like to mention two things: 1. Twix, the doxie, is a two-time wiener-winner of my BOOK. She won one for Mango Minster 2010 and another one through my One World One Heart post. You lucky girl... 2. Darwin, the great dane, shocked me the other day. She put up this hilarious POST in which she included me. I just mentioned I wanted to play, and next thing I know I'm having a ball with her and Remi, the rhodesian ridgeback, and this other furiend, I don't know properly yet. Her name is Nala and she's a Rhodesian Ridgeback too. After reading her post today, I have the feeling she didn't even see me. My bad for being so tiny, since I'm a tea cup chihuahua, but maybe she could use some glasses. I'll head over there to suggest it now, but first: Thank you Darwin!
Twink!
Our mom is our pack leader too....except when Bobo is just totally out of line and I pull his leg out from under him...BOL
ReplyDeleteWags and Licks,
Mollie Jo & Bobo
Hi Twinkie, Gee that is all quite complicated, butt... before my mom and dad adopted me... I think I might have been farther back than even Omega. Now... I am just the One and Only.
ReplyDeleteI think your pack has worked this all out to purrrrfection (my attempt to include the Kats) though. I'm just sayin'.
Love ya ALL
Hmm. TaiChi is the Grand Dame of the house, but doesn't really involve herself in daily activities. And I have never been "top dog" - When I first came to Mom and Dad, my late brother Ben (a standard poodle) kept me in line, and then TaiChi and Bufus took over, and now, I hate to admit it, but Abby might be a generally more dominant dog than me. I'm bigger for now, but she's often the aggressor when we play. BUT, she gets locked up in a crate when Mom and Dad are gone, so I'm still in charge. For now....
ReplyDelete*kissey face*
-Fiona
The answer to your question "who is Alpha in your house" is
ReplyDeleteME ME ME ME ME ME ME....aka Madi
But we bet you knew that!! HA
What darling pictures of you being Alpha(sweet sister) over Frankie...we can tell you are just playing though.
Madi and Mom
Hi ya Twink!
ReplyDeleteAriel thinks she is the Alpha but us humans really know that Mr. Chips is the Alpha king!
xxoo
Deborah
Hey there Omega girl! We have the same lack of hierarchy here too. Mason lets me think I'm top dog, but mom says he just doesn't care!! Oh, hey - think I found a photo to enter into the napping contest. You might say I'm already an award winning napper when you see it BOL! I WAS gonna let you have this contest to yourself, but since you mentioned it again...
ReplyDeleteCompetitive Snorts-
Brutus the Frenchie
hehehe! We had fun getting you in on the action! hehe.
ReplyDeleteWe only have Darwin, but even with just her, she's totally the alpha and any dog we get to be her sister or brother will have to accept that!
Well I would say it's truly a mix of who is actually in charge at our house... I'm definitely the human in charge, but which pup is Alpha???!!! The kiddlets really seem to switch off being dominate and submissive. But if you really need an answer, I would say Captain is overall Alpha!
ReplyDeletexo martine & the kiddlets
PS: twix is one lucky girl!!
Hi Twinkie, it's our mum! Other than that we take it in turns!
ReplyDeletelove
Martha & Bailey xx
I only have one boss, my mom. But the little brother has two, mom and me. BOL
ReplyDeleteWaggles,
Bijou
Twinkie....thanks I got it now...!!!
ReplyDeleteD I V A!!!
OH MY DOG!!!! You keep me on my tippy toes for sure.
ReplyDeleteMadi
NATRUALLY you're alpha! In our house, it's easy to think that Loki is our alpha becuase he's such an "in your face-play-with-me" doggie. He can be a bully too. but bullies do not make leaders. Leaders do not need to be strong or pushy to demonstrate their leadership. we've had several doggie behaviorists/trainers here and each one said "wow! Juno's your alpha!" (shockingly because she's so quiet) because they observed how she led him and how she took control w/o force and how Loki always bows to her even if he tries to bully her into play, he'll always bow to her demands. Juno doesn't have a naughty bone in her body (for dogs, anyway, but for shoes, that's another story). so she'll never lead through force. but she'll always expect her leadership position (after mine of course) and part of her "issues" with Mr. Wild Dingo was his inability to see her as alpha, often letting Loki dominate him like Mr. WD was his personal toy. we fixed that and now Juno's much better with Mr. WD and he sees her as the boss of Loki anyway! Loki's happy as long as he gets his training time. And both are extremely packed on to eachother.
ReplyDeletesame with us as me and Mr. WD as bosses: no fights, even with visiting doggies because I'm boss and I say they need to behave even with visiting doggies. They understand because even when visiting doggies come, i still treat them above the visiting dogs. One visiting doggie jumped up on our chair and sofa and I made him get down because he's a visitor and does not belong up there, even if my own dogs were allowed up there! I give my dogs the respect of rank they deserve when visitors come to play with them! And there have never been any issues with doggies who come to play.
hey twinkles, go visit wild dingo... we got your calendar a few days ago. we LOVE it! go see our post!
there's a really great study about stray dogs in I "think" a country in Europe. Can't remember where but there was a line in it that said the alpha dog of the pack was NOT the strongest but the smartest. smartest about surviving and getting food. others would learn from that dog. it was very interesting. i'll have to go find it/dig it out.
ReplyDeleteYou know I'm the Alpha dog, baby!!!
ReplyDeleteOk, so I'm the only dog at our house, but I'm still Alpha!
Luv,
Cloud
PS. I was also Alpha over my angel brudder Benny when he was still wiff us. I can't help it, I'm bossy...
Hhhmmmm....now that Keisha isn't with us any longer us boys don't know who is in charge. We just kinda wing it....
ReplyDeleteI think YOU should be in charge!
Yepper Twink you are definitely one of the Alpha's.. That Frankie better look out.. hehe
ReplyDeleteOh Twinkie, Mom has made it easy for you to tell who is who with the Red's. Callie has the red collar and Louie and black collar... It was Louie on top.. Now just wait till we need new collars, then you will really be confused...
Oh Callie is the littlest one too. She thinks she is big and bad though..
Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie
Like most movie stars, I don't have a pack, I have an entourage.
ReplyDeleteWe have a split - Nigel and Sola defer to each other at times. Truffles in only interested in leading a line to the food bowl...
ReplyDeleteOh, we all know that Mom's the alpha!
ReplyDeleteBunny
but of course coco chanel is the most alpha in our pibble house
ReplyDeleteher highness has ruled the pibble kingdom for all her 6 yrs and she will never be dethroned
buwa ha haha ha
pibble sugars
coco chanel
teehee
Thanks fur explaining your pakhk's dynamikhs so furry well!
ReplyDeleteHugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Who is pack leader? The one with the food, of course!
ReplyDeleteOur mom is the alpha but we can both be pretty bossy too sometimes!
ReplyDeleteLove ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch
How come I'm not surprised at who is the leader? :)
ReplyDeleteStarr is the leader in our house for sure.
ReplyDeleteWe think the pouncer better run for cover BOL
ReplyDeleteBenny & Lily
Grammy is Alpha, Papa is Alpha 1a, GrandPaw is Alpha 1b and OC is Alpha Dog, though as she is getting older, Dott is grooming to take over that spot. BG is over the pups who are still working on positioning, though Mercy will probably come out on top there. Auntie Sadie is Omega!
ReplyDeleteHey there Twink girl,
ReplyDeleteI have always been the top gal around here. But lately Ms. Betty has been testing the waters and it's makin' me mad! The other day she tried to get me to play by biting the little love rolls on my back. I got so mad I ran after her. She cried like a baby and of course mom came running out and who do you think got in trouble???? That's right! ME! *sigh*....
Love,
Stella
Halle the standard poodle is the Grande Dame, even though she just arrived in January 2010. She is bigger than the others and more experienced at age 11. Ginger is in charge of all poodle fights and drama, and Toby and Jeter are two great buddies. xoxo
ReplyDeleteBilbo and I share the alpha responsibilities...He is in charge of Mama and Daddy...and I am in charge of him!!
ReplyDeleteSmileys!
Dory
Well duh, who do you think is top dog in our house? Momma says that she is sorry because she was hoping PeeWee would become the boss doggie. Huh? She also says that I am only top dog because I am a big bully who uses my size to get my way. And that is a problem because???
ReplyDeleteSlobbers,
Mango
You have it all worked out at your house Twinkie. I am of course in charge here. Ambrose is such a goofy adolescent that he always defers to me and we are going to keep it that way!!
ReplyDeleteYour friend,
Niamh
Mom is the pack leader here, too. Thankfully I don't have to bother with the stuff!
ReplyDeleteBajas
I am the leader here in my house!
ReplyDeleteEveryone does what I want!
Hmmm... I am not so sure if that is good or not!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza
Hey hey you! Great post...well...mom and I do seem to struggle for top spot... I would love to be top around here...but, hmmmmmmm not happening.
ReplyDeleteGreat writing Twink!!
Hugs and snaggle-tooth kisses,
Sierra Rose
We think Frankie is too laid back to be the alpha, us chihuahuas are much more bossy.
ReplyDeleteIn our house we would say Bridget is the alpha, Dip occasionally challenges that and we fight and Elliot is getting to be a cheeky little devil so he might take over some day.
Wags, Dip Bridge and Elliot xx
Twinkie and Mom...We wanted to drop in to say BOW-WOW GOOD JOB...we had no idea you were a published authoress!! We read all about your book over on Twix blog. Congrats on your Twinkie book. Can it be purchased on the East Coast? Mom is a avid reader she will check to see if she can find some of 'your' books locally.
ReplyDeleteMadi and Mom
Hi Twinkie, it took me a minute but I finally spotted you...next time you will have to make yourself known. I LOVE playing with doggies of your stature. ;)
ReplyDeleteKisses,
Nala
Great pictures!
ReplyDeleteI'm not worrying too much about Chrome now. Once I get past the worst case scenario, panicky stage I'm good. I've been spending a lot of time out with him just hugging him and being around him. I feel his joints constantly and I haven't felt any heat or swelling or fluid. :)
Congratulations at kicking butt at the horse show! Wish I could have been there. I miss going to horse shows. Thanks for the sweet comments and reassurances.