Having lived with Caucasian Shepherds for almost 30 years now, over time our house has evolved certain pack rules. By us, I mean myself, who lives with my dogs 24/7, and my sister, who stays with the dogs at least two days a week. Below I describe my life with more than 2 dogs based on my practical experience with Caucasian Shepherds.
Today there are 28 dogs in our house, all Caucasian Shepherds, both bred and bought. The age gap is currently 5 months to more than 10.5 years.
Sometimes we also have a guest dog who stays with us for up to a month, but we usually do not integrate it into a (whole) pack, but I still write a bit about possible joining, both as a puppy and as an adult. But first and foremost, in situations where the dog will stay with us forever.
Today there are 28 dogs in our house, all Caucasian Shepherds, both bred and bought. The age gap is currently 5 months to more than 10.5 years.
Sometimes we also have a guest dog who stays with us for up to a month, but we usually do not integrate it into a (whole) pack, but I still write a bit about possible joining, both as a puppy and as an adult. But first and foremost, in situations where the dog will stay with us forever.
So what makes several cohabiting dogs work as a pack?
The first rule is that the person is not a leader of the pack. Unbelievable, but so it is. A pack is a system that operates continuously and independently, where a person is not always present. After all, we all go to work and are away from home from time to time. However, human presence must in no way affect the functioning of the pack. Therefore, we simply take ourselves as human beings. Of course, our main job is to be loved and respected by dogs, but it has nothing to do with how dogs interact with each other. I will write about how to reach a level where your dog thinks you're the central point of the world, regardless of his pack, another time.
There is always an alpha dog in a pack, even with two members. When it comes to female and male dogs, it is simple - female is alpha. No matter how gentle or modest this female seems, her position will not be affected. People often have a misconception of how powerful, massive, and perhaps more aggressive male dog is as a leader, but ignor the very simple truth – leads the one who thinks, not the one who acts out. But what happens to the pack when there is no female? Basically, in this case, coexistence occurs, power struggles are normal in this case, but since there is no alpha to please, my experience shows that these fights are particularly marginal. But I also admit that we don't usually have a pack without a female. Never have had. However, moments where all females should have a heat at the same time, it might happen that we have only males work togther. Until such case if female smell is not spread too much, there are generally no problems in the all male pack. At the same time the fight to mate is pretty tough.
It gets interesting if there are more than two dogs or if both dogs are females. We've had tiny communities in our time - male and female and female and female and all four together. For a small pack, alpha is usually detected pretty quickly. However, it should not be forgotten that in a man-made pack (that is, the owner has chosen dogs for his/her home), it may not always be so easy that one is alpha and all others are subordinate. That's where those "pains" come from, because human intervention does not alter the congenital character of a particular dog.
There is always an alpha dog in a pack, even with two members. When it comes to female and male dogs, it is simple - female is alpha. No matter how gentle or modest this female seems, her position will not be affected. People often have a misconception of how powerful, massive, and perhaps more aggressive male dog is as a leader, but ignor the very simple truth – leads the one who thinks, not the one who acts out. But what happens to the pack when there is no female? Basically, in this case, coexistence occurs, power struggles are normal in this case, but since there is no alpha to please, my experience shows that these fights are particularly marginal. But I also admit that we don't usually have a pack without a female. Never have had. However, moments where all females should have a heat at the same time, it might happen that we have only males work togther. Until such case if female smell is not spread too much, there are generally no problems in the all male pack. At the same time the fight to mate is pretty tough.
It gets interesting if there are more than two dogs or if both dogs are females. We've had tiny communities in our time - male and female and female and female and all four together. For a small pack, alpha is usually detected pretty quickly. However, it should not be forgotten that in a man-made pack (that is, the owner has chosen dogs for his/her home), it may not always be so easy that one is alpha and all others are subordinate. That's where those "pains" come from, because human intervention does not alter the congenital character of a particular dog.
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