MADOR STORY Chapter 6 - Relationship between Alex and Mador

The beginning

One must pay extreme attention to keep two large breed males together, that they live in peace together, following the hierarchy, being member of the common pack. During Alex's training, I have the conclusion that no matter his size and force, he listens to me, with positive methods he is perfectly traineable, he accepts me as the leader, he obeys to the whispered orders, in one word, he is a very sensitive dog. If I raise my voice, he's done something differently than I expected, and he'd try to correct himself and please me.

After a long decision-making process I bought another dog, a giant breed, and even a male: Mador. The main objective was to make Alex some company during my working hours, to extend his life of the dog aged 9 years old at that time by more movement and playing in his everyday life, and to have a baby-sitter and master for the puppy. Dogs learn a lot from each other (sometimes they learn things they shouldn't), and over the years, Alex has known my requirements. In a leonberger, apart from the mountain dog, I was also searching for the child-loving, warm, social character.

The first days

Dogs are able to learn things as routine in about 2 weeks, and in addition, I wanted to better supervise and observe the first period so I took vacation from work. When I took Mador home, I put him down to let Alex sniff him, but the only, dominant house protecting old Alex started to bark and attack so Mador went under the car (and then came out at my first call). For the first period, we've created a litte kennel around Mador's homemade house to separate the two dogs. Mador has shown his excellent, balanced character: when Alex barked at him furiously, he barked back and wanted to play with him, with the self-assurance of his all 3 months.

Mador is very good at latent learning as well: on day 4 he was able to open the kennel door by himself and played with Alex. At first, Alex hunted him and taught him what to do, later the situation was just the opposite: the old dog wanted some peace but the everrunning, everplaying puppy would not let him be calm.

Having a puppy around, in my opinion, had good effect on Alex: he's much more tolerant with other dogs. He lets Mador play for a long time, he'd even lay on his back as if he showed acceptance of dominance - but when he thinks the playing is enough, he lets Mador know exactly his wish by his barking and body language. At the end comes the usual licking and wagging tails: Mador would give big kisses to Alex to show his acceptance of peace and hierarchy.

I plaaaay with you

Behave, kid

It's ok

Dominance, hierarchy

In a dog pack, hierarchy is very important. The strongest, most suitable dog, the so-called "Alpha-male" would be the leader, the others accept him and follow him. In our case the dog pack consists of 2 dogs of different ages, but over time, both in size and substance, they will mean concurrence to each other. In order to prevent the problems, I, consciously, confirm the "Alex is first, Mador is second" principle. Many people think that one should beat (!) a large breed dog once in his life, but in my case, both physically and mentally, this is out of question.

Dogs would handle dominance issues not by spectacular fights but with very refined methods: maybe we, human, don't see them all, but they do communicate very effectively with each other by body language, gestures, voices, movements. It is a pure pleasure just watching them.

- interaction with the leader/owner

Both dogs compete to have the pack leader's (owner's) attention, they like being around me, they like being caressed. Training Mador requires a lot of time and energy. Alex is jealous when I spend my time with Mador: he'd come for a cuddle between Mador and me. When I sit down in the garden, if Mador comes too close to me, Alex would stand between us physically, under my hand, or he would lay down at my feet. If Mador tries to approach, Alex would growl and attack him. By now a look is enough and Mador knows his place.

- eating

Pray can first be eaten by the dominant dog so it is always Alex who gets his food first, both in the morning and in the evening (for Alex one meal a day would be enough but since Mador eats twice a day, Alex gets his share twice, too). Alex, just like Mador, has to sit first before eating, and when I tell him, he can start to eat. Before Mador gets his supplement tablets, Alex gets something to chow first. When they both finish their food, they check each other's bowls - maybe there is something left. This ritual is part of their everyday routine since the very beginning, one can foretell their every movement.

- protection of the territory

Alex is the real protector of the garden, he is very vigilant and would only bark if need be - he never barks just for fun. Mador is learning from Alex and if Alex barks, he would join too. It is always Alex who barks first, Mador can only be second - otherwise he gets barked too. Sometimes Alex has a nap then Mador would bark first just like if they had a schedule, but once Alex is awake the old order comes back.

The most important thing is that both dogs admit my dominance and they both obey to my orders - even if I only whisper them.

© Mador.hu