Yesterday when I came home from work, it was a nice day with a cool breeze blowing through the holler, so Mrs. JP had the windows and the back door open, and the dogs were able to come and go as they pleased; in, out, in, out. After the excitement of everyone greeting my arrival, the dogs ran back outside to play and I went in my room to change into some casual, comfortable attire. I had just gotten in the room when I heard a little bit of dog growling, which quickly increased into what I realized was an all out fight.
Mrs. JP states that Charlie and Scrappy were playing the stick game,
but when Daisy began to referee, for some reason it turned into an all out fight between Daisy and Scrappy. Knowing Scrappy, my guess is that she instigated it, but Daisy responded with a ferocity that, although normal for a GSD, not one we had seen directed at another pack member before.
Mrs. JP was screaming "NO", "NO", a command that Daisy should have responded to, but they were too engrossed in the all out battle. Corrie, who was in the kitchen, ran outside and proceeded to also jump into the fray on Daisy's side, so Daisy had little Scrappy by the throat, and Corrie was going at Scrappy also.
This all happened very quickly, and as soon as I recognized the sounds had gone from playing to serious, I turned and ran out toward the back yard, growling in my loudest alpha male voice, which usually sends dogs running for cover. This time, however, while the three innocent parties, Speedbump, Violet and Charlie, ran for cover, the three that were involved in the battle just did not realize I was coming. At my age, I just don't have the grace on my feet that I used to when I was younger. As I hit the back door, beyond which are two steps, a short concrete patio and then the ground, I stumbled. I was moving too fast to stop, but managed to stumble forward for a couple more steps before I completely lost it, and came flying right into the middle of the fight. Now you have to picture this. For those that have never met me in person, I'm a BIG guy, about six foot two, and weigh, well, quite a bit, somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 lbs. Now, picture me running out the back door out of balance, trying to recover my balance for about two steps, and finally going into a short horizontal flight pattern, bellowing like a barbarian all the way out.
Hearing my quick approach, Daisy turned Scrappy loose and they both fell back out of the way. Corrie was not so fortunate and before she could move, I landed on top of her. I managed to get both hands and one knee down first, so she was not hurt, just flattened to the ground a little. Her reaction was to quickly back out from under me, and which time, unfortunately, I moved my left hand to begin my recovery, and she instinctively bit it. Fortunately for me, she caught my hammy, calloused hand, so she barely broke the skin. I was not angry with her because I knew the bite was instinctive, and as soon as she realized what she had done, she ran in the house for cover. Mrs. JP initially thought I had broken my kneecap or something. As hard as I hit the ground, she was sure I had broken something, but I was fine so she proceeded to help me up as best as she could.
Now, besides the comedic value of the incident, what with my graceful and efficient method of breaking up the fracas, and all present agree that it was quite hilarious, I decided to blog this incident to let you know that yes, occasionally fights break out between the dogs. But we don't allow dogs to fight in our pack.
We are usually on top of things and able to stop the little "disagreements" from escalating, but when they do, we make sure to let the offending parties know that we are alpha, especially me, and that they are not allowed. After I recovered my composure a little (don't laugh, Mrs. JP!), I went inside and put Daisy, who was the most aggressive party, into a submissive state for a couple of minutes. I gave her the "DOWN" command, rolled her over on her back, and made her stay there for a couple of minutes while I kneeled over her and the other dogs walked around above her. It is a method for letting her know that she is not allowed to compete for the alpha position. We have used this method for several years and the dogs do indeed seem to understand the message and learn from it. Fights in our pack are very few and far between. I suspect that when both Mrs. JP and I have been absent from the house, there may have been some little animosities building over who lays on the bed or some such conflict. For a little while, we are going to separate the parties a little while we are gone to try and calm some of the animosities. Not that they are very evident. Mere minutes after the fight, everyone was calm and playing with each other as if nothing happened. Dogs live in the now. None of the dogs involved had any serious injuries, no broken skin nor bleeding. Scrappy did have a little swelling under her throat where Daisy had hold of her, but the swelling has gone down quite nicely.
And just in case you were concerned, my left knee was a little sore and stiff today, and my hand was a little sore, but I'm fine. What did you expect from an alpha male, extra-extra-extra large, barbarian Superman. Here I come to save the DAY!!! ;o)
Here's a quick update. Apparently the rules have changed to the stick game since Daisy (former referee) is now in play. Charlie doesn't care who has the other end of the stick really. 
After the big tussle last Friday that Super JP broke up, Scrappy had a little lump under her throat. Also, she's been doing this weird, annoying sound like a cat coughing up a fur ball kinda, this has been going on for about a month. She'd wake up in the middle of the night (in bed with us of course) and start hacking. Anyway, the lump didn't do down and we got worried that it might be a tumor or something really bad cutting off her air or choking her (I'm thinking worse case scenario here.) So today we went to see the doctor. Who knew that dogs do reverse sneezes? In all my life I've never heard of that. The lump is from the dog fight where Daisy or Corrie tagged her under the neck. Doc said it's nothing to worry about, it's just water in there and will be reabsorbed into her little body. So she came home with an antihistamine and story to tell. We are so thankful that she's healthy.
Two days ago I looked out on the back porch and there were lots of these caterpillars. Then the more I looked the more I saw; they were on the trees, blueberry bushes, peach trees and the list could go on and on. So I had some Sevin dust (the pet friendly kind) and I started dusting like a mad woman. And this has been my mission, to kill them. I laid down a perimeter around our house, flower garden, blue berry patch, peach trees, and garden. These little buggers like warmth and can be found on the concrete, and sunny sides of almost everything! YIKES!! In the top picture you can also see some holes I found in an oak tree, they go all the way around the tree and are at every 4-5 ft. all the way up the tree. What's up with that?
but when Daisy began to referee, for some reason it turned into an all out fight between Daisy and Scrappy. Knowing Scrappy, my guess is that she instigated it, but Daisy responded with a ferocity that, although normal for a GSD, not one we had seen directed at another pack member before.
This all happened very quickly, and as soon as I recognized the sounds had gone from playing to serious, I turned and ran out toward the back yard, growling in my loudest alpha male voice, which usually sends dogs running for cover. This time, however, while the three innocent parties, Speedbump, Violet and Charlie, ran for cover, the three that were involved in the battle just did not realize I was coming. At my age, I just don't have the grace on my feet that I used to when I was younger. As I hit the back door, beyond which are two steps, a short concrete patio and then the ground, I stumbled. I was moving too fast to stop, but managed to stumble forward for a couple more steps before I completely lost it, and came flying right into the middle of the fight. Now you have to picture this. For those that have never met me in person, I'm a BIG guy, about six foot two, and weigh, well, quite a bit, somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 lbs. Now, picture me running out the back door out of balance, trying to recover my balance for about two steps, and finally going into a short horizontal flight pattern, bellowing like a barbarian all the way out.
Hearing my quick approach, Daisy turned Scrappy loose and they both fell back out of the way. Corrie was not so fortunate and before she could move, I landed on top of her. I managed to get both hands and one knee down first, so she was not hurt, just flattened to the ground a little. Her reaction was to quickly back out from under me, and which time, unfortunately, I moved my left hand to begin my recovery, and she instinctively bit it. Fortunately for me, she caught my hammy, calloused hand, so she barely broke the skin. I was not angry with her because I knew the bite was instinctive, and as soon as she realized what she had done, she ran in the house for cover. Mrs. JP initially thought I had broken my kneecap or something. As hard as I hit the ground, she was sure I had broken something, but I was fine so she proceeded to help me up as best as she could.
We are usually on top of things and able to stop the little "disagreements" from escalating, but when they do, we make sure to let the offending parties know that we are alpha, especially me, and that they are not allowed. After I recovered my composure a little (don't laugh, Mrs. JP!), I went inside and put Daisy, who was the most aggressive party, into a submissive state for a couple of minutes. I gave her the "DOWN" command, rolled her over on her back, and made her stay there for a couple of minutes while I kneeled over her and the other dogs walked around above her. It is a method for letting her know that she is not allowed to compete for the alpha position. We have used this method for several years and the dogs do indeed seem to understand the message and learn from it. Fights in our pack are very few and far between. I suspect that when both Mrs. JP and I have been absent from the house, there may have been some little animosities building over who lays on the bed or some such conflict. For a little while, we are going to separate the parties a little while we are gone to try and calm some of the animosities. Not that they are very evident. Mere minutes after the fight, everyone was calm and playing with each other as if nothing happened. Dogs live in the now. None of the dogs involved had any serious injuries, no broken skin nor bleeding. Scrappy did have a little swelling under her throat where Daisy had hold of her, but the swelling has gone down quite nicely.
Why am I going on about this tree? Because God knows I need reminders of His love for me. I wonder what kind of thorns were put on Jesus head as the soldiers mocked Him as King of Israel. In the previous hours to this thorny crown, He'd been betrayed by a friend for the price of a slave, on trial in front of a Roman governor, then Herod, then back to Pilate who offered the Jewish crowd the release of Jesus or Barabbas (a murderer) - they chose Barabbas. He was then taken away and scourged, beaten and spit on in preparation to carry His cross. What had he done to deserve this? There were many healings, raising of the dead, exorcising demons, teaching God's word....there was no crime.
