War of the Roses-or, Bailey vs. Angel

It's been a long weekend. Our dear friends Dan and Jennie had dropped off their dog Angel, while they went away for the weekend to dance their little feet off. Angel, if you've read past blogs, has been a guest at our house many times. In fact, we don't think of her as a guest, she is just one of the pack. Her personality is very much like Bailey. In fact, she and Bailey spent the weekend playing one-up. When it comes to food, Bailey is still Alpha. Angel is too well mannered to even mess with him over his food. We established early on that Bailey had food issues, and have allowed him to work it out on his own, as long as he plays nice with the other dogs. No chomping allowed. But Angel is very well mannered about food. That's not the issue. The issue is the couch. Since we have a leather couch, I have now loosened the law about no dogs on the furniture. If no one is sitting on the couch, it's fair game. This has caused problems when someone DOES want to sit on the couch, because Bailey feels that they might be sitting in his seat, and a little correction is necessary. Dogs intimidating people about seats is not OK. When Angel comes over, the couch is the first place she heads for. I think it is a security thing, she likes to lay there and hide her face. This makes Bailey crazy, because if he isn't sitting on the couch when Angel arrives, he loses that spot. Score: Angel 1, Bailey 0. Now Bailey will spend the rest of the hour monitoring Angel's activity, so that as soon as she steps off the couch, he can jump up and claim ownership. Score: Bailey 1, Angel 1. It went on like this all weekend. The chewies, after-dinner scraps, bowls of water. You'd be amazed at how many bonuses can be counted and weighed. By the end of the weekend, Angel was up by about 15. Bailey was losing sleep over this calculation. He was staying awake just waiting for Angel to make a move, and then he could make a move a bit further. Quite comical, but it wasn't my beans being counted. By the time Angel was picked up on Monday morning, Bailey was exhausted. When Angel left, he immediately placed himself upon the sofa, without challenge. It just wasn't any fun, because he REALLY likes to sleep in my chair, because MY chair is quite comfortable. I worked it out that way. After being thrown off MY chair three times, he finally settled onto the dog bed and took a much needed nap. Counting beans is exhausting. I came into the living room a while later, and found that Bailey had settled himself back on my chair-he just couldn't help it. But the difference this time? He was facing the back of the chair, purposefully not moving. I know what he was thinking. If he couldn't see ME, then I couldn't see him. Good plan, except it doesn't work that way. I told him again, to get off the chair. He seemed a bit surprised, but got down immediately. This morning there was a bit of a scuffle in the bedroom. I believe that someone had a bit of food or something, that's usually the cause for scuffles. Jake went to bed immediately, because that is how he handles conflict (not a bad policy) and Bailey came into the living room as if nothing had happened, although he wasn't looking anyone in the eye. Spring anyone? I think it's getting to all of us.