A Little Too Close for Comfort

Ever since the very first day Jimmy came to live with us, he has been the boss of the resources. At 11 weeks old I brought him home, and took him straight to the back yard to meet Wilson. Wilson had a stick he was chewing on and Jimmy marched straight up to him and snatched it out of his mouth! Now I am sure Wilson was just respecting Jimmy's "puppy license" on that day, but unfortunately it set a precedent. Jimmy took it to heart and decided everything Wilson had, he would take. Jimmy does not not resource guard whatsoever where people are concerned.  I can take anything away and he will not protest. Over time, we have worked on it, and they can chew bones, etc., together. But heaven forbid Jimmy finishes his first. He barks his fool head off protesting that Wilson still has some. The one place where Jimmy absolutely draws the line is with moose antlers. They are his most prized possessions and Wilson is not allowed to chew them. Usually, Wilson won't even consider it. He wants them, but they just aren't worth the risk. The other morning, he must have been in a mood, because he plopped down on the dog bed and grabbed an antler. "Oh, no you don't!" screamed Jimmy, and ran over, grabbed it out of Wilson's mouth, and started chewing with an "in your face!" attitude. Well, as it happened, there was another antler lying in the bed, so Wilson just switched to that one. Like a greedy character out of an Aesop fable, Jimmy dropped his and took away Wilson's. Since they were lying close together on the same dog bed, Wilson just picked up Jimmy's discarded antler and started chewing it, and the cycle began again! I noticed Jimmy was start to amp up, very annoyed that Wilson wasn't respecting his "antler rules". We have had a few fights in situations like this, so after a few rounds of swapping the antlers, I stepped in and took both pieces away to preempt a bad situation, but not before taking a few photos, of course!

Have a great weekend, everybody!