When we moved into our current house a few years back, the neighborhood wasn't built up yet and there were still a lot of open spaces for terrier mix Anneke and golden mix Sissie Mae to run loose in. They discovered that the terrain was full of rabbits and squirrels, and since they never actually succeeded in catching any, I didn't feel at all bad about letting them happily follow the scent trails. I remember once, not too long after a good rain had softened the ground that Sissie Mae found a fresh rodent hole and decided to dig it out. She was going like a mad fiend and actually had a hole so deep only her tail was showing above ground. Meanwhile, Anneke was standing right behind her, waiting for results and getting all the dirt right in her face. She was too spatially challenged to realize that if she moved two feet in practically any direction, she could solve the problem. Anyway, Sis finally decided that nobody was home and stopped excavating.

Before that, our whatever-she-was Benji-type mix Pepper decided that rides were the thing. A couple of times I was cleaning out a vehicle or working on it and she got in. She would absolutely not get out until it had gone somewhere. I'd open the door nearest her and she would jump to the corner farthest away. I finally gave up and drove around the block so she would get her "ride." Then she got out, satisfied.

Reading about Faulkner, I remember when Anneke died and Sissie Mae became alpha. She didn't have any trouble at all stepping into the roll. She had always kow-towed to Anneke, but also relied on her for protection when some unexpected "threat" came up. Now she shows no hesitation in asserting her priority re. food, water and scratch over her younger pack-sister Murphy Brown, but if Murphy gets anxious about a strange person or strange dog, Sissie now takes the point and lets the stranger know that little sister is not to be messed with. The pack dynamic always amuses and amazes me.

CC