Alex has actually been playing with Abby a couple times over the past two days, and not just tolerating her! And today, he actually initiated it. And then he was being all Alpha Dog (which is so not Alex) with her and making sure she knew her place--pushing her down with his paw, nipping at her neck (yeah, if you don't know much about dogs this might sound mean, but it's normal behavior to determine the leader of the pack).
What surprised me the most was that he actually got her to roll over and show her stomach to him. Again, for any non-dog people, this is about the most submissive position a dog can put itself in, and this was huge, since Abby IS not an easily submissive dog.
This "determing the pack leader" dynamic is what has made this whole thing so interesting. Alex knows that he's supposed to be the guy in charge because he's been here longer and she's a puppy. But he is usually the follower, so it's a different role for him to take on, but he's trying. Abby, on the hand, personality-wise falls into the dominant category, so you have a normally submissive dog trying to be the alpha over a normally dominant dog. Fun stuff. But they are making progress.
The interesting thing to watch will be whether, once she's fully grown, they switch roles and she becomes the alpha in the end.
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