Who is top dog where you are?

The other day I was sitting at the computer tapping out a story when I heard a snarling kafuffle from outside around the side. At first I was not too fussed as George has a habit of going around there and stirring up the dog next door. We do try and curtail these arguments as other neighbours don’t like the resulting noise, but I was in no hurry to break off what I was doing as I believed that my wife and daughter were around somewhere and as it was most likely my daughter’s dog in the thick of it, I reckoned that she could handle it. My thoughts were changed by a sudden scream that I realised was from my wife so I rushed outside, half expecting to see a struggle between George and the dog next door thinking that they had somehow found a way through to each other. Not so. It was a serious if not deadly; augment, but one between our own two dogs that had, by the time I arrived, locked jaws on each other’s. My daughter was trying to separate them with a thick large piece of Cardboard while my wife was trying also to separate them.

I decided to try and grab them both by their collars and lift them off their feet in the hope that they would eventually get the message and let go, without biting me for my efforts. Well they did finally let go of each other but Charlie was not overly happy with the forced separation and wanted to continue on. His cause was helped greatly by the fact that he was able to slip out of his collar, and thus out of my effective control. Fortunately we were able to remove George and separate them finally.

All this was observed by the girl next door who was surprised to see a dog fight between the dogs of the same place. Fights between strange dogs or dogs next door, she understood but not between dogs of the same place.

I explained that rather than being rare it was quite common in places where there were two or more dogs off the same sex. A mixed sex pair is fine but between a pair or more of the same sex there is always an issue as to who is top dog. One dog will always dominate and the looser will always bide his/her time to try again.

Charlie is our top dog, but that side of the house and the argument with next door’s dog, is George’s territory, and when my wife went around to call him away, Charlie went with her. A fact that George strenuously objected to, and thus it was on for all to see and hear.

What about where you are? Are you top dog where you are and resent and fight all who you consider to be intruders to your Authority and territory? Do you see others as more threat than assistance to you? Do you see other’s talents as competition to you or as complimentary to your tasks?

On the other hand, are you wanting to be top dog and using every opportunity to attack the top dog? Instead of helping and working with the leader, are you doing all you can to bring them down whilst elevating yourself? If so just remember as you do to them, others will do to you.

Or are you the one in the middle stuck with the task of separating the fighters at serious risk to your own personal safety? Are you being constantly called away from your own given task to try and fix the currant problem and try and keep the peace, till the next time?

In some cases it is possible to put up with this situation on a permanent basis, but if it gets to bad, serious steps need to be taken, like the removal of one or more of the protagonists. Now there is no way that either of my daughters would let me get rid of “their” dog, but in your case it might not be so. Your employers or work mates might decide to get rid of one or both of you, just to get some peace around the place.

What say you about what you are doing and what you can do now, to bring a just and righteous peace to your environment? Whether it be, Home, School Work, Church, or some other place?

Think over that for a while, and consider what your next step should be: Walter