Constant Licking

[cherriemater]

Hey there folks. Leo and Max are 14 months now, can you believe it?!?!?! I had to figure that out for another post to which I responded and my jaw dropped!

Any whooooo ... I have noticed Max licking Leo constantly!! His ears always seem to be wet. When I catch him, I will call out his name (sometimes two or three times ... typical chow) and tell him to stop. He does. Well, he does usually by the third time. Sometimes Leo comes running to me with wet ears, but, of course, by then I cannot correct Max.

Leo has started growing at Max from time to time, as well. Now this, I assume, is typical teenage "working it out," which I encourage. I will attend to them to be sure no blood will be spilt or to see if the guard hairs are standing on end, but so far none of that. I am thinking now that Leo growls because he's either tired of Max's licking or mounting (which I never seem to catch lately but when I have the last, maybe, two times it just takes a look and Max gets down).

So ... my question is this ... is this typical teenage behavior? Or, could Max be trying to assert his Alphaness, in which case I should watch this very carefully and we should support whomever that may become. To me and Joe, that is still up for grabs, although we have been supporting Leo (he goes first for everything) because he seemed to assert himself first.

'Tis a quandary indeed and I am amazed at just how much I continue to learn about our pups ... er ... uh ... little ones ... ah ... oh ... boys ... no ... ugh! Little Men.

[karenmarie]

Marty, we observed this behavior with two males and female & male . I feel the licking is a submissive "I want something" and with male & female it is some sort of courtship. The mounting is definitely a dominance signal. Bella would do this to Balou (at close to that age) and now infrequently with Bubbs. The behavior occurred at a time when Bella was jealous or excited after playing with other dogs. She is definitely holding a rank above Bubbs in our pack! Bubbs is so laid back he is fine with it. He waits for her for just about everything, he is a true gentleman. Our males had a few scuffles but worked it out after the pup was 1 1/2 years of age. Hopefully someone here has had 2 males the same age.All will work out, be confident you are so good with your boys. Good luck

[Rory's Dad]

I would say that they are in a feeling out stage. The licking of the ears is a servant type dynamic. Its a servant/cleaning type of behavior. The mounting of course is a dominance effort between males. Its not even likely a *Censored Word* thing, it is about position (no pun intended). My males were much further apart in age, so i have not experienced a similar dynamic at the same time, but i think they are still trying to sort it out amongst themselves. And with your supervision, you are asserting an alpha role, so they are looking at numbers 2 or 3, etc. That is why it is tolerated at times and not others.

[cherriemater]

Thanks Karen and Rory's Dad. That makes a lot of sense to me. Leo always takes the lead in most things so Max's behavior really had me stumped. But, if the licking is a servant thing and the mounting is a, "let me see what I can get away with" thing and then Leo's growling is a "stay away from me" thing ... yes indeed they are working it all out. It's just so fascinating!

[Auddymay]

We have Lily leading the pack here, but have some issues with Big D trying to be second in command. Tanna is old and just wants to be left alone, but I think because she is not fearful of the things Mr Neurotic is, it makes him unconfident. He tried to boss Lily only one time that I am aware, and she laid down the law. I have some behaviors within my pups I don't tolerate, and when I see the behavior all I have to do is administer a 'tst tst' and the offender stops immediately, because I will get up if they do not stop. Even Dil responds to it. I only use it for stopping a behavior. I assume it is the equivalent of my growl. I never repeat myself in these instances, Chow hearing not withstanding. This is one battle I will pick and win every time.

[cherriemater]

Thanks Audrey! Consistency is definitely the key, here. Since Leo has established himself here I think it's probably important to keep reinforcing that. But, come to think of it, I can't remember what words I use. I'm gonna have to settle on something and stick to it. I know I use "get down" and a certain look when Max sees me ... but I'm going to have to concentrate on that.