Mike and Shirley

This is not really a story, more like something odd that has happened to our dogs. We got Shirley about three years ago. My elderly Mother, who was living with us, was very ill with Alzheimer’s and we thought a pet would be good for her. Shirley was about a year old and we got her from an Animal Rescue place called PAWS in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She is a Terrier/Poodle mix and was evidentially a stray and someone picked her up and brought her to PAWS. She was the sweetest little dog, about 15 pounds with a lot of hair. My Mother rejected her so she became a family dog. We brought her home and introduced her to our 2 year old German Shepherd Dog, Fred, who immediately tried to kill her. Very soon, they became best friends and were never apart. It was very obvious that Fred was the boss and he had no problem telling her when she was bothering him. About two and a half years later, Fred died and Shirley was alone. She was very sad and my husband spoiled her rotten, almost constantly holding her in his lap. So, we decided to get another German Shepherd Dog. We got Mike when he was 8 weeks old. Shirley loved him immediately and they are constant companions. However, Shirley is very bossy and pushy with Mike. He is now almost 7 months old and can’t seem to do anything unless he has permission from Shirley. Shirley has taught him everything she learned from Fred. It is really funny to watch her teach him. She taught him to go in the water at the lake and chase a stick and bring it back, she taught him to walk the perimeter of the yard and check for anything that might be wrong there and if he doesn’t do exactly what she wants, she really nags him by her barking. She is very stubborn and although we have trained her to sit, down and stay, most of the time she will not do it unless we make her. It is difficult to work with Mike because he is always looking at Shirley for direction whether he should do it or not. If we separate them while training Mike, he is still looking around for her like he just can’t do anything unless she tells him it is okay. Mike has a wonderful temperament and although Shirley gets on to him all the time, he doesn’t mind and has never even growled at her. Shirley is growling and getting onto Mike constantly and he just shrugs it off. Mike is 65 pounds and Shirley is still 15 pounds. We do have play days when my grandson’s bring their Lab puppy and Great Dane mix puppy to our house to play. Shirley also tries to boss them but they don’t pay much attention to her. Mike loves those days when he can play with the other puppies. We were walking both Mike and Shirley and the other puppies every day this Spring but with the advent of constant 100 degree temperatures and up every day and high humidity, we haven’t been able to walk them at all. I know that is needed but right now is impossible to do. We love Mike and Shirley very much and this is a work in progress. We are determined to make Mike realize that we are the boss and not Shirley. We just haven’t quite figured out how to do it yet. Maybe when Mike gets a little older he will realize that he can think on his own. We have always had dogs and Shirley is the first dog we have had that was not a German Shepherd Dog, so this is a real challenge to us. Also, in all these years, we have only had one female dog. I never saw one of our dogs take complete control of the other dogs like Shirley does. We will get this done. It is a challenge, but we will win this battle. Leona M Checotah, Oklahoma