TheBanyanTree: Alpha Dogs

[Monique Young]

	We have one. An alpha dog. We also have a beta dog. We have an Alpha
Beta pack. If you didn't grow up around Alpha Beta like I did, that will
have absolutely no meaning for you, so never mind.
	The alpha dog likes the beta dog just fine, but she also likes him
to know that she's the alpha dog and he's her slave. It's her nature. Why he
thinks he has to kowtow to her is a mystery, since he's as tall as she is
now, and much faster, and quite athletic, whereas she's older and slower and
weighs more. Of course, she does still have sharp teeth, and a rather
arrogant manner, and apparently that's all it takes. Reminds me of working
in the corporate world.
	I fed them earlier. Alpha dog with her food, and beta dog with his.
It's mostly the same food anymore, though he gets a bit of puppy chow with
his. While she ate he watched her, laying close by and peering at her with
partially closed eyes, as if waiting for the signal that would allow him to
go to his food bowl, on the other side of the room, and eat.
	The signal never came. Instead, she finished her food and then
ambled over to his and started in on that. It's not that she's a selfish
dog, she just thinks that anything that looks good enough to eat must be for
her. She was an only child for years, so this is no doubt where she got that
idea.
	I told her to stop eating, and she ignored me, but this is par for
the course. I'm not her pack leader so much as I'm her pet. So I went over
to where she was busy emptying food bowl number two, and I picked up the
bowl, and I put it in front of the beta dog. 
	The alpha dog glowered at me, but that's the most she ever does.
Glower. It doesn't scare me. The beta dog looked at the food bowl, looked at
me, looked at the alpha dog. Then he looked back at the food bowl. She was
still within five feet, which was apparently far too close for comfort. 
	I picked up the food bowl, again (I must assume all this bending
over is good for me), and took it over to my desk, where I work when I'm
working, and I put the food bowl down next to where I would be sitting. Only
then did the beta dog know that he'd be safe if he ate his own food from his
own food bowl, because I could protect him from the mean alpha dog.
	The mean alpha dog does beat up on him regularly, but only when
playing, and it's hard to tell who gets the better of whom in these things.
They both seem ecstatically happy while it's going on. Otherwise she makes
do with a glower and a growl, and it's enough to keep him in line. 
	Yesterday, at the dog park, the beta dog was engrossed in playing
catch the ball, a rather complicated game where the ball goes up into the
air and he goes up into the air after it, catching it in mid air, his back
end going up so high that while his front end is coming down with the ball
in his mouth his rear end is still high in the air. It's quite impressive.
While this was going on, the alpha dog was doing her typical ambling about,
not much concerned. She sees him do this all the time and it still fails to
impress her. During one particularly high leap the alpha dog lumbered by,
and the beta dog, high in the air above her in his quest to catch the ball,
flew over her without even knowing she was below him. It was like a ballet,
except they're dogs, and they don't wear tutus. (Trust me. It's better
without the tutus.)
	And now they sleep. The alpha dog snores complacently and the beta
dog keeps a safe distance, knowing that if he gets too close while she's
sleeping and startles her, he'll be subjected to a swift lecture. He's
learned much since coming under her control.