Our police dog - Deputy Goshen Shanir

Goshen is nowadays the police officer in the family. If Barak tries to get too close to us when we eat, she goes in between and nips him. If he is too rough with the kids, she nips him. If he takes off too far when he is unleashed she runs after him and nips him when she catches up. We are laughing our heads off, because it is quite entertaining, but of course we don't let it get out of hand. After all, she is not supposed to be an alpha either, and it is not her job to educate Barak - it is mainly ours. But I don't mind a little assistance. It occurs also in a wild wolf pack that the subordinates educate their younger family members.

I am pleased to see that we do not see so many strong expressions of dominance from him anymore, but to get there we had to be very consistent with controlling his access to attention, movement, food, and so on, plus an occasional alpha roll from my part now and then when he has been very bad. He is a very dominant dog and it takes quite some energy to match his behaviour, but we're slowly getting him back to where he belongs.

Their play is more balanced now and characterised by mutual confidence and they play out their gender roles amusingly well. He is like a big clumsy teddy bear who uses his big size straight forward, while she is fast and more tactic. Goshen moves like an agile Quarter Horse, while Barak's movement pattern more resembles a heavy buffalo. He thinks he is the one ruling the play, but that is just her letting him on believing that this is the case. If she wants the bone, she will end up getting it, but she also lets him take it now and then, with a priceless, lenient expression on her face.

He devours everything organic that is not attached to the ground as if there was no tomorrow, while she eats slowly and methodically, chewing her food with care. This most often puts her in a situation where he, after finishing his own food, puts all his energy into getting a bite from Goshen's share, but she regularly shows enough teeth (and gums) to deter him from even trying.