Personalities

As I sit in bed writing this mornings blog I am once again surrounded by the pack. It is a wonderful pack that I have; one that I have only a couple of times had to step in to settle a dispute for. They have never had a fight; I simply won't allow it. My pack consists of very different personalities but they all fit nicely. Jessie is the leader of the pack and a pretty good one at that; I let her know right from the get go that although she was the top dog, I was even above her. There was to be no bullying and no needless bossing.

In the beginning she was a bit of a strong willed kinda gal; typical for the breed. But as she got older she learned that you have to pick your battles. Then there is Tilley, meek and mild mannered she is the most polite dog I've ever met. You can compare her to Lassie I guess. Jessie and her have a great relationship that has grown over the years. They are only 10 months apart in age and because of Tilley's mild personality there is never any issues over top female status. Tilley just goes with the flow having Jessie as the boss; Tilley is happy being one of the pack.

And then we have Luke; very complicated, nervous, extremely intelligent, reactive and highly affectionate. He has been a challenge over the years and never truly matured until the age of 8. The girls adore him although he often pushes them to their adore limits verging barely tolerate. He pushes Jessie for her status but with my assistance she is able to retain her position. He physically harasses Tilley which use to achieve a great game of wrestling. Now at 12 she is not interested in wrestling often; she knows her limits and uses the ignore tactic which works well with Luke; if it doesn't Mom steps in.

All of my dogs have been extremely different; all wonderful but different. Even with all the poodles; their personalities are far from similar. There are traits that I really love about the poodles but each and every one is their own dog.