Understanding pack behavior

Description of the situation:

My dogs, none littermates, quickly formed a pack, and 2 of them I used to
run in agility.

My small pack (3 8,9,10-yearolds) toy dogs, and they show no sign of slowing
down. and all want to be in my lap.

There's a frequent occurrence I don't understand.

A is on my lap--B is on the floor, considering at length jumping up on my
lap too.

C is nearby on another soft chair by herself.

A senses B is thinking about jumping up on my lap, and starts growling at B.

C reacts by jumping up on my lap from the other side, and starts growling
at the growling A.

What's the dynamics here? Why is C called to challenge and give stink eye
to A, who is warning B not to come and take her space?

the.longest.username.available...

Is it always the same dogs which are involved? Is one dog always doing
the same action. If dog C is always the same dog, then it would appear
he/she is exerting their dominance on the other two dogs. If it is
always the same three dogs and they always do the same thing, then I
would say C is Alpha, and the other two haven't quite figured out who
is who in the pack order yet. If it is always different dogs involved,
do your dogs ever get into fights. If they do, do you immediately
break them up, or do you give them a chance to settle it themselves
first. In the case of similarly sized dogs, where one does not have a
definite advantage over the other, it is best to allow them to settle
it themselves. Only step in if one of them appears to actually be in
danger. Most fights won't actually lead to any serious injuries, and
if they are not able to establish their pack order, they will just keep
having issues.

shore...

I'm not sure what you mean by "fight" here, but I'd
*absolutely* intervene in an actual, physical fight.
Snarking is a different matter, and while I keep an eye on
it I tend to let it go. Dogs typically do not establish
pack order by fighting. I have no idea where this myth came
from but I really wish it would go away.

the.longest.username.available...

Most things which people call a fight, aren't really a fight that is
why they won't lead to injury. It is more a show than anything else.
But if you prevent them from performing their shows, they will never
settle on a pack order, and so disputes will continue to arise.

shore...

I'm still not clear what you mean by "fight." Most
negotiation between dogs is really very subtle. I've seen a
couple of fights to settle pack status but it's the
exception rather than the rule.

I can think of words that might be more descriptive, like
"dispute," "conflict," "contention," and undoubtedly a
myriad of others. It seems to me that if you're going to
tell people that it's okay to let their dogs fight because
otherwise they won't settle pack structure you might want to
consider defining what you mean by "fight" because, well, if
you can't tell why I just don't know.

Personally, I allow gestures, I allow very low-key growling,
I do not allow lunging, baring of teeth, or hard-ass
growling, and I CERTAINLY do not allow fighting. Ever.

Rocky...

Exactly. Friday is very good at telling new dogs the house
rules. He's low volume, but he gets his point across. I'm sure
that I've lost more than one client when I didn't correct Friday
for this to-them aggressive attitude.

Just today a pack (it was only 2, but still a pack!) of Mini
Schnauzers (Judy! Are they all high pitched?) came over to
check out my operation. The owners were, thankfully, AOK when
Friday grrrrd at the female who snapped at him.

Judy...

Not all. You wouldn't find Spenser high-pitched at all. Sassy OTOH has an

Rocky...

Thanks for the validation. I know a few Mini Schnauzers from
agility but, for the life of me, can't remember their bark.
In retrospect, I'm sure that my memory would be clearer if it
had been the fingernails on a blackboard screech you mention
later.

absolute scream. Think fingernails on the blackboard. Three notes higher
and only other dogs could hear it. She has an actual normal bark but when
raising the alarm, it's a definite scream. And like 0-60, it comes out of

Rocky...

That, unfortunately, sounds like Annie. And how Annie will be
until she gets used to the people and dogs here. While I may
be shuddering at the thought of two shrill dogs, I really
respect the honesty of the owners.

complete silence to slice your eardrums open.

Both dogs also have very nice roo-roos and another similar sound that is
best described as a yodel. That one is just a pure joy sound - like they
just can't keep it inside anymore.

I find that schnauzers have a play style that not every other breed
understands. (And Friday was completely right to grrrr.) What most other
breeds (and their owners) think of as lunging or as a terrier attack, other
schnauzers react to as play. When meeting another schnauzer, they will
snarl and bark and "attack". Other schnauzers will react by matching the
snarling and then they'll be playmates. But like the boxer type of play,
it's not universally understood by others.

Rocky...

Friday is becoming multilingual. It didn't take him long
before he was being chased around the yard by the intact! male
mini Schnauzer (whose name escapes me right now).

And, as I'm sure you know, even schnauzers don't have to be allowed to bark
just because they want to. They're great at raising an alarm. And they do

Rocky...

Yep. Not allowed.

feed off each other to escalate the alarm level. And they (Sassy more than
Spenser) understand that as a pack they can be braver than alone. ("There's
two of us - I think we can take 'em.")

Rocky...

Like them little pack critters in _Jurassic Park_?

Rocky...

Without seeing it happen, it's difficult to say exactly what's
happening, so take what I say as a FWIW.

FWIW, this sounds more like resource guarding than
pack/alpha/dominance stuff. In this case, you're the resource,
making it easy for you to control the resource. Make the
resource disappear when one of your dogs lays claim to it by
standing up and not paying any particular attention to the dogs.

Certainly, don't let them fight it out.