This is a great pointer, especially in my home/life setup. Thanks!
My new pup was born Feb. 12!
- Thread starter Katyusharocket
- Start date
I had wrongly assumed that this was where your name Stassie came from
It's creative! I love the name now even more knowing the story!
Cferg
Notable member
When people read Stassi they pronounce it like Stacey. Or the A as in apple. Not the A as in Father.
... and here on the world wide web we never hear it pronounced, just see the word and make our assumptions without asking.
Asha, pronounced Ash-ah.
And Zastava pronounced Zah-stuh-vah
since we are picking names that are uncommon and can use a little explanation
since we are picking names that are uncommon and can use a little explanation
Kswoodssue
Hot Topics Subscriber
Call her Zah!And Zastava pronounced Zah-stuh-vah
since we are picking names that are uncommon and can use a little explanation
I like it! Zahzzie sticks in my head too. I am sure she will have like 7 nicknames, Zah and Zahzzie being 2 of them.
LifeofRubie
Moderator
mmm hmmm Zesty Zahzzie.
Love that one! For call names, it's gotta roll off the tongue easily and for some reason 2 syllables is a must for me.
That’s an awesome post.
@Katyusharocket
Not to be a dark cloud on a pretty day…. Maybe this has been discussed and I missed- but I am wondering what are you thoughts and preventative action for same sex aggression?
Again, not looking to degrade but to learn and increase knowledge.
Not to be a dark cloud on a pretty day…. Maybe this has been discussed and I missed- but I am wondering what are you thoughts and preventative action for same sex aggression?
Again, not looking to degrade but to learn and increase knowledge.
This is a legitimate concern. I did consider this. It hasn't been discussed yet, you didn't miss it! I read here in DCF about it, and I feel there are a couple things in my favor that I read.
Their ages being separated by 3.5 years I think will be helpful (I believe the ideal age spread I read was 4 years, so we are close with Katyusha at 3.5 years old by the time puppy comes home). I read also that it is less common in females, so everybody vibe some good luck for us that we hopefully never experience this. Aggression isn't in Katyushas dna at all, so hopefully that will also be in our favor. I will call her Zastava for now: we don't know whether it's in her dna yet. Watching, watching......
As far as an action plan, I do plan to supervise their play while watching their relationship. If their relationship is anything less than completely cuddly, I won't be tolerating any play that becomes even close to audibly aggressive, i.e. no growling, or that gets physically aggressive. I read that in DCF also, that that kind of supervision can help. Watch and respond....
They won't have the opportunity for SSA to start over food, my dogs eat on a schedule and amount that I set, and have never been allowed to approach each other until everyone is done eating. That being said, I don't know that food, or anything else, is a specific trigger for it. Still, that is how I will manage meal times.
Beyond that I will be taking to heart any other advice that is offered.
I am aware that this is a real issue, and it might be crate and rotate some day even with the best of luck and doing all the things I can do to prevent it.
Don't worry, I've read enough from you that I consider you reliably up-beat and well meaning, while also wiling to participate in the realness of it all. That does not go unappreciated! I am glad you brought it up, there are knowledgable, experienced people here that might have the one, or eight things to offer that I don't know yet but I still need.
Kaiser2016
Well-Known Member
What a great response and reaction to a well-meaning question. Love that this type of an exchange can occur amongst friends who are strangers
From my reading about SSA, I have learned a thing or two that could be important. I had often been tempted to add another male and when I would think about how I would manage it, the utmost important thing, I thought, was to maintain pack order and then to never allow the initial instance of fighting to occur - in particular as Z pup will come into maturity. I figured if one could avoid those tensions during the maturity phase, then things 'could' be safe as the young pup enters adult years. It's like human teenagers, they are volatile during that stage, and typically, they outgrow the volatility into adulthood. That was me thinking about males though. How it will go with females, especially since they mature faster, only you will be able to judge that. Also, I don't expect Katy to be the aggressor, I would expect it more from the younger pup, a foolish attempt to assert herself and perhaps Katy would not tolerate that and she'd be forced to react, hence why pack order becomes important. When Kaiser was younger, he was such a nice playful boy, but at 7.5 years old, he would not tolerate any nonsense from another dog. That's also the difference when confidence is combined with maturity.
I appreciate this. When I talk about Katyusha not having aggression in her dna, I should have also mentioned that in no way is she a pushover, or will decline to defend herself. If a dog tries to mount her, people who have never seen that side of her look at her like she just had the alien monster rip out of her belly. Even her own father, when we went to see her parents last weekend tried some shenanigans and she turned on him and even he backed down, which I didn't see happening in my mind. A dog at the park tried to attack her, she gave it half a second then the attacking dog regretted it's actions. When I read this the way you put it, that is potentially a good thing?
This is great reasoning for close supervision, especially as Z pup come into her own. And thank you for your thoughts! I appreciate them! It's a better community when folks are willing to share and learn.
This is why I am here and not on other Doberman platforms.Love that this type of an exchange can occur amongst friends who are strangers
Kswoodssue
Hot Topics Subscriber
Or 3 syllables with a heavy Russian accent!
plus 
This is #1 in my opinion. In my house, there are two of us and we each have our own dog and dogs don't question our authority. It's like having strict parents, the children don't bully each other because they know they'd get in deep trouble. So yes, make sure first of all that the humans are looked up to and respected as leaders. #2 is that SSA usually won't show, if it does, until the young one is at least a year or so old. It does help if one of the two dogs is more meek & mild in personality, doesn't argue or protest. You will have more trouble if they both are born leaders, as when the puppy matures she will start trying to test waters by pushing back.
In my case Asha was very pushy the day she arrived and Reckless just didn't care to argue back. If there's no fuss, it literally takes two to make a fight. Asha doesn't push or boss or bully, but just has a commanding attitude, like if she comes charging in on something then R backs up, even if not being pushed. I always take up for R if Asha does this so Reckless knows she is safe and Asha knows she's not the boss. I absolutely don't trust Asha enough to leave the two together without a human. If we're both gone for several hours and the weather is nice one gets the front yard and one gets the back. If they are left in the house one gets their bedroom and the other gets the rest of the house. I know all it would take is for Reckless to get mad (and she's a sweet sweet dog, but boy she can get mad!) and there would be a fight. Also, since we both have total control of our own dogs and the dogs mind either one of us, it takes very little on our part to stop anything. Asha wanting to get R into a case of zoomies all I have to do is say "HEY!" and she stops and looks at me. It's honestly not a problem, but I micro manage. We can sit on the porch and the dogs have bones and they trade bones sometimes with no fuss or defense.
Females can actually be much worse than males. There was an old saying, males fight to determine a winner, females fight to kill. I did know of someone with 2 female off-track greyhounds, both spayed (because off-track adoption thing). They snarled at each other now and then but the lady didn't think anything of it. She came home from work one day and it was a blood bath in the house and one was dead. I will never ever forget that. This was years and years ago and I never heard anything about SSA, just that the dogs must have gotten into a fight. But looking back now I'm sure that's exactly what it was.
That hits. I'll be more vigilant for having read this.
Good chance you won't ever see this, especially since you are so vigilant in your dog awareness already. I was totally clueless about SSA and with my '90's Dobe, she got along with all dogs at all times then I moved in with my boyfriend who had a female standard poodle and they were perfectly behaved with each other, mine being about 2 and the poodle was 4 or 5. They played a little but never rough, never fought or snarled but also didn't sleep or cuddle together. Again, when your dogs look to you for leadership, they tend to leave the leadership sorting-out to you instead of trying to do it themselves. Always take up for the dog being bossed and tell the bossy dog that it's your job to to boss, not hers.
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