lulu & tanner

Question
My question is about our two dogs.  We adopted Tanner from a dental student in town and she has settled in beautifully.  LuLu we have had for a week.  We got her from the animal shelter.  Tanner is about 1.6 yrs & LuLu is approx 2-3 yrs.  Lu has had a litter of puppies.  All is well.  We are trying to get her house trained.  She is doing good, but we found that she had a urinary tract infection.  She would go outside then come in and go.  The I was wondering about is why do the dogs push on each other's sides and put their butts in each other's face.  It is the funniest looking thing.

Answer
You have had her to the vet to clear up the UTI?  

Butt sniffing and bumping are very complex behaviors determining which dog is higher status.  The top dog has both the right to sniff the others butt when it wants to, and to have the other dog sniff its butt when it sticks it in the other's face.  One very important thing is that both of them clearly understand they are competing for second place.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm