Stanley -- The Great Pretender

It is a mystery why Stanley traded Alpha for Omega at about eight months old. Up till that time he pushed, pulled, mauled and slammed Steffi around at will.

After all that is the rule of the wild. The largest and strongest take what they will and the rest exist with the 'leavins'.

To bring you up to speed: We are raising littermate Miniature Schnauzers. One Salt and Pepper boy, that's Stanley, and one black morphing into a silver-black girl named Steffi. I bought two at the same time because neither my wife nor I could be home with them during that first crucial twenty week period for potty training and Socialization. My research turned up exactly nothing on raising two at the same time so I have literally been writing the book myself. For information on that please consult my Resource Paragraph at the end of this article.

Now back to the story within this article. Suddenly Steffi exerted herself. Stanley outweighed her by a quarter - their weight currently at thirty-three months echoes the ratio - she weighs seventeen pounds, he comes in at just short of twenty five.

They went round and round twice that I know of and suddenly Stanley was standing at the back of the line.

There was no blood. A couple small nicks in his ears where she had drug him around. Her favorite habit (and still is) is to grab him by the collar and mop up the floor with him. He loves it. He simply goes limp and lets her have her pleasure.

I think he lives with the old adage that any attention is good attention.

However he has added a 'twist' which makes his existence a little easier.

When she has something or a position next to one of us he wants he has developed two plans of attack.

He will go into another room and select the toy that he thinks may attract her. He will saunter back into our room, biting, growling and slamming the toy from side to side like he had a protesting cat in his mouth. He will brutalize the toy until Steffi can stand it no longer. She jumps off the couch, jumps on him and takes the toy away from him.

He puts up just enough fight to make it interesting. Like wrestling you, know. Then he drops the toy and circles around the table and jumps up on the couch while she is occupied with the toy.

His other ploy is to run to the louvers protecting the two small strip windows alongside the front door. He will slam them open and bark like crazy. She can't resist it. She runs over there also. He immediately gives up his place at the window. She takes over and he runs around the table and takes the spot she was occupying.

This is a slice of odd behavior since he is the hardest one to train. When you give them a treat he has trouble finding it. Don't know whether that is a problem with his eyes or his nose. They love the dried chicken strips and would literally do anything for a good sized chunk. I have noticed that whenever we give them any kind of 'goody' Stanley will look at his smaller sister seemingly asking permission to sample. Many times he will not touch the treat until she is half way through hers. I have to watch them at this moment because if she finishes first she will walk over to him and he will instantly drop whatever he has. If it is a treat he will step away and she gets a double treat.

However there are times when I drop a piece of it in front of him and he totally misses the fact that it is there. We are watching him closely and trying to make sure he does not have an ear or eye problem. He obviously is not in pain. We'll keep you posted.

3 novels on Amazon & 10 shorts on Kindle, give Rus Morgan a writer's perspective 2 raising 2 miniature schnauzers at the same time. Order 'Dogsx2', Rus's latest novel & discover the 3 questions you must answer B4 you buy a registered dog. Get your free copy of 'Truthful Teddy', and other pet bargains as they become available plus the doggie newsletter. See U at our website at http://www.dogsx2.com or email us at minischnauzers@bellsouth.net.