Bones of Contention

Apparently the saying "Bone of Contention" comes from real experiences. Our dogs love each other ... they have been raised together from puppies. They're half brother and sister, they have the same father, and they are 5 months apart in age. They never fight, they actually will defend each other as we've seen in the dog park occasionally. We leave them together all the time to shop and go away for half a day or so and all is well. The most I've ever seen them argue is when they play so hard that it turns too rough and someone squeels from a hard playful bite.

However .... enter the bones.

We give them marrow bones from the Grocery store and they love them. We've recently witnesses Jake being very anxious and growl at Zoe when we put two new bones out for them. He paces, he picks up his bone and hides it under the covers of our bed (YUCK! what a mess) or outside so it get covered in sand and dirt and nasty. If we leave them for a trip for a few hours we used to give them each a bone and lock them inside the house for safety while we're gone. We though it would keep them happy and occupied while we were away. What we're seeing is the bones cause a problem between them and they are sheepish and Jake is really unfriendly to Zoe for a while when we get back ... and the bones are untouched. Hmmmm.

The bones are causing friction between them and could even be causing them to fight while we're away. 

No wounds have appeared but they are acting strange. Once we return they go back to normal all seems to be well. So, we're not doing this anymore. We'll only give them bones when we are here and they have access to their dog door and can get away from each other if they want to.

Comments

[Bodie]

Yeah, I always like to be around if they're eating bones too just to keep an eye on them and make sure something doesn't go down the wrong way.