Lance brandishing his tail like a saber keeps an eye on fair Snow White. He does nothing to protect her from Blondie or Bonita. His other eye waits for Stormy to make a move toward Snow.
Stormy (fuzzy white dog with brown patch over tail) is eager to give Snow a macho greeting. He would be mounting her if it weren’t for Lance and Blondie. His ears are forward. He is ready to spring. Stormy is not normally cow hocked. Notice the energy in his rear legs. While you’re back there check out the position of his little rat tail. He’s too smart to send the wrong signal to Lance, who could really hurt him.
Blondie is the big bitch on the hill. Her posture reflects her position. In the front she is over her toes much the same way Lance is. The way her tail is curled over her back displays her status. Females don’t poke their tails straight out the way the guys do. High status chicks display for the boys with the curled tails.
Smart adolescence Bonita hangs back waiting to see what will happen. Bonita’s tail will curve over her back like Blondie’s when she’s done something like chase an interloper off.
Snow White’s tail is tucked. Her head is low, but what’s interesting is the way she holds her neck out and vulnerable. In this picture Snow’s body language is controlling what the others do.
Just the position of the dogs tells much. Bonita standing back, tail down but definitely interested in what might happen. Will she join Blondie if confrontation happens? or does she stand out of the way?
ReplyDeleteStormy allows the bitches to block him from Lance. I could see a more confident male being more concerned with Lance's proximity to Snow than his own.
I had never made the observation of tail position differences between dogs and bitches before... Interesting, the straight saber tail is definitely a male thing. The curled over the back... female.
Lance's head seems slightly turned away from Blondie.. not coincidence I don't think. It seems everyone is just waiting to see what the "boss" is going to do.
It absolutely confounds me that one bitch has all this attention! Although Blondie is the head honcho, it seems Snow is quietly running this show.