behavior question

[Mr & Mrs Kirkley]

Our female GSD Xena has started climbing on top of our neutered male Siberian Husky when he's laying down and lays on top of him like she thinks he's a pillow. Sometimes she sniffs his crotch. He growls at her and struggles until he gets away. I know she's not in heat because she went through her first heat 2 months ago. She didn't do this at all during her heat. It didn't start until over a month after. I'm just curious why is she suddenly treating our Husky like a pillow?

[Castlemaid]

She is testing the pack order. Has nothing to do with sexuality. My spayed female is the dominant dog in my house, and will often mount and hump my intact male, in play or in excitement. My male NEVER tries to hump her, as he defers to her pack position and seniority.

Since Xena is getting older (how old is she now?), pack dynamics may be changing, with her subtly trying to move up the pack. She is still somewhat unsure about this, that is why she is only doing it when he is lying down, in a submissive position to start with. If your Husky is not challenging her for pack leadership, let the dynamics be, BUT I myself would not allow Xena to annoy the older dog, since he clearly does not enjoy her lying on him. Just as I find the humping in play inappropriate, and tell my older dog to quit it when she does it, I would tell Xena to get OFF the Husky.

[Mr & Mrs Kirkley]

To answer your question Xena will be a year old in 5 days. The Husky is actually 3-4 months younger than Xena and only an inch shorter and sometimes stands up to her when she's resource guarding. If she's in her crate and he's not, he dances around it and gets her riled up. When he's in his crate and she is out, she walks up to the crate submissively with her tail wagging and ears down. I've even seen her try to clean his teeth. But when it comes to resource guarding she acts very dominant toward both dogs (never us). We are the pack leaders, but honestly not sure who is next in line, Xena or Thor (Husky) lol. Maybe they're equals or something. Anyway thanks for the explanation.

[gsdraven]

Originally Posted by Mr & Mrs Kirkley

not sure who is next in line, Xena or Thor (Husky) lol. Maybe they're equals or something. Anyway thanks for the explanation.

IME, pack dynamics is very fluid and depends on the situation. Like you are seeing, resources are more important to Xena and so in those situations she is the more dominant but in other situations, Thor takes the position. So I would expect them to change positions based on the situation and that's ok as long as they aren't fighting about it.

For example, in my pack, Raven controls most the resources and really bosses the other two around and Kaiser usually defers to her but if she takes it too far, he will put her in her place. He's happy to let her have the leader position most of the time but in truth, he is the most confident leader of the group.