Well, Kyrill’s worst fear has been come true: Mitzi can now jump up on the sofa all by herself. For Kyrill, this means that he has lost the “upper paw” he had with her.
Prior to last week, Kyrill could steal any of Mitzi’s toys and chew bones, jump up on the sofa with them, and she couldn’t do much about it. Kyrill and Mitzi both have a “I’ll have what she/he is having” attitude about possessions. They want anything the other has. Now that she can ascend the sofa, she can more easily steal things back from him. We are happy with this developmental milestone since we no longer have to hoist her up all the time. Cesky Terriers are long dogs with short legs, and her back finally got long enough. Kyrill was definitely stressed and needed lots of pets and reassurance after her sofa jumping became regular.
Despite vying for possessions, the two dogs are always close by one another and snooze right next to each other all the time. They remind me of human siblings, with Kyrill taking the role of an older brother who wants to be dominant over his younger sister but who still tries to take care of her.
What sibling rivalry did you experience? How did your family cope with it? If you have more than one pet how do they get along?
Trail Baboon 
My two delinquents are so different in size that the orange tabby should be able to completely dominate the grey fluffball, but she manages to hold her own.
They get fed in separate places, but I’ve noticed he will wait for her to walk away before he moves in “to clean up”. They have some how worked things out. Snuggly in winter, not so much in summer.
Other than for the purposes of staged photos, our parents never really fostered a sense of “siblinghood” between my brothers and myself. Looking back on it, it was rather odd.
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Not much sibling rivalry. My middle sister, who is almost 3 years younger than I am, was born with a heart defect that couldn’t be surgically corrected until she was almost 2. This meant that she was fragile and compromised, and we basically didn’t bond due to that. No ill will, but we just were never close even as children. She grew up the artistic one, and I grew up the smart one and our parents reinforced this sonever our paths did cross. In adulthood, she has abandoned art, and I have embraced it so funny turn of events.
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Before Guinevere’, everyone of my pets got along swimmingly with every other one of my pets. Although I’m pretty sure that if Nimue could’ve gotten to Sheldon the fish, that might’ve been the end of him.
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
When we had a dog and cat, the cat always seemed quite offended by the presence of the dog, and was frequently huffy about it. But then she was huffy about me, too, because Lou was her guy and anyone who interacted with Lou got the cat’s attitude. He was HERS. When we had two dogs, they interacted quite a bit, sometimes friends, sometimes foes. Bootsy had been so traumatized by a previous owner/dog hoarder, that Lucky taught her how to be a dog. Lucky was a real pest, though, and now and then, Bootsy would just let her have it so she could live in peace.
My siblings and I experienced a lot of sibling rivalry as kids. I frequently got really tired of my sister’s self-righteousness. She was always very concerned about religious rules, and frequently told me that “You are going to H-E-double toothpicks.” That got old. I always figured God knew what we were up to, and would forgive all so she should just give that a rest. When we finally had our own rooms, it helped a lot because then she did not have access to my clothing which she liked to wear. I picked on my brother outrageously, but he also was a terrible pest.
In our adulthoods, our lives were so dominated by the care of both my parents, given their health issues, that our relationships have been influenced heavily by that. Since my mother died we interact much less and there is little conflict.
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Renee, I love that header photo.
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Thanks! Long chews are the best!
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They look like two guys and a cigar.
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Being the youngest by eight years, that was just enough difference that I could annoy my brother Simply with my presence. But we all get along real well now. One sister, the oldest, and 15 years of my senior, lives in Pennsylvania. The rest are in the area and we all get along well.
There is definitely some rivalry between two of our dogs. Humphrey is still the boss. But Luna and Bailey have some issues. Luna is kind of a bully towards her, and yet Bailey keeps engaging. Bailey is a lover not a fighter. And she will often get in the tractor or get in the gator just to get away from Luna.
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The Birds bicker somewhat. Not much and no harm done.
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I was dethroned at age four, when my sister was born, and I’m sure I was jealous, but I think my folks did fairly well – I don’t remember a lot of outrageous fights, but once in a while my mom would get tired of it, and once she made us sit on the couch and hug each other… THAT shut us up.
I do remember not wanting to share my friends with her, there was just enough distance in age…
Once we were adults though, we found we had a lot in common. I was in Bay Area California, and she decided to complete schooling at Berkeley, so she stayed with me till she found her roommates… I was able to let her know I respected her opinion about stuff, and we became fast friends.
When I had plural cats, I expected them to be buddies, but it was rare that they would cuddle up together – if they we did, we’d take a photo… I have one where they form a sort of heart shape. : )
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We’ve had any number of cats and dogs in various combinations over the years. Cats have gotten along with other cats, and most of our dogs have gotten along with each other and with the cats. Some have been a little stand-offish but not directly hostile, but by and large, they have been friendly.
Probably the most remarkable relationship between two animals we had was the kinship between Bess, our rescue Airdale mix, and Monschka, our calico cat, also a rescue. Monschka presented us with four kittens before we got her spayed, and Bess was a very attentive observer throughout the birth and subsequent activity in the cat house.
Those kittens, from the moment they arrived until they were claimed by their new families ten weeks later, were licked and cleaned incessantly by both Monschka and Bess. Once the kittens opened their eyes, they climbed all over Bess as she lay contentedly in her bed next to the cat house; she never let them out of her sight, and Monschka trusted her completely. It was not uncommon for Monschka to snuggle up next to Bess in her bed while she was suckling her kittens, just one big, happy family.
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Sweet!
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This reminds me that once in Robbinsdale, we just had Slush (had started out as Snowball, then darkened – part Siamese), a neutered male, mellow, orange & white cat. We brought home Charlie the black-gray stripey kitten, and Slush immediately adopted him – became the Mom! Lasted until Charlie outgrew him…
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Very sweet!
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Despite their rowdy presentation, terriers can be extremely affectionate and sensitive.
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I’m the oldest of three, three and a half years older than my sister and five and a half years older than my brother. We all have very different interests and personalities and weren’t close. That’s continued into adulthood. My sister and I talk to each other but my brother and I aren’t close at all. He’s my parents’ favorite, by a long shot, so I guess you could say that’s how they handled it.
We’ve had a lot of combinations of pets over the years. The two dogs got along well with their respective cat siblings, mostly because they accepted that the cat was boss. We briefly had a cat and a goldfish, and you can probably guess how that turned out. We kept the goldfish bowl up high enough that we thought it was out of reach, but I came home one day to find the goldfish bowl on the floor. No trace of Fred the Fish was ever found.
For about 15 years, we had two cats, first Hermione and Margaux, and then Margaux and Keiko. Margaux didn’t get along with either of her sisters. After Keiko passed away, we were determined not to get a second cat. Now we have the bouncing ball of energy named Charlotte. It’s been suggested that having another cat might be good for calming her down, or at least giving her a non-human playmate, but we don’t want to risk living with two feuding cats again.
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The only cats I’ve had that were truly fond of each other were Jomo and Jory, who were siblings. Jory had an intense attachment to Jomo. Jory didn’t purr for anyone except Jomo.
The cats, in general, weren’t terribly fond of each other, but tolerated each other well. Sammy and Isabel would sometimes lie on the bed with their butts touching. They weren’t going to snuggle each other, but minimal contact was OK.
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Yes – come to think of it, that’s kind of how that heart picture happened.
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