[Gpdd] BEHAVIOUR: Dominance and fighting

[Luita Spangler]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to add my two cents to the dominance discussion. When we got
Ernie and Bert from the Berlin Animal Shelter, Ernie was an adult and
Bert was a teeny, mouse-sized baby. The question of dominance was moot.
Everything was fine until one day Ernie ate a stray oleander leaf during
Balcony Time (at least this is what we think happened). We went off to a
concert that evening and when we came back, Ernie was in terrible shape
- weak, nearly unconscious, obviously poisoned. After a call to the
24-hour emergency vet line, a rushed late-Saturday-night taxi ride to an
outer suburb of East Berlin, excellent care from the rather sleepy
on-call vet, and another taxi ride home, Ernie recovered, but he and
Bert have never been able to be together since. We discovered a bite
wound on Ernie's lip that night, and have figured out that as Ernie got
sick, Bert sensed his vulnerability and decided to reverse the dominance
situation. Like other GPDDers, I think that once blood is drawn, the
chances of a reconciliation are slim indeed. We keep their cages right
next to each other, but shared floor time always turned into them into
little chattering gladiators, and we've given up trying.

First time guinea pig story: When I was 11 my best friend moved from
California to the Midwest, and her parents made her give up her guinea
pig, Dobben (a mean decisioin, I think now). I adopted him, and Dobben
and I bonded instantly - he still remains one of the most remarkable
guinea pigs I have ever known in terms of intelligence and personality.
His heritage has been forty years of wonderful guinea pigs in my life,
as well as the great pleasure of joining the GPDD family seven years
ago. When I moved to Berlin, Germany, it was an absolute given that my
guinea pig Adelle was coming right along with me.

Speaking of the GPDD family, does anyone know how Alge is doing? And
thank you, Joseph, for helping us so eloquently with our too-frequent
moments of grief.

Luita
Bert and Ernie