Today I learned that part of maintaining one's position as Alpha female is knowing how to deceive.

Unlike her sister, the maskless heeler is not spayed. And she exhibits all the maternal instincts that come with her hormone load. She was terribly sympathetic around her sister, and extremely careful not to bump into her when she was obviously injured.

Of course, now that the masked heeler appears to be normal, her sister has been bumping her to get her to play or run, and even threatened her a few times over some rawhide knots.

When the pack goes outside to attend to business, it is the little maskless heeler who stands guard over her mother and her sister when they are in their vulnerable positions. And she is always the last to come back in, protecting the rear.

But the little heeler also studies the ways of the Alpha female, trying to learn all she will need to know when she becomes alpha of her own pack.

That will never happen, but she and her hormones do not know that.

She carefully watches the wife fill out checks in the McD's drive-thru, obviously trying to learn this important step in the food hunting process.

She watches the Alpha as she starts the car, and keeps track of each turn as we drive. So that she can lead when it becomes her turn.

And she watches every move the wife makes in the kitchen.

Wife was prepping potpies in the microwave as I washed the dishes that had accumulated in the sink. And I heard her count down with the timer, out loud, "five...four...three...two...one... beeeep".

A microsecond after she said beep, the microwave timer went off.

A look at the little maskless heeler showed her to be awestruck. "She even gives orders to the food making machine!"

I suspect she has a horrible inadequacy complex, there being so many difficult things to learn before she can take over leadership of the pack.

Like giving orders to the food making machine.