My last entry (post) was a book review by an author named Stanley Coren titled, " How to Speak Dog." In it I mentioned that I sometimes call dog fights, "conversations." Well, I have two Norwegian Elkhounds, one old (about 12) and the other young (about 2) and they are intent on having a conversation about who is the Top Dog. I thought that they would get over this once they were together a while and maybe they are getting over it. To discover what was/is going on I'm reading another of Mr. Coren's books, this one called "The Intelligence of Dogs." Unlike the other one, I had/have not read this one before and it is fascinating (Book Review coming). Simultaneously, I'm teaching the younger one to speak, and I'm beginning to think this may be affecting his willingness to "converse" with the older one. Each morning these two and my Greyhound go for about a 3-mile walk. There are spots along the way where the old Elkhound (Louie) expects trail treats and I've taken the opportunity to use the trail treats (cut up turkey dogs) in my training of the younger Elkhound (Koda Bear). Each time I get him to speak or otherwise vocalize, he seems to want to "converse" with Louie. I don't understand the relationship if there is one. I'm not sure why having Koda Bear speak would trigger him to want to "converse" with Louie. I'm hoping hat I'll get a clue from the book. It includes an IQ test, which I plan to administer to Koda Bear soon. For the most part they get along fine... they do not have resource guarding issues and both eat and drink out of each others bowls with no issues. We just returned from a long trip to our cabin in NM and they were asked to ride together for more than 5 hours each way. No issues were observed, although Koda Bear's fur stood up a couple of times when the Greyhound stepped on him. Maybe my presence has an affect. The older dog (Louie) has known the younger one (Koda Bear) since he was a little puppy as he used to belong to my daughter (technically he is our grand dog), and came to visit quite often. If the conversation were allowed to go to its logical conclusion, I'm pretty sure the winner (for lack of a better word) would be Koda Bear. Louie disagrees. Louie, although old, is in pretty good shape. His teeth are worn and he has a touch of arthritis, but that doesn't seem to deter him when Koda Bear challenges. I never let the conversations proceed so they both must recognize me as their pack leader as neither has ever challenged me. I will report if I learn anything from the book, the results of the IQ Test and, of course, the book review.