Tegan and Yoda

by antonnet
(tucson,az)

I was unbelievably lucky to have found these two at a no kill shelter. These little litter mates are both female, and we adopted them at only 3 months old. They are both great dogs, but there are marked differences in their personality.

Tegan is a bit more difficult with training. She's the dominant dog, and she bullies her sister a bit almost anytime we give her attention. She also fights us more in terms of listening and training. She has much more energy, and I can barely keep up sometimes. She also chews...chews...and chews. I plan on taking her to do some individual training this summer because she's very smart--so smart in fact that she knows she doesn't HAVE to do what I say. I'm hoping training will develop a stronger bond, and a relationship in which she realizes I am the leader, not her. She's a doll though, and I love her with her goofy oversized tongue.

Yoda is a much sweeter, mellow temperament. She gets skittish when voices are raised, and is a bit of a hider when people come around, and at the dog park, we have to force her into the gate, and she stays by us and gets territorial when other dogs come near us. This behavior is odd because it's recent, and nothing we can think of has really changed.