Big bully

Sadie and Copper haven't really established an alpha as far as I can tell. She asserts herself when she's tired of him trying to chew up and swallow her ears but he can also be food-aggressive. Because of this we try to keep an eye on them when they eat. I've also tugged gently on his ears and pulled his tail slightly while he eats so he knows it's not okay to snap at someone/another animal just because he's eating. But protectiveness of his own food bowl - though something to work on undoing - is understandable. What is totally not okay is when I come into the kitchen during meal time and find Sadie waiting patiently on the floor mat while Copper wolfs down the rest of her food. Wow. That fleeting feeling of overwhelming protectiveness towards Sadie I felt, gave me an insight into why mama bears will eat people if only to prove the point that no one and nothing is going to mess with their cub. After I pulled him away angrily, I tried to coax Sadie back to her bowl - she was so timid it broke my heart but finally I had him sitting at the edge of the kitchen and her finishing what was in her bowl. Once he was back to being nice I gave him an extra scoop in his bowl. I'm trying hard not to give Sadie preferential treatment just because she was my baby first and is so little and impossibly cute - and Copper has some pretty endearing qualities himself so it's not too difficult. But man oh man we had to have a small can of whoop ass pulled out this morning.