Being a Bully is Catching

It snowed again last night, but it's supposed to be sunny for at least awhile today. Once ensconced in my tower, I settled into my sleeping bag and waited for my dogs to get up. I'm sort of expecting 5STR to go soon, since she's been up for a few days; she's a grandma, so it might take her longer, although I'm not sure. 50 got up early, but then I had a long wait until the next dog made their appearance. While I was waiting, I focused on the ground squirrels around me. For those not familiarized with the Wyoming Ground Squirrel (gs) they are flitchy, nervous, and neurotic. The scitter around, and then hop up on their hind legs, hunched over to view their immediate surroundings. Unlike pd's, they have long tails that they continually flit, and the more agitated they are, the faster they flit them. I watched two gs get into a fight; they arched their backs like cats, puffed and arched their tails, and growled at each other right before they attacked. As they were fighting, I observed another pair across the field. One was trying to kiss the other one (a form of greeting in both pd's and gs). Every time the one leaned in, the other swatted at his face; lean swat, lean swat, lean swat....fight. The ending not unsimilar to pd's. At a third place in the field, a gs performed a balancing act on a sturdy sprig of sage; it looked like he was hovering in space as he surveyed his territory from his high perch.
When W5un finally came out, it seemed like she might have gone with 2, as they got up late, and 9 minutes apart from the same burrow. Soon after, all of my dogs were up. That's when the trouble started. 92, who copulated a few days ago, apparently decided that she was in charge. She didn't bother any of the boys, but chased W5un a few times before turning to 5STR. She started by chasing her back into burrow XP every time she came out. She then appeared to grow tired of the game, and went off to eat with 30; 5STR took this opportunity to trot over the hill to eat. 92 was after her immediately, and chased her full speed back into XP. It was at this point that 5STR stuck her head out, and began a series of pathetic sounding chirping calls. I asked John, and he said it's not often seen in White Tails, but he calls it a 'defense bark'. It is used when the bullied dog is so much less able to fight or take what the other dog is handing out. It's a bark of desperation, asking to be left alone. 92 largely ignored the barks, shoving 5STR repeatedly into XP, and then always giving a TC afterwards from atop the burrow. She finally lost interest, and I'm sincerely hoping after 5STR copulates, she flattens 92. Not that I'm taking sides.