By Ed Martley

When Amazing Grace and the Hair Corps get the Zoomies, Crestfallen Manor  is no place for the faint of heart.

Gracie, a rescued 7-month-old Doberman, is the newest addition to our  canine contingent, the senior members of which are Joey, a 9-year-old Doberman, and Schatze, a 9-year-old German shorthair pointer.

Watching these three dogs adjust to each other has been a fascinating experience, what with all the dominance posturing and gleeful violence perpetrated upon the older dogs by the puppy.

Before Gracie came to us, Joey and Schatze had raised Living the Easy  Life to new heights. Each morning, they would crawl into bed with us for the tummy rubs needed to start the day. Next was their dog biscuit, followed by a sedate hour at the dog park. After lunch, they spent the day on the couch, sometimes awakening to bark idly at the mail lady, whom they suspect of having burglar tendencies.

The quiet life ended the second morning Gracie was with us. As athletic as a monkey, she leaped nearly 10 feet from the stairs to land on the couch where the senior dogs were lounging in the sun.

We had been a little worried about bringing this high-power pooch into the pack for fear it would be detrimental to the older animals. Quite the contrary: She has become their Fountain of Youth. (Ponce, you should have gotten a Doberman puppy instead of mucking about in those Florida swamps.)

She swarmed all over them at the dog park, prodding the old dogs to higher levels of activity than they were accustomed to. It wasn't long before they trimmed up, and their muscles hardened to the point they could almost keep up with her.

But then she dumped them. Now, the only time she pays attention to Schatze and Joey is when there are no young Labs to play with. Gracie is extremely fast on her feet, and the only dogs at the park that give her a run for her money are those powerful Labradors. It's a sight to see.

Now that the pooches are all buff again, an entertaining but somewhat frightening activity has begun in the house -- the Zoomies. With Gracie in the lead, she, at 50 pounds, and Joey, at nearly 100 pounds, race at high speed around the circuit of the living room, dining room and kitchen. They go across the tops of the furniture, getting higher up the walls with each pass. (If you have ever gone to a carnival and seen the guy on a motorcycle riding up the inside walls of that silo-type thing, you can get an idea of what it's like.) And while this is going on, Schatze, who is too smart to get fully involved, barks madly and tries to bite them when they fly by.

Dominance is a big part of canine social fabric. Every dog needs to know where it stands in the pack, and most of them try for the highest position they can hold. Sometimes this results in fights, but more often it is subtle, little things. It is remarkable to watch.

The main quest for dominance in the Hair Corps is between Schatze and Gracie. For example, the animal seeking dominance may try to hold its head higher than the other. Sometimes, one animal will put its chin on the other's head and force it downward. As a breed, Dobermans strive for dominance, and Schatze is Gracie's target. Sometimes Gracie throws her arm across Schatze's back. Or it's a matter of who goes through the door first, or who eats first.

So far, Schatze is holding her own. Joey's position as top dog in the pack is unquestioned. He puts up with a lot of torment from Gracie, but when she starts playing the dominance game, he seizes her skinny neck in his massive jaws and slams her head to the floor. She gets the point.

Gracie and the cat, however, is another story. The dog is fascinated by the cat and always tries for a sniff, whereby the cat lacerates her nose. And to demonstrate her spite in a way everyone will understand, the cat has taken to peeing in the bookcase, an unsavory occurrence.

During the small hours of the morning, my mind tells me to administer the 12-gauge cure to the problem. But upon awakening, my heart won't let me do it. So I guess our next step is to set up a series of litter boxes along the perimeter of the bookcase. Unless somebody wants a cat -- free.

I find it interesting that there is little enmity among the Hair Corps members; they are friends and like to be in one another's company. All are sweet-tempered animals where humans are concerned; the only fear the grandchildren need have of them is being flattened if they blunder into the middle of the Zoomies. (Of course, this does not mean that we put toddlers and dogs together in an unsupervised situation. That is never a good idea.)

We are busier now that this wild child has come to live with us, but we are getting more fresh air than ever. The only change of any import is that it takes us longer to get out of bed in the morning. Because now, we have three tummies to rub.