
Could it be that Duke feels he HAS to be that 'assertive' in order for Keisha to pay any attention to him? ie, Rotties & collies have a completey different persona and a rottie will be much more 'rough & tumble'/full-on, it may be that subtle hints from Duke, telling Keisha to stay away
(as he wants his peace & quite, not any of that silly puppy-nonsense)
, are getting ignored or are not 'enough' for her to pay attention to.
I am not vastly experienced in multi-dog households, but I do know that when I brought my mastiff puppy home, my older dog (lab cross) really had to act nasty in order for the pup to pay any attention to him. There was never any blood shed, but the old dog really looked & sounded mean when ever he wanted the pup to leave him alone, as the general ignoring (head turned away) was just lost on the Mastiff pup.
Hope somebody will be along soon to offer some suggestions.