I have three dogs and they all live to slightly different house rules i.e. Border Collie is mostly outdoor dog and has a kennel...lhasa apso sleeps on my bed and is allowed access to visitors as she is no trouble...chinese crested is pretty territorial and is shut up when visitors call and not allowed in my room as he is such a fidget (and steals all the covers!) They are also fed in different places....crested indoors as its too cold...lhasa and collie outside back door.
I am finding it hard to suss out the order of dominance.  They all get on really well and I guess if you threw a sausage in the middle of the room when all three were there - the crested would get it first.  However the collie, who I would have thought was at the bottom of the heap constatly physically 'stands over' the other dogs when they are laying at rest and even my children.  Is this a sign of her wishing to assert dominance??? I never know whether to tell her to get off and move.  I would like to know their order of importance so that I can re-inforce it - but I'm not sure who is the top dog now.  The crested is 4, lhasa 3 and collie 2.  She has been doing this 'standing thing' for the last 18 months or so.  Any one any ideas??

The current thinking is that, whereas dog packs in the home do have a hierarchy, it tends to be more fluid than at first thought. Thus you may get a dog who will be "boss" out on a walk, who allows another dog to take away his chewies in the home :D

I suspect the standing thing is linked up to the collie need to control but not really a problem as she has been doing it for 18 months ;)

The main thing is that they get on and do as you sayl; if that is the case, don't worry too much :)

Lindsay

It may even be that the collie is standing gaurd when the higher ranking (in the terms of being on gaurd) member of the human/canine pack is stood down.
Many domestic dogs have a variety of resources which vary in importance from one dog to another, which leads to confusion for owners who are looking for one overall 'alpha' when there simple isn't one....