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Good question...I have had as few as one dog and as many as ten here at one time or another.

I have no unusual, complicated rituals that I go through with any of my dogs...but, I have a very strong presence that dogs and humans can feel when I walk in a room.

All of the dogs KNOW, instinctively that I am in charge of the pack, no dog is.

My dogs know this because they show all the proper signs of submission to me as the leader, hovering over them for more then a few seconds will cause all of them to turn over on their backs..Bourbon street style....

Yes, a few of my dogs through the years have challenged me and I have had to have a few forehead to forehead discussions and come to Jesus meetings, but, in the end, they all understood who is in charge.

I have to say that when the pack has a clear understanding of who is in charge and there are no ambiguities, everything works much smoother in the end!!

Hope I helped.

Yes I know where I fit with my pack. I'm at the top of the pack. They know that they get food only through me. They have to ask for my attention but I can demand theirs. They can lay anywhere that they want to but when I say "Move" it is in their best interest to do so. I have been challenged a few times by a younger teenager who thought that he knew more then I did. He learned that he wasn't the boss. I do quite a lot of dog training for different venues including obedience, rally, some agility and field work. This maintains the pack dynamics really well.

One of the girls is dominant and the others follow her lead good or bad. The old girl is not the dominant one. She's happier just being a pack member as it's too much work to be a leader. The boy is in the middle. He really doesn't want to be a leader anyways as there's no fun in that. To him life is a game involving birds, fetching and jumping.

Keep in mind that the therory of pack and leadership are falling out of favor in the minds of some behaviorists. So in some circles this question would bring on a response like you are talking with two heads. Some of the more educated, (in my mind less experienced) people feel that there are no pack dynamics in dogs wild or otherwise. I do believe in pack dynamics, in dominace and submission, although I don't use the alpha roll or other such techniques in my training anymore.

The pack dynamics among my two dogs are very interesting. My male is what I call a "benevolent" alpha. At first glance, you might not think he was top dog, since my female is far more outgoing, steals toys from him, and pesters him to get him to play and he is the one that tends to stress about things and she is happy and never worries at all. But if you watch closely, if he enters the room and she is close to the humans, he will come over and she will give way. If she is on the bed he wants, she quietly gets up and gives it to him. She also gets very upset when he is not around and she is extremely submissive around other dogs when he is not present. We lived temporarily in another household with a dog a few years ago, and she was #3 in the pack - though she outweighed the other dog by 60 lbs. The other dog, a shih tzu, challenged our male repeatedly (I called in "Napoleon Syndrome") but our male would just look at him as if to say "yeah right." (He outweighed the shih tzu by more than 70 lbs.)

Our dogs respect our authority as pack leaders and with the exception of a few situations (running off to play when excited for example) they follow commands very well. They have never challenged us. But then they are golden retrievers and pleasing people is job #1 for them. And we started obedience training from the moment we got them so the roles were established early.

At the moment, my household has a male and female greyhound, my son's male beagle, all of them spayed/neutered, and my almost 5 month male belgian terveren. My extremely laid-back, easy going 11 year old male greyhound is (for now, anyway) undisputed top dog, followed closely by the female greyhound.

My belgian has clearly dominated the beagle since he's been about 3 months. The male greyhound has in the last couple of weeks initiated "chase" games with the belgian, which have both of them taking turns tearing after each other in the back yard, but clearly showing the greyhound in charge.

And these dogs have never even thought of challenging me. The greys can even be controlled with a "look". Although I know the day will come when the Belgian matures that he's going to challenge me and I'll have to handle that. His breeder told me her males challenge her once, she takes care of the problem, and they don't do it again.

I dont know that I can answer every question you ask but I will try and answer some

I have 4 dogs and they are two parents and two daughters. One daughter is a year old and the other is a puppy. The dynamics is really interesting because the male appears to be the leader but on closer view it is more obvious that the older female dog is in charge. She is the one that gives the nod (really it is an intense look and a little nod of the head) about who can eat and when, which is a big meaningful thing!!!

I just have to lower my voice to a bit of a growl and my dogs immediately check to see what I want of them...they know Im the boss. I feed them and I am the one who locks them in their cage if they are playing up

my male is in control of playing and playthings and he will nip others if they try to enthusiastically to interrupt his game...they want to join in and will but only while he lets them. He will challenge me, like if we are leaving the park and I want him to get in the car but he doesnt want to leave the park then I have to growl and snap my fingers

my other dogs obey me pretty much when I command...it is only the male that is defiant, but he is so cute and lovely and gorgeous that I just love him to bits - Im a sucker for him!!!

For me it's easy because I only have one dog. I am the leader, and he is second in command. When he thinks another dog is challenging his position, he will fight for it (not with aggression, but just running at them and standing over them).

I'm a very solid leader, and he looks at me and listens to me for his every command. When I made him lay down for the first time, that was when I established myself as leader. I mix his food by hand, so that my scent is on it before his. I also make him walk at my side (not ahead of me) on walks.

The looks my dog gives me, and his behavior and obedience tell me that he KNOWS I'm the boss. He challenged me when he was younger, but no more. I have become a very strong, confident leader, and he knows better.

I believe the 2 of you shouldn't quit, i know its going to take some time but you need to fix your marriage, I seen things like this happen in person and the only thing left is down hill unless the two of you can sit down and work it out. Don't let nothing get in the way of 11 years of marriage, you toughed it out for this long you might as well finish it, your kids need you both in their lives and its unfair to them if the 2 of you split up which is a whole separate situation, so live it up and fix the marriage. It will be a good thing!

My dog listens to me fairly well. My dog waits for my direction before he eats.

My 4month old Bullmastiff knows I'm the boss, because at a year, if hes the boss, I'll have problems...............